health, your assuming this oil from tar sands absolutely must and will go to market. This is false. It doesn't have to, and if we so choose, can stop accepting tar sands crude at any time. Will we? Not with discussion that doesn't even offer this as an alternative.
The pipeline cross numerous streams and ground water. If there is a leak there isn't a promise this will be found out ASAP (as we saw happens with BP in Alaska in 2008). SO if this leak occurs near a stream, it could contaminate a much larger area than we can imagine.
And these LEAKS per an expert are on pipelines 30 to 70 years old.
Keystone has so many redundant and thousands of monitors that no leak will go undetected for more then 2 hours..
Here read what a manager for the pipeline has said:
I contacted a Keystone Lead Project manager with this question: "Will the loss of 5,714 barrels a day through the 1% pinhole go undetected for 2 weeks."
Answer:
"Ok. First, modern pipelines have more redundant protections on them than an airplane or spacecraft.
Part of that protection is the testing of the fabrication,
part of it is protective coatings,
part of it is an induced current for cathodic protection, and the monitoring can detect hundreds of barrels that go missing (even smaller if it happens quickly).
In other words, the situation you described would be detected within a couple of hours.
All of the recent leaks were in 40 to 70 year old pipe. This old pipe had lesser monitoring, old decayed coatings, and fewer tests of the fabrication.
The cathodic protection was retrofitted onto the system.
When the leaks are investigated, nearly all of them started at locations where a third party damaged the pipe coating, and didn't notify anyone. "
Keystone XL Pipeline will be equipped with more automated shut-off valves placed at shorter intervals than most, if not all, other existing crude oil pipelines in the U.S.
These shutoff valves will be placed every 20 miles along the pipeline route, and extra valves will also be placed, where required, to protect water crossings and other areas of higher consequence. They can be closed remotely on either side of the line, isolating a damaged area within minutes of detection.
Puncture Resistance
Our standards for steel are incredibly high. The steel TransCanada is using on the Gulf Coast and Keystone XL pipelines is high-quality carbon steel with special features that reduce corrosion and enhance strength and pliability. In fact, we are required by the special conditions to ensure that the steel used in the pipeline can withstand impact from a 65-ton excavator with 3.5-inch teeth. This puncture resistance will provide additional protection from third-party damage, which is one of the most common causes of pipeline failures.
Again no guesses here simple facts versus YOUR guesses, your hyperbole and especially old fashion out of date information!
55,000 miles of crude oil pipes and you are upset over 1,700 miles that have all the above protections!
First, gathering lines are very small pipelines usually from 2 to 8 inches in diameter in the areas of the country in which crude oil is found deep within the earth.
It is estimated that there are between 30,000 to 40,000 miles of these small gathering lines located primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Wyoming with small systems in a number of other oil producing states. These small lines gather the oil from many wells, both onshore and offshore, and connect to larger trunk lines measuring from 8 to 24 inches in diameter.
Trunk lines include a few very large lines, such as the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which is 48 inches in diameter. The larger cross-country crude oil transmission pipelines bring crude oil from producing areas to refineries. There are approximately 55,000 miles of crude oil trunk lines in the U.S.
I choose research into making fusion work for the betterment of all mankind!
