Pipeline 150 miles from Dakota Access protests leaks 176,000 gallons

[swag]

Source: CNN

(CNN) Activists who have demonstrated for months against the Dakota Access Pipeline may have some fuel to justify their protests.
A spill has occurred 150 miles from Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where protesters have fought construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

State officials estimate 4,200 barrels of crude oil, or 176,000 gallons, have leaked from the Belle Fourche Pipeline in Billings County.

Of that amount, 130,000 gallons of oil has flowed into Ash Coulee Creek, while the rest leaked onto a hillside, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager at the North Dakota Department of Health. Built in the 1980s, the pipeline is 6 inches in diameter and transports about 1,000 barrels of oil daily, he said. The leak happened December 5.

"Any time it gets into water, we respond differently and we take it more seriously," Suess said. He said more than 100 people are working to clean up the spill. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause, he said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/us/pipeline-spill-north-dakota/index.html?sr=twCNN121416pipeline-spill-north-dakota1142AMVODtopPhoto&linkId=32367416

[Achilleaze]

1. Comrade Casino Trump (R), the Koch Bros. & Repulican Cabal O'Cronies intend to...

shove this pipeline up America's keister all the same. There's megabucks in it for them. And they could care less about the consequences to people or planet.

[agalisgv]

12. Wish I could recommend an individual reply

My thoughts exactly

[ZoomBubba]

2. This is indicative of the company that installed it ...

... not the industry itself. The True family's oil companies have a track record of track record of trying to skid on safety regulations: http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520145017W/520145017W_warning%20letter_11212014.pdf

I will clarify that I have worked in the pipeline industry and the company I worked for went past what regulations required, using high quality pipe and limiting alteration of the surrounding environment. There are some bad ones and I don't believe they do things out of the goodness of their hearts, but I don't see it as the big Satan of today. I would actually like to go back if work expands again as the big pay checks made my life, and in turn my family's, easier. So, go ahead and call me whatever name you want.

[swag]

3. I shall call thee ZoomBubba

[ZoomBubba]

4. Look, I know many people here hate ...

... the industry along with pretty much all others centered around fossil fuels. I can understand that, but approaching it as if you plan to end it tomorrow is not the way to go about it. You have thousands of workers who depend on construction, inspections and everything in between .... and being outright hostile toward them isn't going to gain seats in red states nor help us retain the seats we have in those states. A lot of those guys working aren't anti-Democrat, but their priority is maintaining the lifestyle they've earned and saying "OK, it's over, go work at Walmart" just isn't going to cut it.

[swag]

7. Well, I'm sure you're aware of recent good news for workers

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/texanomics/article/Oil-jobs-may-be-coming-back-faster-than-10797858.php?t=f4aa4a1764438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium

[ZoomBubba]

10. To be fair ...

... oil is better than coal and natural gas is better than oil. I don't deny that those jobs will eventually vanish. I just think we need to prepare for it.

[Ilsa]

8. I think most on DU recognize what you are saying.

We still have manypractically and economically dependent on this industry. But you also realize that we'd like to see a weaning off the industry and towards renewables. It's frustrating to see us make progress, then get shoved five steps back. I know that the big corps have investments and research in renewables, which is to be encouraged.

Let's hope we don't make the planet unliveable before we get changed over.

Zoombubba! (Sounds like a cheer.)

[ZoomBubba]

9. I'm in agreement that the weaning is necessary ...

... but I think that gets dominated by louder voices who are more photogenic or say things that get clicks. I'm not a fossil-fuel lover or someone who believes that we can replace it over night.

The combination of regulations and market demand have really spurred the change faster than either alone could. Right now, we're looking at the end of coal in the US in probably less than two decades. I'm sure oil will eventually follow as its probability decreases. But natural gas is probably going to be here a bit longer as it is so cheap to extract.

I'd like to think we could tell the coal workers and other field guys in the fossil fuel industries that they could just switch to renewable energy jobs. But I think pretty much everyone knows that's not going to happen. Renewables just don't require the same amount of work that fossil fuels do. And overall, manufacturing jobs and transport jobs are going to eventually belong to robots and drones, with service jobs probably following to an extent (cashiers jobs will probably shift to cleanliness and maintenance in auto-stores though). Far off, probably more than two decades, ag is going to be impacted by in vitro meat and those jobs will largely vanish too.

It seems that all the changes are inevitable, but we're not future proofing our workforce or preparing for a society where people far outnumber jobs.

