Last November, to the relief of almost everyone not on the TransCanada payroll, President Obama nixed the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline that would have taken oil from the Canadian Tar Sands all the way to the US Gulf Coast. It was a good thing. But just because Keystone XL won’t be constructed (until a Republican is in the White House) doesn’t mean that we’re free from fantastically long pipelines, and the number of leaks from these pipelines is increasing.
Last year, an analysis of federal data by the Associated Press found that the annual number of significant leaks in oil pipelines had risen by 60 percent since 2009, more or less a match for the increase in U.S. crude oil production. Around two-thirds of those leaks were caused by corrosion, material failure, bad welds or equipment failures. The rest were caused by natural disasters or human error.
All of which leads to the EPA suggesting a tighter look at another mega-pipeline in the works.
The pipeline will cross through Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. Dakota Access, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has received state permits to proceed with the 1,168-mile pipeline, which will carry nearly half a million barrels of oil a day from northwestern North Dakota's Bakken oil fields.
Bakken is one of those fields opened up by fracking, which has completely upended oil and gas production in the US and provided a sudden abundance of cheap oil. This pipeline will cross dozens of rivers (including the Missouri and Mississippi) cut through threatened tall grass prairie, run past the home range of endangered species, and, oh yeah, cut through Native American tribal lands where the EPA official in charge believes it could threaten drinking water supplies.
He questioned the corps' draft assessment conclusion that says there is minimal risk of an oil spill to water resources, noting the pipeline crosses the Missouri just 10 miles above the drinking water intake for Fort Yates, North Dakota, the headquarters for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Giving a company a cheap route to market with their fracking-generated oil is a national priority worth the risk because … ?
By the way, Energy Transfer is run by billionaire Kelcy Warren last year blew $5 million on Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. Not exactly the best argument that he makes safe investments.