Why Tar Sands Pipelines Guarantee Disaster

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/why-tar-sands-pipelines-guarantee-disaster



***SNIP

Here's something that ExxonMobil probably didn't tell those homeowners: In 2010, it was fined $26,200 by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for failing to regularly inspect each point where the Pegasus line crosses under a navigable waterway.

This is a pipeline that crosses under the Mississippi River (just one of the places ExxonMobil failed to do inspections). It's hard to say which is more shocking: That "safety first" ExxonMobil has been so cavalier about pipeline inspections or that it was fined such a pittance for its irresponsibility. By my calculation, $26,200 comes out to about .00009% of ExxonMobil's net income for 2010. Let's put that in perspective. If ExxonMobil's income were the same as the median family income in Faulkner County, Arkansas, which is where its pipeline leaked, then ExxonMobil's fine for putting the Mississippi River at risk would have been not quite four cents.

No matter how much ExxonMobil ends up spending to clean up the mess in Mayflower, the impact on its profit statement will be miniscule. Unfortunately, no amount of cash can buy peace of mind for the families whose homes were violated by tar sands. Tar sands crude is both more toxic and much harder to clean than ordinary crude. Just ask Enbridge, which has now spent almost $1 billion and two years trying to clean up the Kalamazoo River after the largest onshore oil spill in U.S. history. Enbridge has experience, too. There were 804 spills on its pipelines between 1999 and 2010.

No wonder ExxonMobil is doing everything it can to keep reporters and everyone else as far away from the Mayflower disaster as possible. The more the American public learns about the real cost of tar sands crude, the more opposition to the Keystone XL and other tar sands projects will increase.

[Flying Squirrel]

1. Thanks

For posting this - you're one of my favorite DUers btw.

[xchrom]

2. that's nice of you to say. thanks. nt

[limpyhobbler]

3. In 2010 Exxon was fined for failing to inspect the Pegasus pipeline ??

wow.

[Archaic]

4. Apparently we need one of these to crack open in DC.

All they see right now is the pipeline of money they're getting to support this thing.

[Archaic]

5. A thought just struck me.

If we were to all go there, and soak up a paint can of this stuff each, and dump it in DC or Times Square, we'd be arrested as polluters (or at least litterbugs).

Man I hate that.