And an example of the Standing Rock protesters‘ fear has come to pass. From The Earth Child:
A faulty pipeline has leaked 176,000 gallons of crude oil into a creek and the surrounding countryside 2.5 hours away from the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota.
The spill, which went undetected by the pipeline owners until a local stumbled on it, has spread almost 7 km (5.4 miles) from the site of the leak, and at this stage, it’s not clear what caused the pipe to rupture, or how long it’s been leaking.
According to CNN, an estimated 4,200 barrels of crude oil leaked from the Belle Fourche Pipeline in Billings County, 150 miles (241 km) from Cannon Ball in North Dakota, where protesters have been fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
This article seems to be guilty of using inappropriate units, in this case measuring distance by time. Perhaps it was in the original CNN article. But even more interesting:
It’s also not clear how the pipeline ruptured in the first place, but Belle Fourche Pipeline spokesperson, Wendy Owen, told the Associated Press that it might have occurred when the hillside slumped due to increased snowfall.
“That is our number one theory, but nothing is definitive,” she said. “We have several working theories and the investigation is ongoing.”
Perhaps even more concerning than a freak accident splitting the pipe is the fact that electronic monitoring equipment failed to detect the leak – something that would have prevented the pipe from spilling so much oil out into the countryside.
Indicating the technology is not perfect. That is not something to panic about – it takes time to perfect technology in the face of reality – but the maturity of the technology must be a factor when judging projects such as these, just as the viability of continuing the massive use of fossil fuels should be a factor. As the demand for fossil fuels drops, projects like these have less and less justification.
And justifies the promotion of safe, carbon-neutral sources.
