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Tar Sands oil has a specific gravity that is heavier than conventional crude, causing it to sink in water, not float on top for skimmers to pick up. It was tar sands that ran through Marshall Michigan in Enbridge’s Pipeline 6B that ruptured on July 26, 2010 sending over one million gallons into the Kalamazoo river. As of October 22, 2011, nearly forty miles of the river is still restricted, even to residents. The E.P.A recently said that the lighter part of the oil evaporated, “making the heavy mixture even more heavy as it moved down the creek and down the river; it had an increased tendency to sink.” “It’s the nature of the mixture of the oil that caused it to sink.” This is the first time the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has had a diluted bitumen (tar sands) spill of this size, and responders are “writing the book” on how to respond, said Ralph Dollhopf, EPA incident commander for the spill. “At minimum, we’re writing a chapter in the oil spill cleanup book on how to identify submerged oil,” Dollhopf said. “We’re writing chapters on how it behaves once it does spill (and) how to recover it.”
It has been shown through data collection, local testimony and video footage that the spill numbers for this spill do not add up. The reported spill was for 819,000 gal., however the EPA reports, on 8-10-11, that 766,000 gallons of oil has been recovered. Therefore, if 766,000 has been recovered and the EPA says it could take a couple more years of clean up, and nearly 40 miles is still off limits, and so much oil can still be found on what is now Enbridge’s private property, – then it is not even remotely possible that only 819,000 gallons spilled. This means that the EPA is saying that approximately 94% was recovered.
It is important to note that the NY Times recently reported that according to federal reports, the percentage of dangerous liquids recovered by pipeline operators after a spill is less than half of all hazardous liquids spilled. The Michigan spill is in no way an exception to that federal estimate.
Another important note is that Enbridge reported that the spill occurred on Monday, however residents across from Talmage creek reported the smell of oil on Saturday, two days before.
Combine the amount of oil that is stated to be recovered with the fact that so much oil over such a large area still remains and the reports of the spill beginning on Saturday; – then the amount of oil that actually spilled could be nearly double what was reported.
Another important aspect is the health effects of a tar sands spill from a pipeline. Tar sands by themselves are higher in heavy metals and carcinogens, but when more carcinogenic diluents, natural gas liquid condensate, benzene, toluene, hydrogen sulfide, etc. are then all mixed together for transport, then an even more dangerous and toxic scenario presents itself. When U.S. regulators admit that there are not any regulations in place to guarantee that tar sands pipelines can be built or operated safely, then we end up with issues, like the ones in Michigan, being covered up.
The aftermath of a tar sands oil spill in Michigan has left a community with sickness, anger, and loss of livelihood.
http://stoptarsands.org/pipeline-poison
“We are also having problems with our memory. I can’t remember anything anymore. I don’t let my kids go outside anymore because I don’t want them to keep breathing all that crap. My kids are telling me they can’t remember things they did even just a short while ago.”
Nicolas Forte, a 22-year-old construction worker and carpenter who also lives 100 metres from the contaminated river, has meanwhile suffered a total of 43 seizures since the oil spill occurred last July. Forte emphasized to Al Jazeera: “I’ve never had health problems before this. I was in perfect health before the spill.”
Watch the video at the top of this page. Tar sands spills present new and unique challenges for clean up crews. The solution was to tell clean up workers to cover the oil up with sand, gravel, mesh, and vegetation. Out of sight equals out of mind.
Another solution by the EPA and Industry is to leave the tar sands oil in what is determined to be more environmentally sensitive areas, like wetlands. The reasoning for this is, they say, moving in and cleaning up the oil will cause more damage to the environment. They then say that the oil will bio-degrade over time. However, they fail to mention just how long it will take for this toxic sludge to bio-degrade, given the fact that the tar sands has been around for thousands and thousands of years already without bio-degrading. Meanwhile, heavy metals and carcinogens will continue to leach into the ground and water supplies and contaminate the area for generations to come. The only thing the EPA and Industry avoid by leaving the oil and covering it up is the constant visible reminder of the destruction that the spill caused. Those responsible need to suck it up and make every effort to clean it all up. Considering the time it would take to simply let this toxic sludge bio-degrade, the sensitive environment would recover much faster from a thorough clean up and be far less toxic and damaging than the cop-out alternative of leaving it.
What about brand new Tar Sands pipelines, how are they holding up to the corrosive and acidic nature of tar sands, combined with the with high heat, and high pressure?
Even the best conventional pipeline technology is not suited to handle Tar Sands crude.
Internal corrosion caused more than sixteen times as many spills in the Alberta pipeline system as the U.S. system.
Tom Finch, PHMSA’s (Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration) technical services director for its Western Regional office, recently asserted that tar sands may cause more wear and tear on pipelines. Despite these concerns, PHMSA Administrator Quarterman told Congress last month that 1) pipeline regulations were not designed for raw tar sands crude, 2) regulators had not yet evaluated what measures would be necessary to ensure that raw tar sands pipelines could be built and operated safely, and 3) PHMSA had not been involved in the environmental review for Keystone XL.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aswift/tar_sands_implicated_in_yellow.html
Enbridge, TransCanada leaks dominate safety board cases. New Keystone pipeline caused 21 incidents over past two years
The log entries by investigators are dominated by two Alberta based companies, Enbridge and TransCanada, which are involved in nearly three quarters of the reported cases, including 21 incidents on the latter’s new multibillion-dollar Keystone pipeline, which launched the first phase of its commercial operation in June 2010.
Keystone is the newest pipeline on record to be deemed an immediate threat to life, property and the environment by pipeline regulators. Federal regulators made an unprecedented decision by when they issued TransCanada with a Corrective Action Order (CAO) after determining that the Keystone tar sands pipeline was an imminent threat to life, property and the environment. This enforcement action has never been taken on such a new pipeline. To put this finding in perspective, consider this – over the last twenty five years, regulators have issued only forty-eight CAOs for the entire 170,000 mile U.S. hazardous liquid pipeline system. On average, these pipelines were more than forty-five years old when they were issued a CAO. Before the Keystone tar sands pipeline, which is still less than a year old, the newest pipeline to be deemed an immediate threat to public safety was twenty five years old.
The State Department concludes and accepts in their analyses that the Keystone XL pipeline could leak as much as 1.7 million gallons a day without triggering its leak detection system and at TransCanada’s suggestion, will not require additional ground patrols for these undetectable leaks. The State Department, by their own admission, can not conduct a full analysis due to a lack of disclosure of the chemicals transported in the pipeline that are considered proprietary information by the shippers. As a result, the EPA said it couldn’t determine the potential impacts to groundwater in the event of a spill.
According to TransCanada’s own emergency response plan for Keystone, the potential for the worst possible spill between Steele City, Neb., and Patoka is in St. Charles County near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. TransCanada said more than 24,000 barrels could pour from the line before a leak could be stopped.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/article_b8b391f6-0b09-57a7-9b8c-ef008776a3d4.html
The big question is, “ Why is the cart being put before the horse?” The answer is simple, – money and the power of the industry lobby. All logic and reason is being thrown out the window when money is the initiator of destructive projects such as tar sands. Fraud, deceptive practices, conflicts of interest, and budgets relating to profit margins have been allowed to dominate and conceal real and actual threats to our land, air, water, and lives. This is unacceptable and is not in the national interest of the people.
Corporations are not people. If they were, many of them would be considered sociopaths.
