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More Than 300 A Year: New Analysis Shows Devastating Impact of Pipeline Spills
Released one day before the U.S. Senate votes on the Keystone XL pipeline, a new analysis of federal records shows that in just the past year and four months, there have been 372 oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills, and other incidents, leading to 20 deaths, 117 injuries, and more than $256 million in damages.
The Center for Biological Diversity analysis is based on decades of records from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which maintains a database of all U.S. pipeline incidents that are classified as "significant"--those resulting in death or injury, damages more than $50,000, more than 5 barrels of highly volatile substances or 50 barrels of other liquid released, or where the liquid exploded or burned.
In total there have been more than 8,700 significant incidents with U.S. pipelines involving death, injury, and economic and environmental damage since 1986, the Center reports--more than 300 per year.
"There's no way to get around the fact that oil and gas pipelines are dangerous and have exacted a devastating toll on people and wildlife. It's appalling to see Congress seriously considering giving the green light to Keystone XL," said Bill Snape, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Obama administration's own analysis says Keystone XL will spill oil, so it's really troubling to see politicians wanting to add to this dangerous legacy of failed pipelines."
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday November 18 2014, @09:55PM
Agreed, and I consider myself an environmentalist.
FTA:In just the past year and four months, there have been 372 oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills and other incidents, leading to 20 deaths, 117 injuries and more than $256 million in damages.
Meanwhile, this single railway incident last year killed 47. [wikipedia.org] More than twice as many fatalities in a single incident.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 19 2014, @02:45PM
Seconded. Fresh out of grad school I canvassed for the Sierra Club in the Bay Area, and was a paying member for years after that. I was a member of the Green Party then, too. Now, I'm working on a green startup and live as lightly on the land as I can in my personal life. But even I have to call BS when I read stuff like this. It's just like the people who rang the alarm bell about pipelines in the Great Lakes last year:
Great Lakes Pipeline [nwf.org]
Or OMG!!! Fukushima is poisoning the ENTIRE Pacific:
Fukushima [youtube.com]
When it comes out that if you understand even a modicum of chemistry, that the incredible, massive dilution that occurs renders the amounts undetectible to science up until about 10 years ago. Kinda like the hysteria the media whipped up two years ago about Prozac and other pharmaceuticals in our water supply; they were detected in parts per *billion*, which means you'd have to drink several billion gallons of water to get the equivalent of *one* pill.
You're in greater danger from the amount of insect parts the FDA allows in your food.
Now that I'm older, wiser, more cynical, and closer to the center of power in America than I was in my youth, I know that such OMG! pieces are fundraising ploys by Washington, DC-based lobbyists who want more money in their coke and hookers kitties, or FUD pieces put out by interested parties through their PR firms.
Washington DC delenda est.