Guest Column
Open Letter to Montana Governor Regarding Keystone XL Pipeline
Farmers and ranchers along the pipeline renew call for action in light of oil spill on the Yellowstone River.By Darrell Garoutte, Tim Hess, Doris Frost, Guest Writer, 7-08-11
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| Laying the XL Keystone Pipeline in Montana. Creative Commons image. | |
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Dear Governor Schweitzer:
The Exxon pipeline rupture shows that pipeline leaks can and do happen, and that it is a disaster when landowners, emergency responders and community officials are not adequately prepared for such an occurrence. We are landowners along the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route and downstream from the Missouri and Yellowstone river crossings who are concerned about the impact that another spill would have on our families’ health, water quality, and ability to make a living on the land in Montana.
The Keystone XL will be nine times the size of the Exxon pipeline which recently ruptured – with exponentially larger impacts should there be a spill. The Keystone I pipeline, which runs through North Dakota, has had 12 leaks in its first year of operation. Because the Keystone XL pipeline needs a permit from the state of Montana, we call on YOU to protect Montanans along the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers by:
We have valid reasons for our concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline:
Despite its many assurances, TransCanada’s Keystone I pipeline produced 12 spills in its first year of operation.
Tar sands oil is a corrosive material. The overall Alberta pipeline system that carries tar sands oil has had approximately sixteen times as many spills due to internal corrosion than the U.S. system.
The Keystone pipeline is a 36-inch pipeline, and will have a transport capacity of up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day – 20 times more than the ExxonMobil pipeline.
The Keystone pipeline is routed to cross the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.
Governor, you have an opportunity to make TransCanada build their Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to the highest level of safety and quality standard possible. Assurances are not enough. We are glad that you have made it your cause to make Exxon fix the mess, but there is some damage that won’t ever be fixed. The best medicine is preventative and it is time to be preventative on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Farmers, ranchers, and other landowners along the route of the Keystone XL pipeline have been treated like we are just in the way. We wish it did not take a disaster like the Exxon spill on the Yellowstone River to show that our concerns are valid and should be taken seriously.
The risks are real, and the impacts of a failure are real. We need to start taking those risks seriously instead of accepting the standard reassurances that everything will be OK. The permitting process for Keystone XL is currently in progress, and you are in a position to prevent a disaster from Keystone XL. Please use your position toward that end.
Signed,
Darrell Garoutte
Chair of Northern Plains Pipeline Landowners Group
Tim Hess
Representative Committee member of Northern Plains Pipeline Landowner Group, and landowner near Yellowstone River.
Doris Frost
Member of Northern Plains Pipeline Landowners Group and landowner near Yellowstone River.
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Comments
No specific information on the size of the 12 leaks, or the fact that all spills are required to be reported.
No acknowledgement that pipeline technology and therefore safety improves every year.
No mention of the fact that all three of these folks use petroleum products in their daily operations, and it is in their best interest that fuel prices remain, um, payable.
No discussion of the reality that one doesn't spend a zillion dollars on a pipeline only to have it blow up and create a huge liability.
. (The full report can be found on Friends of the Earth website, as well as a synopsis.) Dr. Stansbury noted that TC has yet to produce a worst-case scenario for XL, required by the Clean Water Act. In their estimation of possible spills, TC ignored nearly 1 of 4 spills because the cause was unknown. ( A spill is a spill.) TC assumes the XL will have 1/2 half as many spills as current pipelines, despite the fact that the XL pipelines are double or triple the diameter of current pipelines, contain the more corrosive tar sands and chemicals, and are propelled with greater pressure than existing pipelines.
I question if pipeline technology and safety have improved if there were 12 leakes in the first year of the tar sands pipeline. And perhaps Mr. Sweeny would agree; one year is not much of a history.
It's lazy and dangerous to dismiss something you know little about, and far more admirable to educate oneself and adjust your beliefs accordingly.
http://www.squidoo.com/voices-from-the-yellowstone-cleanup
Gov. Schweitzer has also expressed frustration with Exxon's actions and lack of transparency and their role in the command center.
Sen. Ed Walker would be expected to support Exxon; they contributed to his campaign.
Please, lets stick with the facts.