[JudyM]

14. In vitro meat can't get here fast enough, IMO! That alone will drastically cut greenhouse gases.

[ZoomBubba]

21. The contribution of livestock to greenhouse gases ...

... is probably the most ignored part of it. I blame a lot of that on the romanticized view of farming and fear of GMOs, not to mention general ignorance of factory farming. But traditional farming of livestock is also very damaging. I really don't know how longer it can be avoided until it gets the spotlight.

[womanofthehills]

16. I guess you did not work on Keystone - three-quarters of the welds required redoing - SCARY

“From the start of welding,” the PHMSA wrote in a Sept. 26, 2013, letter (PDF), “TransCanada experienced a high weld rejection rate.” (That is, ultrasonic testing on the welds holding the pipes together determined they were not up to snuff.) “During the first week 26.8 percent of the welds required repairs, 32.0 percent the second week, 72.2 percent the third week, and 45.0 percent the fourth week. On September 25, 2012, TransCanada stopped the Spread 3 welding after 205 of the 425 welds, or 48.2 percent required repairs.”

During one week in September, 72 percent, or almost three-quarters, of the welds on the “safest pipeline in the world” required redoing. (TransCanada, for its part, says it has addressed the PHMSA’s concerns, and you can read its response in writing here [PDF].) Throughout the Keystone XL fight, TransCanada has maintained that the chance of a spill is remote, and that its pipelines are state-of-the-art. But the implications of TransCanada’s inferior welding on its Southern leg are precisely why the Keystone XL has met with such fierce resistance on the ground in Nebraska. It’s there the planned pipe will pass over the Ogallala aquifer, which irrigates much of the Great Plains, and directly and indirectly supports millions of American jobs—and that’s not counting all the drinking water.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-30/the-real-reason-keystone-xl-might-fail

[ZoomBubba]

20. I'm not sure what your point is ...

... the PHSMA did their job and caught the flaws. That's what they're supposed to do.

It does nothing to negate the necessity of pipelines to transport oil and gas.

[Equinox Moon]

5. AAAHHHHH!!!!! Enough with the oil and pipelines etc. Clean ENERGY NOW!

This is but one of many spills that happen and the public does not learn of it.

Proof for Standing Rock!

FYI - DAPL is for oil that will be sold overseas! Not used in the USA.

[Sunlei]

6. corp lies like a rug "Company: Equipment Didn't Detect North Dakota Oil Leak" link

Pictures by the corp of the exact 'leak' or its a lie about the amount & the 'clean-up' , it's a 6 miles long 'leak' and must have been missed for DAYS.


Why don't 'State Officials' sue the shit out of these corporations for damages to the land and water?

Company: Equipment Didn't Detect North Dakota Oil Leak link

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pipeline-spills-176000-gallons-oil-north-dakota-creek-44143592

[Equinox Moon]

13. The "state officals" are in on it

The republican governor has been horrible with all of this. He has taken sides with the corp oil, not the people.

I have come to believe these people are wired differently, and have no consciousness and soul that they are in touch with. (oilmongers and repubs)

[womanofthehills]

15. Companies have been dumping radioactive fracking waste all over N Dakota - sides of roads, in fields

Where Has the Waste Gone? Fracking Results in Illegal Dumping of Radioactive Toxins

The short answer is, no one knows. Illegal radioactive waste-dumping in North Dakota is widespread. Because oil companies were not legally allowed to dispose of radioactive oil field waste that was higher than 5 picocuries in landfills, companies trucked the waste to licensed facilities in Idaho, Colorado and Montana. Shipping costs ate into profits and some companies began dumping radioactive waste in abandoned buildings, on the side of dirt roads or in the middle of fields. Others concealed contaminated materials in non-radioactive loads in order to sneak them into landfills.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38022-where-has-the-waste-gone-fracking-results-in-illegal-dumping-of-radioactive-toxins

[Equinox Moon]

17. I grieve at this news you posted

How can these people sleep at night?
Answer: they are unconscious and probably socio-pathic. It is an epidemic that needs to be addressed. These are people that need help.

*************************
Hello, 'Woman Of The Hills'
Your name carries with it a sense of who you are. Someone I would feel respect for.

Nice to meet you.

[womanofthehills]

19. Thank you for the sweet words Equinox Moon

Agreed - these people are evil sociopaths.

[agalisgv]

11. Water is life

I wish more people cared.

[Equinox Moon]

18. Here is some good news from Seattle!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028370190#post2