Thought Piece
Not to be undone by the Washington Post reporting, the New York Times begins its story with the following headline: “With Big Spill to Clean….” then, the reporter breathlessly writes about “the images of South Dakota grassland blemished by 210,000 gallons of leaked Canadian crude oil….”
Continuing, the reporter opines that this week’s leak is “grimly familiar,” even though the last “spill” happened in 2011. The actual spill “blackened roughly 100-yard radius in a grassy field.” In other words, the spill was roughly the radius of a football field.
Besides the overheated rhetoric and emotionalism, there is the matter of too much reliance on two local neighbors, who are clearly emotional. In fact, the “Times report” ends with neighbor Lillian Anderson saying: “If those commissioners in Nebraska care anything about their state, their people and their grandchildren and children to come, they will turn it down in a heartbeat.” Ms Anderson went on to finish: “There is nothing I think safe about this.” Nothing safe about TransCanada pipeline?
Thank goodness, there were a few sane quotes earlier in this piece from a South Dakota environment scientist and energy expert. If only the Post and the Times could resist sensationalizing and politicizing these kind of stories.
With Big Spill to Clean, Pipeline Owner Seeks Keystone XL Approval
The images of South Dakota grassland blemished by 210,000 gallons of leaked Canadian crude oil could not have come at a worse time for the Keystone Pipeline’s operator, TransCanada, which on Monday will ask regulators in Nebraska to approve a different pipeline despite fierce opposition.
This week’s leak was grimly familiar for Bob Banderet, a rancher on the Keystone route in North Dakota, about 20 miles north of the spill. In 2011, Mr. Banderet said he had spotted “a geyser of oil shooting straight up in the air” from a Keystone pumping station near his property. He found the response by TransCanada to be flat-footed and opaque.
“As far as transparency, in my eyes they get a failing grade,” Mr. Banderet said.
Though TransCanada has spilled far less than many of its competitors, the Keystone Pipeline has sprung several leaks since it was began operating in 2010. The federal government fined the company $135,400this year for safety violations including corrosion control, and since 2011, regulators have opened 13 enforcement cases against TransCanada.
Thursday’s spill follows the 2011 leak spotted by Mr. Banderet in North Dakota and a 2016 spill in South Dakota, each of which released more than 16,000 gallons. TransCanada has also reported several smaller spills.
“They’re certainly not the worst, they’re certainly not the best,” said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an industry watchdog group.
The concern, Mr. Weimer said, is that the “pipeline is not very old.”
The mixed-bag record contrasts with TransCanada’s promotional materials and news releases, which talk about exceeding regulations and building exceptionally safe pipelines. Company executives have boasted that the project awaiting approval in Nebraska, Keystone XL, would be “the safest pipeline ever constructed on American soil.”
Details were still emerging on Friday about the latest spill, which blackened a roughly 100-yard radius in a grassy field outside Amherst, S.D., and caused the pipeline to be shut down. A preliminary report filed with the state listed “equipment failure” as the cause.
About 75 TransCanada workers and contractors were at the site on Friday, along with federal and state regulators, to begin a lengthy cleanup that will include the excavation of part of the pipeline.
“I would think it’s probably weeks for sure,” said Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. Walsh said that the spill had been contained and that there was no immediate risk to drinking water or residents.
Ed Hirs, a finance lecturer at the University of Houston and a partner in a small oil company, said it appeared TransCanada was responding appropriately by releasing information and sending workers to clean up.
“The first thing they want to do is minimize any impact,” Mr. Hirs said. “They’re out there racing around to get this done and mitigate the impact of this disaster.”
Despite several requests, TransCanada did not make any executives available for comment. The company said in a statement that it had “taken this incident very seriously” and was cooperating with regulators.
Lillian Anderson, who owns land a few miles from the spill and has long opposed the project, said that she had tried to get close to the leak but that gravel roads leading to the area were blocked.
“You could smell the oil,” said Ms. Anderson, who said she had been unimpressed with the company since before the Keystone Pipeline began operation.
“This stuff was so great we were never supposed to worry about it,” Ms. Anderson said. “Well, 10 years later, guess what? It’s leaking.”
The Keystone Pipeline is part of a 2,687-mile system that carries crude oil from Alberta to several points in the United States, including Illinois and Oklahoma. The Keystone XL pipeline would be a roughly 1,100-mile addition to that network, but it still needs approval from the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which has scheduled a vote for Monday.
The Nebraska permit is the last major regulatory hurdle before construction can begin, but Keystone XL’s opponents have pointed to the South Dakota leak as an ominous preview of what might await.
“Imagine if this was right in the middle of where hundreds of cattle were and what that would mean,” said Jane Kleeb, who has led the pipeline opposition in Nebraska for years and leads the state Democratic Party.
Defenders of Keystone XL, among them President Trump and many labor unions and business groups, have called the pipeline an economic necessity that would create jobs and transport oil more safely than a train or a truck.
Occasional leaks remain “a hazard of the business,” Mr. Hirs said.
But Ms. Anderson, the landowner near the South Dakota spill, said she remained concerned about her drinking water and the soil. She said she hoped regulators in neighboring Nebraska were paying attention.
“If those commissioners in Nebraska care anything about their state, their people and their grandchildren and children to come, they would turn it down in a heartbeat,” she said. “There is nothing I think is safe about this.”
