joaquinmiller
Diamond Member
- Oct 12, 2013
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You mean it will soak back into the ground in which it came from?A whole half acreOh here's a big surprise.
The Keystone pipeline has spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into North Dakota this week, The New York Times reports.
The pipeline has leaked roughly 383,000 gallons of crude oil, impacting an estimated half-acre of wetland, according to state environmental regulators.
Keystone pipeline spills more than 350,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota
How will the nation ever recover
Yes, we get 160,000 TONS of natural oil seep a year!! Somehow we survive. (see m former post for link, etc.)
Natural oil seep is nothing like the diluted bitumen (dilbit) pumped thru the Keystone. It's a toxic sludge that has to be injected with liquefied natural gas to thin it sufficiently to flow through the pipeline. It's easily contained within 1/2 acre because it doesn't flow without the boosting pump stations of a pipeline. It does, however, have a specific gravity much higher than crude oil. 383,000 gallons on 1/2 acre is 17+ gallons/sf. It won't just sit there - it will seep into the ground. Crude is lighter than water, dilbit is not, increasing the danger to any water table it may contact, or transit top-to-bottom, in the event of a leak. Pipelines are largely-safe, with sensors and excess-flow valves to prevent large leaks, but they are susceptible to attack and accidents. It's borderline insane to transport dilbit across the US and over water tables.
The ground from which it came is in northern Alberta, where much of it was surface-mined using heavy equipment. At that point, it was nowhere near US aquifers.
Diluted bitumen is not conventional crude oil, and the existing clean-up procedures for lighter-than-water crude don't apply, where dilbit and water come into contact. That said, feel free to add a pinch to drinking water in your own home, if you feel the need for lubrication.