Keystone pipeline had 11 tarsands oil spills in one year: why would the State Dept. supersize this disaster?
source: http://www.grist.org/oil/2011-05-12-lets-supersize-a-disaster
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- JanforGore
- added this
The State Department is currently weighing whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar-sands oil some 2,000 miles southward, from Alberta, Canada, to Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. It would be an expansion of the now-operational Keystone pipeline that goes as far as Cushing, Okla. The original Keystone pipeline has been in operation less than one year, and its owner TransCanada predicts no more than one spill every seven years.
Instead of one spill every seven years, oil has spilled 11 times in the last year.
Whoops.
A May 7 spill of 500 barrels in North Dakota, which sent a geyser of oil spurting 60 feet into the air, was expected to shut the pipeline for a week. The spill apparently occurred as a result of a valve failure at a pumping station. TransCanada's response: Spills at pumping stations don't count toward the one-spill-every-seven-years estimate.
Oh, OK.
The Keystone pipelines carry diluted bitumen, a particularly thick, viscuous oil requiring up to 1,440 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure to move through a pipeline, according to a report [PDF] by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (The industry defines "high pressure" as anything above 600 psi.) The bitumen is particularly corrosive, and must be pumped at high temperatures that make it even more corrosive.
NRDC's Anthony Swift tallies 11 leaks in 11 months, all at pumping stations:
May 21, 2010
June 23, 2010
August 10, 2010
August 19, 2010
January 5, 2011
January 31, 2011
February 3, 2011
February 23, 2011
March 8, 2011
March 16, 2011
May 7, 2011
cont.
Instead of one spill every seven years, oil has spilled 11 times in the last year.
Whoops.
A May 7 spill of 500 barrels in North Dakota, which sent a geyser of oil spurting 60 feet into the air, was expected to shut the pipeline for a week. The spill apparently occurred as a result of a valve failure at a pumping station. TransCanada's response: Spills at pumping stations don't count toward the one-spill-every-seven-years estimate.
Oh, OK.
The Keystone pipelines carry diluted bitumen, a particularly thick, viscuous oil requiring up to 1,440 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure to move through a pipeline, according to a report [PDF] by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (The industry defines "high pressure" as anything above 600 psi.) The bitumen is particularly corrosive, and must be pumped at high temperatures that make it even more corrosive.
NRDC's Anthony Swift tallies 11 leaks in 11 months, all at pumping stations:
May 21, 2010
June 23, 2010
August 10, 2010
August 19, 2010
January 5, 2011
January 31, 2011
February 3, 2011
February 23, 2011
March 8, 2011
March 16, 2011
May 7, 2011
cont.
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Tim_Mitchell
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All the more reason for Canada to pollute their own air and build a refinery of their own. Imagine the public outcry.
- 1 year ago
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Tim_Mitchell
