Concerns Over Spills to Come

A "worse-case-scenario" report was released regarding the Keystone XL pipeline, which carries oil from Canada to the U.S. These reports exemplified that a "worse-case-scenario" spill could excrete "over 7 million gallons of toxic tar sands oil- or partly-refined bitumen- in the Nebraska Sandhills region, and another 5-6 million barrels at each of the three river crossings." With these predictions revealed, concerns of the safety of expanding the pipeline have come into question. The State Department has already come up against conflicts with the US Environmental Protection Agency and other various environmental groups over the many potential "environmental hazards of the Keystone XL expansion." TransCanada estimated 11 "significant" spills for the line encompassing 50 years of operation, about 50 barrels of oil or more. John Stansbury, associate professor and associate chair of environmental and water resources engineering, discloses that there are 91 'significant" spills recorded over Keystone's lifespan. Stansbury reports that TransCanada uses assumptions in their assessments to "minimize resulting impacts". Just how are these assumptions reliable in allowing environmental agencies to maintain the health and protection of the environment? They're not. With use of these "assumptions" proper decisions cannot fully be valid. Stansbury exclaims he only wants to offer an alternative view of what could be possible. This alternative view has uncovered plausible cause for more in depth research to discern the potential environmental hazards that the line expansion could generate. Without a concentrated look into the safety of this expansion and the harmful effects it could impose on the environment and surrounding societies, the plans for Keystone expansion should be postponed.
http://www.emagazine.com/daily-news/concerns-over-spills-to-come