Keystone pipeline leak

[grassfarmer]

....There are bigger accumulations of spilled oil on some farm yards than what got spilled here....

More that 383,000 US gallons? Must be messy b#$%%^s.

Face it it's another epic fail by Jazz trying to create a story out of nothing. Funny how he listens to CBC given how much he claims to despise it?
Still won't comment on the Conservative dominated Standing Committee on Agriculture's poor track record of decision making though. Prefers to keep his ideology intact by making the facts negotiable.

[sumdumguy]

I can’t believe that bigger leaks still go undetected. You would think that soon as there is a leak, pressure falls off on receiving end. With the technology out there today and aircraft surveillance of the line, the leak would be addressed pronto. Wth! The natural gas line between shops in our farmyard is wrapped with a detector cable.

Also why are these line failures in N. Dakota? Huh? You would think that the failures would happen where there is ground shifting like earthquake zones and eroding slopes. Not flat, sandy prairie. Wondering....

[Guest]

What about the billions of liters of hydrocarbon based pesticides deliberately spread across the world on an annual basis

[fjlip]

What about the billions of liters of hydrocarbon based pesticides deliberately spread across the world on an annual basis

Well as we all know DILUTION is the key. Too much of even a GOOD thing can KILL you. The sun/UV rays DESTROY anything even us. Plastic, oil or pesticides are no match for sunshine.

[Oliver88]

For perspective, if this oil was all on one acre it would be 14.11” deep. Big deal CNN 👎

This is such an insignificant amount that they need to report by the litre to make it sound outrageous.

[GDR]

In our area there is a patchwork of pipelines carrying various products that would blow most people's minds. Looking at a pipeline map its hard to believe any one can build anything anywhere with all the setbacks. There are some newer ones but most are 40 to 60 yrs old. I have never heard of a local rupture yet (maybe go unreported who knows) but how come these leaks the last few years seem to be on the high profile lines? Could there be a sabotage component? The companies falling behind on their testing and inspections? Capacity pushed too hard due to lack of infrastructure? Dont know but if we want public acceptance for crying out loud they gotta stop the leaks.

And for those of you that think its an insignificant leak, what if it had been on your farm, wouldn't likely feel the same. It can be cleaned up, and it is not the end of the world but it's still a big spill.

[grassfarmer]

....And for those of you that think its an insignificant leak, what if it had been on your farm, wouldn't likely feel the same.....

Was just going to say that GDR.

[jazz]

I have got Enbridge L3 36 inch running right across a half section of mine. I dont worry about it in the slightest.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I can’t believe that bigger leaks still go undetected. You would think that soon as there is a leak, pressure falls off on receiving end. With the technology out there today and aircraft surveillance of the line, the leak would be addressed pronto. Wth! The natural gas line between shops in our farmyard is wrapped with a detector cable.

Also why are these line failures in N. Dakota? Huh? You would think that the failures would happen where there is ground shifting like earthquake zones and eroding slopes. Not flat, sandy prairie. Wondering....

According to CEPA, corrosion is the biggest factor. If you add metal loss, plus cracking ( which likely includes primarily stress corrosion cracking), corrosion amounts to over half of all failures. Geotechnical being almost insignificant at 7.4%.

Materials and manufacturing is also a big one, but that has more to do with the age of many of these pipelines, and the standards ( or lack thereof) , and oversight back in the day.

And I get what Jazz is implying about the average reader having no sense of scale, and no point of reference. So when the media throws out a number with lots of zeroes, how is the reader to know if that is 100% of all pipeline capacity that day, or a literal and figurative drop in the ocean.

Airplanes fly over once a week locally checking pipelines. And they do notice things, I've been notified when I've been doing excavation in the vicinity (but safely off the right of way) because airplanes reported, and it wasn't on record through first call. But a lot can happen in a week.

[malleefarmer]

My lack of knowledge showing how do they clean it up? Remove a few feet or inches o soil or spray something to break it down?

[makar]

Crude is actually natural to the enviroment, it oozes everywhere and not nice stuff it does break down naturally.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

My lack of knowledge showing how do they clean it up? Remove a few feet or inches o soil or spray something to break it down?

The solution to pollution is dilution. Which basically means they spend absurd amounts of fossil fuels to dilute it down, and bury the remainder in a land fill.

Vacuum up the liquids, send to a recycling facility to salvage the oil, then dispose of the water etc left over down a disposal well.

Dig out the most contaminated soil and haul to a recycling facility, dump it on a pad and stir it up occasionally to get the hydrocarbons to ooze out, and salvage them, then bury the remainder in a sealed landfill.

What is left gets stirred up and aired out until levels are acceptable.

Nature has been hosting oil spills forever, and has been doing a very good job of returning the area to productivity all by herself too. There are bacteria etc that consume the oil.