- Sep 19, 2011
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But if Keystone is killed, the oil still will flow—and more of it might be transported by ship through dangerous waters.
Tankers carrying the oil would join the heavy marine traffic that already churns through America's Gulf of Alaska and close to the Aleutian Islands, areas with rough seas and abundant marine life. The Gulf of Alaska is where a Shell oil rig recently ran aground. After crossing that region, the tankers would then have to navigate some of the most dangerous waters in the North Pacific, including Unimak Pass, a harrowing 10-mile-wide passage in the Aleutian Islands that is an important habitat for sea lions, gray whales, tens of millions of seabirds, and other species.
Tankers at sea are more accident-prone than pipelines on dry land. And if a spill occurs at sea, it can be difficult to contain and is nearly impossible to clean up.
"People remember the Exxon Valdez and worry that sort of thing can happen again if these pipelines are built," Byers says. "Imagine oil-laden tankers passing through one of the richest fisheries in the United States. That will raise many concerns."
Unimak Pass is about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage. David Mosley, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska, says that the thousands of ships that already navigate its waters each year face "winter hurricanes" with 40-foot seas and 100-knot winds that appear with little advanced notice. Large ships must ride out the storms in sheltered coves in the Aleutians. In a typical year, at least one ship gets into trouble. "A vessel will have some sort of mechanical or physical issue that then puts them at the mercy of the weather and the waves."
The Environmental Dangers of em Not em Building Keystone XL - Popular Mechanics
The "stupid environmentalists" don't seem to know that there is already a network of more than 185,000 miles of liquid petroleum pipelines.
Pipeline101 - Why-Do-We-Need-Pipelines
So adding 0.09% of pipeline is dangerous???
Tankers carrying the oil would join the heavy marine traffic that already churns through America's Gulf of Alaska and close to the Aleutian Islands, areas with rough seas and abundant marine life. The Gulf of Alaska is where a Shell oil rig recently ran aground. After crossing that region, the tankers would then have to navigate some of the most dangerous waters in the North Pacific, including Unimak Pass, a harrowing 10-mile-wide passage in the Aleutian Islands that is an important habitat for sea lions, gray whales, tens of millions of seabirds, and other species.
Tankers at sea are more accident-prone than pipelines on dry land. And if a spill occurs at sea, it can be difficult to contain and is nearly impossible to clean up.
"People remember the Exxon Valdez and worry that sort of thing can happen again if these pipelines are built," Byers says. "Imagine oil-laden tankers passing through one of the richest fisheries in the United States. That will raise many concerns."
Unimak Pass is about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage. David Mosley, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska, says that the thousands of ships that already navigate its waters each year face "winter hurricanes" with 40-foot seas and 100-knot winds that appear with little advanced notice. Large ships must ride out the storms in sheltered coves in the Aleutians. In a typical year, at least one ship gets into trouble. "A vessel will have some sort of mechanical or physical issue that then puts them at the mercy of the weather and the waves."
The Environmental Dangers of em Not em Building Keystone XL - Popular Mechanics
The "stupid environmentalists" don't seem to know that there is already a network of more than 185,000 miles of liquid petroleum pipelines.
Pipeline101 - Why-Do-We-Need-Pipelines
So adding 0.09% of pipeline is dangerous???
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