Think of the boost to the economy cleaning up all that oil!
The Keystone Pipeline Republicans Wanted So Badly Has Already Become A Huge Disaster
April 8, 2016Darien Cavanaugh Environment
According to a statement released Thursday by TransCanada, the company that operates the Keystone pipeline, up to 16,800 gallons of tar sands crude oil have spilled from the pipeline into a field in South Dakota.
That’s a huge increase from previous estimates, which suggested that only about 187 gallons of oil had spilled from the pipeline.
The new estimate is based on the excavation of soil in the spill area to expose more than 100 feet of pipe in hopes of locating the source of the leak, according to TransCanada. The estimate includes the amount of oil observed in the soil and the “potential area impacted.â€
The leak first came to TransCanada’s attention when Loren Schulz found oil in surface water near the Keystone pipeline’s right-of-way on his property.
TransCanada has not yet been able to identify the source of the leak. However, the company claims it immediately shut down the pipeline, remotely turning off valves and pump stations, and that the leak is now under control.
The company has 100 workers at the clean up site.
The Keystone Pipeline Has A Troubled History
The multi-billion dollar Keystone project has been plagued by leaks and other problems since it launched its first phase— 2,147 miles of pipeline stretching from Hardisty, Alberta, to Patoka, Ill.—back in 2010. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada logged 21 “incidents,†including 12 leaks, with the pipeline during its first year of operation alone.
TransCanada says it is taking the latest incident “very seriously†and has assured locals there will be “no significant environmental impact†from the spill, but some environmental groups are still concerned.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, calls the leak a “disaster†and argues that it is “a stark reminder that it’s not a question if a pipeline will malfunction, but rather a question of when.â€
Greenpeace activist Keith Stewart is also troubled by this most recent spill, particularly because it was the landowner rather than TransCanada that initially noticed the problem.
“The company has been making big claims at the Energy East Pipeline hearings in Quebec about how their spill detection system will identify a leak within minutes,†Stewart said in an email to The Huffington Post. “But the truth is that most pipeline spills aren’t detected until the oil makes its way to the surface where it can be seen and smelt.â€
In 2015 environmental concerns compelled President Obama to veto legislation allowing an expansion of the Keystone pipeline known as the Keystone XL. Republican attempts to override the veto failed.
Featured image courtesy of Tom Pennington/Getty Images.
Big deal, based upon the amount of oil being shipped via rail, truck and pipeline across north america at any one time this spill is a drop in the bucket.
I'm thinking all the folks in their backyards changing their oil spill this much in a day. What about what get's leaked onto roads and driveways everyday?
16,800 gallons is enough to fill 84, 200 gallon drums, the horror.
Do you know how much oil is in one rail car or tanker truck?
I am only providing my opinion and some "facts" to match the over-hyping of the dangers of pipelines.
Tell that to the victims of the 2013 Mayflower oil spill in Arkansas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/exxon-oil-spill-arkansas/
Who cares? It's only a planet.
Talking to a wall I guess.
Just realize that most if not all gas stations have issues with their feeder system or tanks and the ground under most gas stations is contaminated with several cancer causing chemicals.
So when you fill up your tank to go protest a pipeline leaking 84 barrels of oil on the ground which is cleaned up immediately you are adding to a much bigger issue by buying your gas from Bocephus who hasn't had his tanks and lines and pumps tested since they we're installed.
I clean up contaminated sites all over Canada. I know who the bad guys are and it ain't just the guys paid to transport the oil.
Go sniff around a refinery some day. You know a big reason they don't build any new refineries? Fuel producers found out in the last 20 years that the cost to clean up the old shut down refineries is insane and the liability associated with the potential in creating another enviro disaster is not worth what they make on fuel sales.
I can ramble on some more but I find most that are against pipelines are missing out on what is going on at that gas station down the road that never gets sold and the fences are still up 10 years after it was closed down.
Am I a Great Wall? A Terrific Wall? The Best Wall ever?
😉
You obviously know more than me. I don't know who the bad guys are but I think pipelines can cause significant damage to the environment which is certainly the case in Arkansas. Yes so can tanker trucks, rail cars, gas stations, nuclear plants, etcectra ...
I think Keystone was a disaster ready to happen. Here we already have a small leak, an indication that bigger leaks could happen in the future.
I don't even know why I care. I'm 56. No kids. I enjoy a high standard of living... Hell. I've been wasting my time researching solar panels and an electric car. I want the Cayman. Screw the Volt.
Seriously Leaf. With your expertise... What is the safest why to transport oil? I've never seen a study comparing the total amount of environmental damage by one means of transport versus another.
