SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Keystone Pipeline leaks 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota
Keystone Pipeline leaks 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota
"A total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday (Nov 16, 2017) from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline's operator, TransCanada, said.
Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning, and officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which occurred about three miles southeast of the town of Amherst, said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota, Walsh said. The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward."
Keystone pipeline - major leak/spill
Elsewhere there are notes of smaller spills in the same pipeline--this AC submitter is wondering about the long term use of a pipeline that is leaking when it's nearly brand new. Doesn't sound good for the long term.
PBS has a followup article from today (Saturday), 'We need to know' more about Keystone oil pipeline leak, tribal chairman says
The leak comes as the debate over the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline rages on. Nebraska's Public Service Commission is scheduled to announce its decision Monday on whether to permit TransCanada to build Keystone XL along its proposed route in the state, the Omaha World-Herald reported. A spokeswoman for the commission told the AP that the board's members will only use information provided during public hearings and official public comments in order to make their decision.
Related:
US District Court: Approval of Dakota Access Pipeline Violated the Law
Dakota Access Pipeline Suffers Oil Leak Even Before Becoming Operational
Company Behind Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Sues Greenpeace
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Monday November 20 2017, @11:29PM
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus fucking Christ dude, pull your head out of your ass. Life-saving chemicals? Bullshit, no you are just really reaching there. WATER is a fucking live-saving chemical. Tar sands are not. Whatever materials could be gained by those resources, could probably be manufactured differently and not require it.
When the consequences outweigh the benefits, you DO NOT proceed, unless the risk assessment gave us the confidence to "roll the dice". I don't think you would disagree with that statement.
Fuck you man. You just literally said it was a means to an end, and that's okay for fuck up that particular area of nature, because the people aren't really equal to the rest of us. Who cares if some native child has to drink tar sands polluted water? If you feel that it is okay, would you continue to live in a place that experienced the spill? Would you drink the well water? Basically, would you live in that "minor part" of the environment?
Also, what credentials do you have to determine "minor" parts of the ecosystem in any particular area? Did you really mean that it wasn't on the West/East coast, and instead was in fly-over country, so why give a fuck?
That "lot more with it", is really just some people getting mega rich. You made it sound like we are also getting "life-saving" life altering medicines and materials out of it. You were speaking out your butt unless you can cite examples that have far more benefit to society other than avaricious financial ones. So don't fucking come back with me that Capitalism itself is a sufficient reason to proceed. It ain't ever going to be.
This is not the only place, and the only way, to get those materials.
In the end, it very much is in our best interests to not let incompetent, avaricious, negligent people to be controlling infrastructure with critical and devastating consequences. A couple hundred thousand gallons of tar sands released into the water is going to be a problem. Not some minor problem that you seem to want to turn it into.
The pumping station spill was minor. A spill in the middle of the line, only due to a failed weld, is MAJOR and clear evidence that they are not taking the steps they said they would, and they say they do. All of those MRI/CAT pigs that can be routinely sent down the pipes absolutely would've detected a failed weld. By now, there should've been multiple passes, and not just one to satisfy the regulators, that they never even looked at completely themselves.
So far the only thing this pipeline does is some make some evil men richer. That's it. If it were really that good for our country, then we need to construct pipelines safely. I already outlined what would be needed to do it, and that all of it is on market now. Not demanding that "science be applied cuz we have to have it right?", but that we force them to buy from other well established companies offering advanced testing and diagnostics for that particular kind of infrastructure they've already brought to market. I can already hear you complaining about "force", but there really is no excuse to use economically viable testing methods on market. Not any good ones at least.
You can buy a smart pig now, and they're routinely used to help test and maintain our infrastructure.
Perhaps not, but mine does. Along with many, many, many engineers in the industry. Safe pipelines are not impossible, but I would not roll the dice so close to waterways. They would get extra protection if required. Fuck, just use excellent QA on all of the materials, inspect, x-ray, and continually certify the welds and welders. Then add redundancy and countermeasures. It's really not all that hard. Really.
It's just not done because the oil executives don't give a fuck. You see it elsewhere. That Dupont board was caught recording a board meeting where they discussed the ongoing poisoning of a farm and family that owned the farm. Lawyer basically gave the "My ass is already toast, so fuck it, I'm not coming back till the morning anyways".
This is one of those instances were need to assiduously avoid some of the pitfalls of Capitalism, namely corruption and the negligence caused by avarice.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.