Peaceful Protest Underway against Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Common ground? Yes - there's spin, and spitballs toward the 'left' - but...

http://conservamerica.org/2013/03/keystone-xl-pipeline/

Just a quick cut - hit the site for the article and defense by the staff.
Identifying the scientific consensus as an extremist position is not helpful and does not suggest an informed analysis of the issue.

The problem we face is that fossil fuel corporations have successfully promoted a campaign of lies and deceptions about climate change generally and Keystone particularly. An informed judgment cannot be reached while we still promote the lies and deceptions. It is necessary to cut to the real information.

Progress has to come from all quarters, methinks...
 
http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/28/new-ted-book-turns-critical-eye-on-keystone-xl-pipeline/

Steve Mufson, author of the new TED Book Keystone XL: Down the Line and a reporter at The Washington Post, has journeyed along the entire length of the proposed pipeline. He suggests that its real story is twofold: about the American frontier spirit, and about just how far we are willing to go to feed our oil addiction. In the book, Mufson asks readers to consider the Keystone XL debate — beyond the issues of climate change, tar sands and U.S. energy trade policy. He unpacks issues that don’t get as much play in the press: the ups and downs of the North Dakota shale boom, prairie populism in Nebraska, drinking-water concerns near the Ogallala aquifer, Native American communities’ desire to protect their land and burials sites along the Trail of Tears, and ranchers’ objections to the use of eminent domain by Canadian companies.
 
http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2013/04/02/new-photos-exxon-pipeline-oil-spill-in-arkansas/

Exxon-Oil-Neighborhood-Spill.jpg


Pegasus-Spill.jpg


Exxon-Pipeline-Spill1.jpg


The booms are nearly useless - they'll only catch the bits of diluent that don't evaporate. The bitumen is heavier than water and is moving along the bottom.
 
Additional info on tarsands crude, including diluents, material safety data sheets (MSDS), and a couple of briefings on the 2010 Enbridge dilbit pipeline rupture that released 800,000 gallons into the Kalamazoo river.

http://www.crrc.unh.edu/workshops/oil_sands/index.html

From ConocoPhillips syncrude MSDS:
DANGER
Highly flammable liquid and vapor. (H225)*
Causes serious eye irritation. (H319)*
May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways. (H304)*
Harmful if inhaled. (H332)*
May cause drowsiness or dizziness. (H336)*
May cause cancer. (H350)*
May cause damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure. (H373)*
Toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. (H411)*
 
Exxon has been withholding information from Mayflower residents; declared a press blackout; and is apparently controlling local police while deploying their own private security.

http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/exxonspill-dispatches/

Mayflower, Arkansas, April 3 – Yesterday, a group of blockaders traveled to Mayflower, Arkansas, the site of a tar sands spill that led to the evacuation of dozens of homes in this small community just north of Little Rock. Our objective is to first and foremost show solidarity with affected community members by lending any form of aid or relief we can, and also by documenting the facts in a way that mainstream sources have been predictably inadequate.

Upon approaching the spill zone, we were almost immediately stopped by police and warned that any “sneaking around” would lead to an immediate trip to the Faulkner County Jail, “no warnings.” Despite the stern advisory, this particular officer made it clear that these orders were coming straight from Exxon, and that only press with permission from Exxon media officials were to be granted access to document the site. No less than 20 minutes later, we were stopped again and issued a similar warning.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30831913/highlight/338689
The video interview shows that Exxon is taking control of oiled animals from rescue organizations...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30880979
Local police are restricting filming and reporting from the scene of the oil spill, even when folks have permission from the property owner.

And there's a reaction to the local police department's efforts to restrict filming...
http://inagist.com/all/319901432641900544/
Tell Faulkner County Sheriff (501-450-4914) Deputy Sweeney's physical intimidation (grabbing arms/cameras) of those covering spill must end

Faulkner County Sheriff continue to harass citizens; pulls car over and threatens jail time if they don't leave.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30894923
...I'm getting a lot of money to make sure you stay out of these worker's way...
 
While people in the affected subdivision have been evacuated, others nearby have not and they're paying the price for staying.

http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/exxonspill-dispatches-2/
Mayflower, AR, April 4 – We had hoped to interview some affected residents, but they were too sick to talk to us. They live on a street immediately adjacent to the ones which were evacuated. Some homes which were not evacuated are actually closer to the spill than those which were – they’re a couple minutes by car but they’re only separated by a small grove of trees. The residents had not been contacted by Exxon or warned in any way about the dangers of tar sands. Both canceled the interview because they were feeling too sick to meet. Vomiting, headaches, dizziness, burning throats and coughing: the exact same symptoms felt by Kalamazoo residents after the Enbridge tar sands spill there in 2010.

Local police aren't just keeping 'citizen journalists' out...