And who are the bad guys?
Talking to a wall I guess.
Just realize that most if not all gas stations have issues with their feeder system or tanks and the ground under most gas stations is contaminated with several cancer causing chemicals.
So when you fill up your tank to go protest a pipeline leaking 84 barrels of oil on the ground which is cleaned up immediately you are adding to a much bigger issue by buying your gas from Bocephus who hasn't had his tanks and lines and pumps tested since they we're installed.
I clean up contaminated sites all over Canada. I know who the bad guys are and it ain't just the guys paid to transport the oil.
Go sniff around a refinery some day. You know a big reason they don't build any new refineries? Fuel producers found out in the last 20 years that the cost to clean up the old shut down refineries is insane and the liability associated with the potential in creating another enviro disaster is not worth what they make on fuel sales.
I can ramble on some more but I find most that are against pipelines are missing out on what is going on at that gas station down the road that never gets sold and the fences are still up 10 years after it was closed down.
________________________________________________________________________
Note the source of little billy's eco-wacko hit piece. Even the author of the opinion piece is a well known nut-job.
little billy lurks in the darkside of the web and actually believes what he sees.
Thanks Sang.
Crap. I really want that Porsche.
On the bright side I'm keeping my little Crossfire for at least 3 more years. By then maybe there will be a nice little electric two seater with a 300 mile range.
Keystone pipeline back in business !
Keystone pipeline ready for restart after repairs completed
By James MacPherson | AP April 9 at 5:22 PM
BISMARCK, N.D. — TransCanada Corp. said Saturday that it has completed repairs to its Keystone Pipeline, a week after the pipeline oozed thousands of gallons of Canadian crude into a South Dakota field.
James Millar, a spokesman for the Calgary-based company, said the pipeline was expected to be restarted on Saturday. It’s still not clear what caused a breech.
“We don’t know yet,†said Millar, who would only describe the pipeline failure as a “small leak.†‘’We are still working to determine what caused it.â€
TransCanada has estimated 16,800 gallons, or about 400 barrels of oil, leaked. The company said there was no significant environmental impact or threat to public safety.
Millar said it was the first such breech of the 36-inch steel pipeline since it began operating in June 2010. It has since transported some 1.3 billion barrels of crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois and Cushing, Oklahoma, passing through the eastern Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.
The Keystone pipeline can handle 550,000 barrels, or about 23 million gallons, daily. It’s part of a pipeline system that also would have included the Keystone XL pipeline had President Barack Obama not rejected that project last November.
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TransCanada said Friday that it has received conditional approval from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration to the restart the pipeline after identifying the source of the leak that occurred about 4 miles from the Freeman pump station in Hutchinson County, South Dakota.
The pipeline had been shut down since April. 2. About 100 workers have been working at the site, where crews excavated soil to expose more than 275 feet of pipe to find the leak, the company said.
The company has not released estimates on cleanup costs and repairs.
The recent breech is similar in size to a 2011 spill caused by a faulty valve at a pumping station in North Dakota’s Sargent County. North Dakota health officials said at the time most of the 400-barrel spill was contained by a berm around the pumping station but some oil mist had to be cleaned from standing water in a nearby field.
The Associated Press.
Seriously Leaf. With your expertise... What is the safest why to transport oil? I've never seen a study comparing the total amount of environmental damage by one means of transport versus another.
It'll NEVER be about the SAFEST way to transport oil or any other hazardous material.
It will ALWAYS be about the CHEAPEST, and screw the consequences. Cost of doing business.
Crap. I really want that Porsche.
Which is the Cayenne (like the pepper), not the Cayman, which is related to the crocodile and lives in South America...
Seriously Leaf. With your expertise... What is the safest why to transport oil? I've never seen a study comparing the total amount of environmental damage by one means of transport versus another.
It'll NEVER be about the SAFEST way to transport oil or any other hazardous material.
It will ALWAYS be about the CHEAPEST, and screw the consequences. Cost of doing business.
I think the stats speak for themselves...
The Keystone pipeline can handle 550,000 barrels, or about 23 million gallons, daily.
They had a 18,000 gallon leak, dealt with it within days and bob's your uncle. Its not like oil runs like water.
My point is the anti-pipeline folks don't do their math but create a bunch of hysteria that very few fact check.
Seriously Leaf. With your expertise... What is the safest why to transport oil? I've never seen a study comparing the total amount of environmental damage by one means of transport versus another.
It'll NEVER be about the SAFEST way to transport oil or any other hazardous material.
It will ALWAYS be about the CHEAPEST, and screw the consequences. Cost of doing business.
