As the public anxiously awaits the U.S. State Department’s final decision on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the discussion has largely ignored the elephant in the room: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)
Thanks to NAFTA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the State Department will likely be able to do little more than stall the pipeline’s construction. In its simplest form, NAFTA removes barriers for North American countries wishing to do business in or...
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Robocall
I received an automated survey call.
1. Do you believe gas prices are too high?
2. Do you believe the economy needs more jobs?
TransCanada identified itself, and stated their solution: to build the pipeline. Then they wanted to put my name on a list of peoplewho approve to send to the State Department.
To the President: Keystone XL & DOTPHMSA'S Nonfeasance
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: TransCanada’s Keystone XL
Dear Mr. President:
I am concerned citizen living in Lincoln, Nebraska. Like many others, I have spoken out, in as many ways as possible, against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The reason I have taken this position is that the diluted bitumen or “DilBit” crude oil that will flow through Keystone XL, like the DilBit currently flowing through and rupturing the Keystone 1 pipeline (twelve spills occurred in its first year of operation alone), is a highly unstable, acidic, corrosive, toxic, and potentially hazardous crude oil.
This bitumen or tar is sixty times more viscous than conventional crude oil and so has to be liquefied by means of the addition of carcinogenic, water-soluble hydrocarbons, such as naphtha or benzene. In order for the mixture to flow in the pipeline in great volume, the line has to be pressurized to 1,440 psi and heated to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (conventional crude flows at ambient temperatures under only 600 psi).
Pressure variations in the pipeline will create opportunities for the liquefied hydrocarbon in the mixture to change into gaseous form. When these bubbles collapse afterward, the resultant pressure spikes will deform the pipe’s metal, making the pipeline susceptible to metal fatigue and rupture. This predictable consequence is why the current Keystone 1 pipeline, after starting to push Dilbit crude, has experienced so many shut-downs. This predictable consequence is why the Enbridge pipeline spilled upwards of a million gallons of DilBit crude into the Kalamazoo River in 2010 before it was even detected and shut down.
These facts can be found and verified in industry records or in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s February 2011 report on the dangers posed by pipeline transportation of tar sands crude, a report written in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation, the Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club.
But more disturbing than these facts, which assure an apocalyptic new normal of pipeline ruptures, explosions, and toxic spills in the Midwestern states the pipeline will travel through, is the fact that the Department of State, whose principal charge in this matter has been to conduct an EIS regarding the proposed pipeline, has not yet requested that the Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration conduct a study on the nature and properties of DilBit or “benzened” crude oil to determine what differences do in fact exist between it and conventional crude oil, and what these differences may pose as a potential hazard to property, natural resources, and human life.
Were I the president of the United States, I would drive over to the Department of Transportation after lunch to have a sit-down with Mr. Jeffrey D. Wiese, Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety, to ask him, since he is a former oil man, why PHMSA has not done due diligence by conducting a study on the potential dangers and hazards of a liquefied mixture of bitumen and aromatic hydrocarbons that is guaranteed to produce cavitation and thereby rupture pipeline metal when subjected to high heat and pressure. If you need an appointment, here is his telephone number: 202-366-4595 (his department email address does not seem to be working).
Afterwards, I would have my people identify the point person or persons at State who failed to request such a basic study be conducted and included in the EIS, and then personally give them their two-week notice.
This sloppy, cynical lack of concern for the safety of the American public and their property is beyond disgraceful, and it is happening on your watch. You have a chance to right a terrible wrong that will only grow worse if this ill-conceived and dangerous pipeline is approved and goes into service.
Don’t go down in history as just another Warren Harding. Do the right thing and deny the pipeline permit. If you do this, you may find a red state quickly turning blue.
Sincerely yours,
Liam O. Purdon