Posted on 06/04/2011 1:41:37 PM PDT by Palter
After a series of spills, the United States Department of Transportation has ordered the TransCanada Corporation to suspend operation of its one-year-old Keystone 1 pipeline, which carries oil extracted from oil sands in the Canadian province of Alberta to the United States. The order was issued by the department’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
“Effective immediately, this order prevents TransCanada from restarting operations on their Keystone crude oil pipeline until P.H.M.S.A. is satisfied with the ongoing repairs and is confident that all immediate safety concerns have been addressed,” the agency said. It issued the order in response to two incidents in May involving oil leaks from small-diameter pump-station pipe fittings.
TransCanada’s Keystone 1 is under particular scrutiny because the company has applied to build and operate a much larger pipeline, the Keystone XL, which would run from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. That pipeline would pass under some of the Midwest’s most productive farmland and through its major aquifer.
Just last month, the Keystone 1 pipeline suffered two leaks, according to the Sierra Club, one of which involved over 10,000 gallons of oil.
Environmental experts have raised concerns about the possibility of leaks from Keystone XL, in part because TransCanada has been granted waivers that effectively allow it to use thinner steel than would normally be required in the United States. They add that the company’s pipelines are particularly vulnerable because oil from tar sands is more corrosive than conventional oil and is pumped under higher pressures and temperatures.
“I find that the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment,” Jeffrey Wiese, an administrator at the department, wrote in issuing the order.
(Excerpt) Read more at green.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Sometimes you have to wonder if Obama isn’t truly trying for stagflation.
Great Caesar’s Ghost! $10 gas! Oloser’s goal.
” until P.H.M.S.A. is satisfied with the ongoing repairs “
P.H.M.S.A. will never be satisfied with the repairs.
And sometimes you don’t need to wonder at all.
Department of Transportation?????????
Damn bass turds.
No surprise here, this is from the "Won's" administration. The pipeline does not fit into his plan to destroy the Unites States.
Say hello to $5 Gas, folks....
PHMSA = US Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
—
Has anybody ever heard of them?
Run by the a-hole Lahood?
No.
How many more such business killing bureaucracy are out there?
Just damn.
S___ Happens.
“one of which involved over 10,000 gallons of oil”
Wonder how much on the other spill?
I believe NOTHING that comes from the “Won’s” administration.
Uh, yeah.
Why?
Obviously too many.
There are no pipeline spills or releases, haven't you heard?
</sarc>
“Multiple pipeline spills of any size are just about inexcusable.”
It came oout of the ground it will seep back into the ground and doesn’t hurt anything.
From Rooters
“The line was shut on Sunday after a half-inch fitting failed at the Severance pumping station in Kansas. The fitting leaked less than 10 barrels (420 gallons) of oil, said company spokesman Terry Cunha, down from an earlier estimate of a 40-barrel spill.
A problem with a larger fitting was blamed for a 500-barrel leak earlier this month at another Keystone pumping station in North Dakota. That shut the line for six days while the company replaced similar fittings at its other pumping stations.
Cunha said TransCanada will now have to examine fittings in 21 pumping stations similar to the one that failed, delaying the reopening. “
So, did the pipeline break? Or only some fittings?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.