I think the stats speak for themselves...
The Keystone pipeline can handle 550,000 barrels, or about 23 million gallons, daily.
They had a 18,000 gallon leak, dealt with it within days and bob's your uncle. Its not like oil runs like water.
My point is the anti-pipeline folks don't do their math but create a bunch of hysteria that very few fact check.
________________________________________________________________________Some folks just don't want to acknowledge the facts.
They believe if the U.S. doesn't allow that oil to travel through the country it won't be burned therefore not polluting etc...The fact is that that oil will be transported somewhere and refined and used to produce energy.
There is no "alternative energy" that can meet the world's demand.
Back to the research laboratories. An alternative, non-fossil, nonpolluting energy source is out there.
If there is no money in it, forget it. It is not going to happen.
Porsche Cayman.
[Edited on 4/11/2016 by BillyBlastoff]
Was the oil leaked in Arkansas a lot? It sure did a lot of damage.
Homeowners whose lives are still in limbo after thousands of gallons of oil streamed into their neighborhood from a ruptured pipeline on March 29 might never know precisely how much of the sticky black goo actually spilled.
The working estimate is that 5,000 barrels — 210,000 gallons — of Canadian heavy crude oil poured from a 22-foot break in ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline on that Good Friday afternoon.
But officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Exxon say the actual amount can't be figured until the Pegasus is up and running again. That will allow Exxon to do a mathematical calculation while the line is operating at the same flow as it was when it broke open.
However, that scenario could prove problematic.
It's quite possible that the beleaguered pipeline, which stretches 850 miles across four states from Patoka, Ill., to Nederland, Texas, will never re-open. And, even if it does someday pump oil again, federal regulators have ordered Exxon to permanently reduce its operating pressure.
Karen Tyrone, vice president for operations of ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last week that retiring Pegasus "is within the realm of possibilities." The 65-year-old line was manufactured using a welding process that's now known to be defective and with a type of pipe that is inherently brittle and prone to cracking, according to documents filed with federal regulators.
Figuring out an accurate count on barrels spilled is crucial because that number will help determine the size of the fines Exxon will face under the federal Clean Water Act. Civil penalties could range from $1,100 to $4,300 per barrel, depending on whether Exxon is found guilty of negligence or willful misconduct. Penalties for a 5,000-barrel spill could range from $5.5 million to $21.5 million.
The size of an oil spill can be determined in several ways.
Calculations can be made from data that the pipeline operator collected at the time of the spill. A count also can be based on the amount of oil collected during a cleanup, as the EPA's Chicago-based Region 5 is doing in Michigan, where the nation's largest oil pipeline spill occurred in 2010.
In Michigan, the EPA's on-scene coordinator devised a formula to track how much oil was being recovered, whether it was skimmed off the surface of the water or embedded in vegetation, soil, sediments or debris. The agency says more than 1.1 million gallons of oil have been recovered so far in the ongoing cleanup. The Canadian company responsible for that rupture, Enbridge Inc., disputes that figure, claiming only 843,444 gallons spilled.
When asked why the Arkansas and Michigan spills are being handled so differently, an EPA spokesperson for Dallas-based Region 6, which includes Arkansas, said managers make their own decisions based on the unique factors associated with each cleanup.
"These are two completely different incidents, so to compare the two, we aren't able to do that," EPA spokeswoman Jennah Durant said. "As far as I know, nobody from our region was involved in the cleanup in Michigan."
Nicolas Brescia, the EPA's Region 6 on-scene coordinator for the Mayflower cleanup, said the agency is keeping tabs on the amount of oil collected, but isn't doing its own tally.
"We are showing the waste collected and disposed of, but it's impossible to figure out the amount of oil in the debris," he said. "You lose some oil to evaporation, some gets absorbed into soil and plants, and some has to biodegrade on its own."
Brescia is confident that the 5,000-gallon estimate provided by Exxon is as accurate as possible at this point.
"Until the investigation is done with the Department of Transportation and until they refill that line, we won't know the exact number of barrels lost," Brescia said. "Five thousand is what we're going with because that's the best number we have.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/how-much-oil-spilled-in-mayflower/Content?oid=3018948
[Edited on 4/11/2016 by BillyBlastoff]
Porsche Cayman.
[Edited on 4/11/2016 by BillyBlastoff]
Very nice, but no Tesla in your sights?
Porsche Cayman.
[Edited on 4/11/2016 by BillyBlastoff]
Oops. Once again I stuck my foot in my mouth. I stand corrected - please accept my apologies, Billy.....
Man, that is a beautiful car.
