Tornado Alley (PROG)

[sortagreen]

Here are a few facts about the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Fact 1:
Interestingly the Dakota Access Pipeline was moved away it's original route north of Bismark, ND over concerns about drinking water supplies... white folks' drinking water supplies we should note, since there's no such concern for the Native Americans' drinking water.

For several months, the local Native American community and other protesters have been arguing that the pipeline could threaten the reservation's water supply. But this is actually an updated routing — after the original routing was rejected for similar reasons. The original pipeline was to be routed just north of Bismarck, North Dakota, according to Karen Van Fossan, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bismarck, North Dakota.

“I actually read about the original pathway, or an original pathway of the pipeline, in our local newspaper,” she says. “It’s our understanding, and I’ve talked to everybody who I know who would have known about it in advance, that we never even in Bismarck had to make an objection. The pathway was moved away from our drinking supply without our even needing to go to a meeting or write a letter.”

https://theworld.org/stories/2016-12-01/bismarck-residents-got-dakota-access-pipeline-moved-without-fight

Fact 2:
It's not just the Native Americans' drinking water involved. Although it's rapidly being depleted, it's one of the world's most important fresh water supplies.

the Ogallala-High Plains Aquifer is one of the world’s largest groundwater sources, extending from South Dakota down through the Texas Panhandle across portions of eight states. Its water supports US$35 billion in crop production each year.

https://theconversation.com/farmers-are-depleting-the-ogallala-aquifer-because-the-government-pays-them-to-do-it-145501

Fact 3:
Pipelines leak... and while the causes may be debated, the facts aren't in dispute. Pipelines carrying tar sands, or "dillbit" (mixed with some of the nastiest chemical shit on earth to make it flow), leak a lot more.

Critics charge that pipelines carrying diluted bitumen, or "dilbit"—a heavy oil extracted from tar sands mined in northern Alberta—pose a special risk because, compared with more conventional crude, they must operate at higher temperatures, which have been linked to increased corrosion. These pipelines also have to flow at higher pressures that may contribute to rupture as well. Environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) notes that pipelines in the upper Midwest that routinely carry oil from tar sands have spilled 3.6 times more oil per pipeline mile than the U.S. average.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tar-sand-oil-and-pipeline-spill-risk/

Fact 4:
The Keystone XL has nothing to do with US oil supplies. It has everything to do with exports. There's already a pipeline from Fort McMurray to the US midwest. This argument isn't about getting oil to the US. It's about getting oil through the US.

Myth: Supporters of Keystone XL paint a picture that the U.S. desperately needs to replace declining oil supplies from countries like Venezuela and Mexico as well as from the Middle East.

Reality: The underlying purpose of the Keystone XL pipeline is to give tars sands producers access to Gulf Coast refineries and export markets.

Pipeline proponents prey on old and entrenched fears that there is limited or uncertain access to oil particularly from Middle Eastern nations and point to rising global demand. In fact, the U.S. oil market is shrinking and will continue to do so for several decades. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S gasoline demand is in decline and will continue through at least 2030. This is the result of stronger fuel economy standards already in place. The United States can further reduce oil use by over 4 million barrels a day by 2025 through fuel economy for heavy trucks, improvements to air travel, and building efficiency. The Environmental Protection Agency suggests that even deeper cuts – around 7 million barrels a day – are possible by 2030. Meanwhile, U.S. domestic crude production such as in North Dakota and Texas is increasing and will continue through at least 2035.

And rather than providing the U.S. with a supply of oil, tar sands producers will be able to ship their product to the Gulf Coast with access to international markets. Oil companies like Valero, the largest exporter of refined products in the United States and one of the largest Keystone XL shippers, haven’t made any secret of their plans to export diesel from Port Arthur Texas to European and Latin American markets. Other Keystone XL shippers are likely to follow Valero’s lead especially given several of them operate within a Foreign Trade Zone exempting them from customs duties on imports and exports. The details of this are laid out in a report by Oil Change International.

https://priceofoil.org/2011/08/31/report-exporting-energy-security-keystone-xl-exposed/

So why don't the Canadians just ship the oil west and be done with it?

Maybe ask the Canadians.

Fact 4:
A lot of Canadians don't want that shit on their land either.

But that's another story.

Trans Mountain: The billion-dollar oil pipeline Canadians own and can’t build

By Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Vancouver

Published

26 November 2018
Canada recently spent billions on an oil pipeline in order to triple its capacity. But amid fierce opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plans, will the Trans Mountain project ever get built?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45972346

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45972346