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-mar...on-impeding-spill-coverage-arkansas#uniteblue
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/2...reporter-threatened-arrest-ark-oil-spill-site
On Friday morning, Inside Climate News reported that an Exxon spokesperson told reporter Lisa Song that she could be "arrested for criminal trespass" when she went to the command center to try to find representatives from the EPA and the Department of Transportation. On Friday afternoon, I spoke to the news director from the local NPR affiliate who said he, too, had been threatened with arrest while trying to cover the spill.

EPA on site, but EXXON runs the show...
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/2...n-running-show-not-federal-agencies?page=show
 
Local residents learn of Mayflower oil spill from the news? Nope. The city? Nope. Facebook.

http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/exxonspill-dispatches-4/

They keep telling us different stories about what kind of oil actually spilled here. I don't think the public actually knows.

Then, we went to the wetland where Exxon has been dumping the diluted bitumen. That’s right: in order to get the tar sands out of the neighborhood where it spilled and out of sight and into one place for cleanup, we heard reports that Exxon had been pumping the excess to a wetland area which had already been affected by the spill. We went there to find out. It was just before sunset, and most of the workers had gone home. We had tried to access this area before but always been kept out by workers and police. (coordinates: 34 57 42.65, -92 24 52.64, just a couple hundred feet from the Bell Slough State Wildlife Management Area)
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO4s4P7eFk4[/youtube]

Keystone XL Re-Route - we'll skip the Ogallala if we can have the Great Lakes instead...

http://climatecrocks.com/2013/04/15...he-way-life-on-planet-earth-at-risk/#comments

Two oil projects in the works could significantly increase the amount of heavy crude oil moving on — and near — the Great Lakes, causing alarm among environmentalists because they involve the same heavy oil that was behind a $1-billion oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in 2010 that remains an ecological disaster.
 
A good summary of why tarsands diluted bitumen is not the same as regular crude oil, and a look at why we can expect repeats of the Kalamazoo and Arkansas pipe ruptures as the industry moves more diluted bitumen in old pipelines.

Approximately half of all spills in Canada are due to tar sands pipelines
And the vast majority of those are new pipelines...

Syncrude is partially refined and flows through pipelines more like regular crude - but the industry has been pushing more 'raw' dilbit for about the last 10 years. Raw dilbit is up to 20 times more acidic, 70 times more viscous, and much more abrasive than crude.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P6m-azrxI8[/youtube]

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/...12190318/Enbridge-buys-dozens-riverside-homes
Since Aug. 3, Enbridge has offered to buy up to 200 homes that were within 200 feet of the Kalamazoo River.

The homes were in a "red zone" -- a drinking water advisory area created by the Calhoun County Public Health Department.
 
Cornell University: Economic impacts of tarsands spills

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globalla...d/GLI_Impact-of-Tar-Sands-Pipeline-Spills.pdf

This report examines the potentially negative impacts of tar sands oil spills on employment and the
economy. it draws attention to economic sectors at risk from a tar sands pipeline spill, particularly in the
six states along Keystone XL’s proposed route—Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Texas. This report also shows how Michigan’s Kalamazoo River spill in 2010—to date the largest tar sands
oil spill in the U.S.—caused significant economic damage and negatively impacted the quality of life of
local communities.

The information was collected from employment and economic data in the pipeline states, as well as from
interviews with business people, landowners, farmers, and ranchers who live and work along the proposed
route for the Keystone XL or near the Kalamazoo River oil spill.
 
Arkansas Attorney General:
"I think it's very fair to say that Lake Conway has not received catastrophic damage, but of course there is oil in Lake Conway."

The state of Arkansas is preparing for litigation. McDaniel says they have sent subpoenas and are coordinating with the Department of Environmental Equality, the EPA, and the Department of Transportation Pipeline Safety.

"Environmental tests are being conducted. Oversight is being performed. I'm waiting to receive information from Exxon's legal team. We're in constant communication with them. I hope that residents of Faulkner County are retaining their own lawyers. They need to seek council because they are going to have damages."

http://www.katv.com/story/21889151/mcdaniel?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8744368
 
Transcanada replacing miles of defective pipeline in Texas

http://ecowatch.com/2013/transcanada-damage-control-flaws-southern-keystone-xl-pipeline/

Dozens of anomalies, including dents and welds, reportedly have been identified along a 60-mile stretch of the southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, north of the Sabine River in Texas.
In the past two weeks, landowners have observed TransCanada and its vendor, Michels, digging up the buried southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline on their properties and those of neighbors in the vicinity of Winnsboro, TX. Some of the new pipeline has been in the ground on some owners’ land for almost six months. It is believed that problems identified on this section of the Keystone XL route must have triggered the current digging, raising questions from landowners about the safety of the pipeline and the risk to personal property and water supplies.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf0Vi3dp5bc[/youtube]
 
Back
Top