Rupture in Planned US Pipeline Could Release 7m Gallons of Oil, Study Warns
Environmental engineers say pipeline operators TransCanada Corp have significantly underestimated the chances of a Keystone XL spill
A rupture in the planned Keystone XL pipeline could release up to 6.9m US gallons into the famed Yellowstone river, a nightmare scenario far outstripping the present spill, a new report warns.
The report, produced by an environmental engineer at the University of Nebraska, sets out four worst-case scenarios for a spill on the Keystone XL project, which is designed to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas. It appears just 10 days after a break in an ExxonMobil pipeline released at least 42,000 US gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone river.
But an accident on the Keystone XL would carry an vastly greater risk, environmental groups argue. The ExxonMobil pipeline carried about 40,000 barrels a day. The planned Keystone XL would carry more than 700,000 barrels of a thicker and more corrosive type of crude 1,600 miles across the American heartland, crossing the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte rivers, as well as important groundwater reserves. The Obama administration is in the final stages of an environmental review of the project.
Monday's study by the environmental engineer, John Stansbury, argues the pipeline operators TransCanada Corp, have significantly underestimated the chances of a spill and painted an overly optimistic picture of how long it would take to shut down the pipeline.
Stansbury notes that TransCanada, in its estimates, sees the possibility of 11 serious spills on the pipeline during the course of 50 years. He argues existing data suggests a more realistic estimate would be 91 accidents during that half century.
He also took issue with TransCanada's claims that it could shut down a pipeline within 19 minutes of a leak. A slow leak in a remote area of Montana or Nebraska could go undetected for days or even weeks between inspections, he warned. It took 56 minutes before ExxonMobil crews managed to stop the leak into the Yellowstone this month.
The report goes on to estimate the potential consequences of spills on four separate locations: the Platte river and Sandhills in Nebraska, and the Missouri and Yellowstone in Montana. "Contaminants from a spill at the Platte river crossing would travel downstream unabated into the Missouri river for several hundred miles and affect drinking water intake for hundreds of thousands of people," the report warns.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A rupture in the planned Keystone XL pipeline could release up to 6.9m US gallons into the famed Yellowstone river, a nightmare scenario far outstripping the present spill, a new report warns.
The report, produced by an environmental engineer at the University of Nebraska, sets out four worst-case scenarios for a spill on the Keystone XL project, which is designed to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas. It appears just 10 days after a break in an ExxonMobil pipeline released at least 42,000 US gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone river.
But an accident on the Keystone XL would carry an vastly greater risk, environmental groups argue. The ExxonMobil pipeline carried about 40,000 barrels a day. The planned Keystone XL would carry more than 700,000 barrels of a thicker and more corrosive type of crude 1,600 miles across the American heartland, crossing the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte rivers, as well as important groundwater reserves. The Obama administration is in the final stages of an environmental review of the project.
Monday's study by the environmental engineer, John Stansbury, argues the pipeline operators TransCanada Corp, have significantly underestimated the chances of a spill and painted an overly optimistic picture of how long it would take to shut down the pipeline.
Stansbury notes that TransCanada, in its estimates, sees the possibility of 11 serious spills on the pipeline during the course of 50 years. He argues existing data suggests a more realistic estimate would be 91 accidents during that half century.
He also took issue with TransCanada's claims that it could shut down a pipeline within 19 minutes of a leak. A slow leak in a remote area of Montana or Nebraska could go undetected for days or even weeks between inspections, he warned. It took 56 minutes before ExxonMobil crews managed to stop the leak into the Yellowstone this month.
The report goes on to estimate the potential consequences of spills on four separate locations: the Platte river and Sandhills in Nebraska, and the Missouri and Yellowstone in Montana. "Contaminants from a spill at the Platte river crossing would travel downstream unabated into the Missouri river for several hundred miles and affect drinking water intake for hundreds of thousands of people," the report warns.
A rupture in the planned Keystone XL pipeline could release up to 6.9m US gallons into the famed Yellowstone river, a nightmare scenario far outstripping the present spill, a new report warns.
The report, produced by an environmental engineer at the University of Nebraska, sets out four worst-case scenarios for a spill on the Keystone XL project, which is designed to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas. It appears just 10 days after a break in an ExxonMobil pipeline released at least 42,000 US gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone river.
But an accident on the Keystone XL would carry an vastly greater risk, environmental groups argue. The ExxonMobil pipeline carried about 40,000 barrels a day. The planned Keystone XL would carry more than 700,000 barrels of a thicker and more corrosive type of crude 1,600 miles across the American heartland, crossing the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte rivers, as well as important groundwater reserves. The Obama administration is in the final stages of an environmental review of the project.
Monday's study by the environmental engineer, John Stansbury, argues the pipeline operators TransCanada Corp, have significantly underestimated the chances of a spill and painted an overly optimistic picture of how long it would take to shut down the pipeline.
Stansbury notes that TransCanada, in its estimates, sees the possibility of 11 serious spills on the pipeline during the course of 50 years. He argues existing data suggests a more realistic estimate would be 91 accidents during that half century.
He also took issue with TransCanada's claims that it could shut down a pipeline within 19 minutes of a leak. A slow leak in a remote area of Montana or Nebraska could go undetected for days or even weeks between inspections, he warned. It took 56 minutes before ExxonMobil crews managed to stop the leak into the Yellowstone this month.
The report goes on to estimate the potential consequences of spills on four separate locations: the Platte river and Sandhills in Nebraska, and the Missouri and Yellowstone in Montana. "Contaminants from a spill at the Platte river crossing would travel downstream unabated into the Missouri river for several hundred miles and affect drinking water intake for hundreds of thousands of people," the report warns.