Was the oil leaked in Arkansas a lot? It sure did a lot of damage.
quote:
Homeowners whose lives are still in limbo after thousands of gallons of oil streamed into their neighborhood from a ruptured pipeline on March 29 might never know precisely how much of the sticky black goo actually spilled.The working estimate is that 5,000 barrels — 210,000 gallons — of Canadian heavy crude oil poured from a 22-foot break in ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline on that Good Friday afternoon.
But officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Exxon say the actual amount can't be figured until the Pegasus is up and running again. That will allow Exxon to do a mathematical calculation while the line is operating at the same flow as it was when it broke open.
However, that scenario could prove problematic.
It's quite possible that the beleaguered pipeline, which stretches 850 miles across four states from Patoka, Ill., to Nederland, Texas, will never re-open. And, even if it does someday pump oil again, federal regulators have ordered Exxon to permanently reduce its operating pressure.
Karen Tyrone, vice president for operations of ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last week that retiring Pegasus "is within the realm of possibilities." The 65-year-old line was manufactured using a welding process that's now known to be defective and with a type of pipe that is inherently brittle and prone to cracking, according to documents filed with federal regulators.
Figuring out an accurate count on barrels spilled is crucial because that number will help determine the size of the fines Exxon will face under the federal Clean Water Act. Civil penalties could range from $1,100 to $4,300 per barrel, depending on whether Exxon is found guilty of negligence or willful misconduct. Penalties for a 5,000-barrel spill could range from $5.5 million to $21.5 million.
The size of an oil spill can be determined in several ways.
Calculations can be made from data that the pipeline operator collected at the time of the spill. A count also can be based on the amount of oil collected during a cleanup, as the EPA's Chicago-based Region 5 is doing in Michigan, where the nation's largest oil pipeline spill occurred in 2010.
In Michigan, the EPA's on-scene coordinator devised a formula to track how much oil was being recovered, whether it was skimmed off the surface of the water or embedded in vegetation, soil, sediments or debris. The agency says more than 1.1 million gallons of oil have been recovered so far in the ongoing cleanup. The Canadian company responsible for that rupture, Enbridge Inc., disputes that figure, claiming only 843,444 gallons spilled.
When asked why the Arkansas and Michigan spills are being handled so differently, an EPA spokesperson for Dallas-based Region 6, which includes Arkansas, said managers make their own decisions based on the unique factors associated with each cleanup.
"These are two completely different incidents, so to compare the two, we aren't able to do that," EPA spokeswoman Jennah Durant said. "As far as I know, nobody from our region was involved in the cleanup in Michigan."
Nicolas Brescia, the EPA's Region 6 on-scene coordinator for the Mayflower cleanup, said the agency is keeping tabs on the amount of oil collected, but isn't doing its own tally.
"We are showing the waste collected and disposed of, but it's impossible to figure out the amount of oil in the debris," he said. "You lose some oil to evaporation, some gets absorbed into soil and plants, and some has to biodegrade on its own."
Brescia is confident that the 5,000-gallon estimate provided by Exxon is as accurate as possible at this point.
"Until the investigation is done with the Department of Transportation and until they refill that line, we won't know the exact number of barrels lost," Brescia said. "Five thousand is what we're going with because that's the best number we have.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/how-much-oil-spilled-in-mayflower/Content? oid=3018948
[Edited on 4/11/2016 by BillyBlastoff]
Your post is about what has gone wrong already with the Keystone line, the headline states "The Keystone Pipeline Republicans Wanted So Badly Has Already Become A Huge Disaster ".
All I am providing you is some math that confirms the writer of the article wouldn't know a huge disaster if he fell in it.
Then you bring up a story about an old pipeline that has nothing to do with the Keystone line and talk about that damage done by oil leaking from a line that should have been shut down due to age.
I think PhotoRon posted a map of the various lines that run across the US. There are pipelines running all over the US. Have a look at the map and get on your local representative to push for more testing of old pipelines that run through your area, state, country.
As long as we use fossil fuels as our primary energy source there will be a need to transport oil from one place to another. Some methods are safer than others. Some methods are more expensive than others. I'm no expert and I have no idea which is the best way, but I suppose it depends on many factors such as the distance to be traveled, the quantity to be moved and the rate at which it must be delivered, the terrain, etc. I think it is obvious that anytime you transport oil there is a risk of a spill. We've seen pipeline leaks, but we've also seen spills from ships, tanker trucks crashing and burning, train cars derailed. So, yeah, things could go wrong with the Keystone pipeline. But if you want to get oil from Alberta to refineries on the gulf coast how can you do it risk free? You can't.
