DAPL Not so Safe After All...Suffers Significant Leak...Company DID NOT KNOW.

Kelcy Warren, Energy Transfer CEO

The Army Corp admitted that there was a serious danger to the potable water supplies of a community when the pipeline's original routing took it through a predominantly WHITE community up by the state capital.   Reroute the pipeline away from this White community to a more rural area populated by POC, and suddenly the Army Corp and the companies involved in building the Pipeline want you to believe that moving the pipeline to a different area suddenly makes it SAFE...who are we kidding here?  If the pipeline presents a potential risk to human health in what area, it presents a risk to human health in ALL AREAS.

For months, the Water Protectors and those who support them have fought a brave fight against over whelming odds, and won a major battle in the fight to stop the pipeline.  Now it seems that Kismet is stepping in and giving these brave patriots yet another helping hand in their fight...absolute concrete proof that the pipeline IS NOT SAFE, does threaten the potable water supplies in their community if this project is allowed to move forward.

Kelcy Warren of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners said in a interview on November 16th:

Also, on each side of the lake, there’s automated valves that, if in the very, very unlikely situation there were to be a leak, our control room shuts down the pipe, encapsulates that small section that could be in peril. 

So, that’s that’s just not going to happen. Number one, we’re not going to have a leak. 

OK...lets fast forward to THIS WEEK!  From CNN:

A spill has occurred 150 miles from Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where protesters have fought construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

State officials estimate 4,200 barrels of crude oil, or 176,000 gallons, have leaked from the Belle Fourche Pipeline in Billings County. 

Of that amount, 130,000 gallons of oil has flowed into Ash Coulee Creek, while the rest leaked onto a hillside, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager at the North Dakota Department of Health.

It would be nice if the Federal Agency who approves these kinds of projects (FERC) were actually honest with the stakeholder communities...they are not.  Much like other agencies such as the NRC, they state at Public Meetings and Hearings a basic lie..."There is no immediate danger associated with this project."  Immediate danger means in the RIGHT NOW, verse something that will more than likely occur a year, five years or ten down the line, such as the leak that has spilled into a creek contaminating both land and water.  They further compromise their integrity in the permitting process by putting forth a Cost Benefit Analysis that ALWAYS SIDES WITH THEIR PERMITTEE'S, the permittee's are supposed to be protecting you the stakeholders from.

I have no doubt that Kelcy Warren (CEO) will claim the leak to be minor, and rare.   He then will go on to claim that there will be no long term harm to the environment or human health as a result of the leak.  

Before he continues on with his diatribe, let's interrupt with a few inconvenient facts.  The size of the spill was greatly lessened because a property owner discovered the spill and notified the proper authorities...that's right, a property owner.   Had this accidental discovery on the part of a property owner not occurred, this spill would have quickly become one of the worst spills in the United States of America.   Some would accuse me of overstating the MAGNITUDE of the potential spill, but am I?   What the company would prefer you not know, why I make this claim...the sensor(s) that are supposed to inform the company they have a leak FAILED, did NOT WORK.   The company had zero clue the pipeline was leaking.

This fact immediately tells us that the companies involved in this and other pipeline projects have a woefully inadequate MAINTENANCE PROGRAM on these pipelines.  A sensor can be replaced at a sensor cost of UNDER $18...obviously, the fact that the sensor was not replaced in a timely fashion shows a serious failure on the part of FERC and the Oil Industry to put in place a safety and maintenance program that will effectively mitigate the extent of damage when their pipes leak, and leak they will.   Perhaps if the Oil Industry placed public safety first, they would not commission studies that look for ways to make the cheapest sensors, but instead look for ways to make the BEST SENSORS that money could buy.

As relates to the DAPL project...it is my hope that the Water Protectors demand a full and complete study of failed sensors as a part of the new EIS that the Army Corp is promising.  It is also hoped that they file a formal complaint with FERC against the entire industry that demands a full and complete investigation into failing sensors, and the industry's inadequate Maintenance programs for pipelines nationwide.