Nebraska regulators approved an alternative route Monday for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. It was the last major regulatory hurdle facing project operator TransCanada Corp., though opponents say another round of federal approval may now be needed.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission's ruling was on the Nebraska route TransCanada has proposed to complete the $8 billion, 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometer) pipeline to deliver oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. The proposed Keystone XL route would cross parts of Montana, South Dakota and most of Nebraska to Steele City, Nebraska.
The long-delayed project was rejected by President Barack Obama in 2015, citing concerns about carbon pollution. President Donald Trump revived it in March, approving a permit.
[...] The five-member Nebraska Public Service Commission was forbidden by law from factoring pipeline safety or the risk of spills into its decision because pipeline safety is a federal responsibility. So, it couldn't take into account a spill of 210,000 gallons (790,000 liters) of oil on the existing Keystone pipeline in South Dakota announced on Thursday.
Also at Alternative Keystone XL route gets approved in Nebraska
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:20AM (11 children)
The leak is marked by an 'X' on this map, and the section Trump approved is a red dashed line:
https://i.redd.it/vjo9y82bpgyz.jpg [i.redd.it]
Unmarked map:
http://www.keystone-xl.com/kxl-101/maps/ [keystone-xl.com]
Wikipedia about the pipeline:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline [wikipedia.org]
FWIW, this is about 4 train cars worth. Warren Buffett encouraged the protests because he makes lots of money shipping the oil via train, which is 5x more costly than pipelines. Trains derail and spill all the time.
Newer pipe, made with US steel, might be more reliable than pipes with old Chinese steel. It certainly beats trains.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:26AM (1 child)
This was proposed right about the same time that more than fifty people died in the fire that resulted from a derailment in Quebec.
The port commission, which used to run mostly on autopilot, has been the focus of politics in Vancouver the last little while. A developer is building a one billion mixed retail, restaurant and residential development right on the river, close to the port, but will stop building if that depot is approved, as the trains will run right next to his real estate.
A year or so ago an oil train derailed in a park right on the Columbia River. Accident inspectors found that the railway company was not maintaining the tracks to their own standards.
What I cannot fathom is why anyone thinks its a good idea to load that oil into barges in Vancouver, then sail it down the Columbia river.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:36AM
He might pause for a bit. He might slightly change plans. He won't stop; that is a threat made for political theater.
For an example more familiar to soylentnews readers, we see similar nonsense all the time in telecom. An ISP claims that they will only upgrade if they get a monopoly. They threaten to stop building out fiber or cell towers or 4G if competition is allowed. When we cave, projects mysteriously take forever to complete and sometimes get cancelled. When we call their bluff, they upgrade. Typically there is a pause while we discuss regulatory changes, with lots of ads to let us know. After competition comes in, upgrades happen rapidly. For example, cities that got Google fiber usually got huge speed/price improvements from the company that just lost their monopoly.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:29AM (2 children)
Besides it's quite clearly the machinations of Philip Anschutz, who needs high volume cheap rail to ship his cheap beer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @12:41AM (1 child)
I remembered it wrongly. Warren Buffett is the one. George Soros doesn't do 100% of the evil shit in the world, even if sometimes it feels that way. This time I verified the guilty party.
Also, I got to that other story late. Few people saw the info. It is natural to assume that the pipeline was approved by Trump, and I'm pretty sure this is intended by the writer.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:13PM
I approved the Keystone XL, as I promised. I didn't approve the other one, the regular size Keystone. I guarantee, I would have approved it, I didn't get to approve that one. Nebraska had to approve the Keystone XL. I didn't say they approved it, the story doesn't say they approved it. But they approved it. It needed to happen and it happened, which is tremendous. Great job by Editor Mrpg putting that in! I promised Transcanada and the American people -- I always, always put the American people first -- I would approve the Keystone XL. And now it's going to get built. Terrific! #PromisesKept [twitter.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 21 2017, @01:34AM (5 children)
[Citation needed]
To be specific, I'd like to see statistics on "spills resulted by derailed trains in spilled quantity and number of incidents/year".
---
just in case you wanna go there: "the burden of proving a claim shall always remain with the claimant".
This should be an amendment to the US constitution, if there isn't one already (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday November 21 2017, @02:02AM (4 children)
Standard reply "google it yourself"
Turns out, Trains are an awful way to transport oil.. But so are all the other methods.
http://www.blackle.com/results/?q=train [blackle.com] crash oil spill per annum%20crash%20oil%20spill%20per%20annum#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=train%20crash%20oil%20spill%20per%20annum&gsc.page=1
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by c0lo on Tuesday November 21 2017, @03:10AM (3 children)
Heh! You know that the result list is funny.
Better try lmgtfy.com [lmgtfy.com] next time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by MostCynical on Tuesday November 21 2017, @03:25AM (2 children)
Don't want to be accused of being passive-aggressive.
(lmgtfy doesn't work on my tablet's browser, anyway!)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday November 21 2017, @03:28AM (1 child)
Ah, Ok. Sorry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Tuesday November 21 2017, @04:34AM
turns out, there is no safe way to transport oil.
as with comments from second amendment 'supporters' here on SN and elsewhere, apparently there is an amount of damage (health, envronment, direct deaths) that is considered 'reasonable' and 'acceptable' in the name of capitalism/progress/first-world superiority/whatever.
It all comes down to cost vs risk (financial, reputational, getting-locked up).
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-goelz/oil-by-rail-vs-pipelines-safety-records_b_4262327.html [huffingtonpost.ca]
https://thinkprogress.org/data-oil-trains-spill-more-often-but-pipelines-spill-bigger-9533009d4aba/ [thinkprogress.org]
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/are-pipelines-safer-than-railroads-for-carrying-oil/ [scientificamerican.com]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/26/pick-your-poison-for-crude-pipeline-rail-truck-or-boat/ [forbes.com]
:-)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex