Another day, another pipeline spill?
Today I saw the news that there were two pipeline spills a week apart last month in Lisbon, Ohio. The company in charge of the pipeline, Access Midstream, claims the spills were stopped before "long-term environmental impact" ensued, but what's really scary is the Ohio EPA's explanation of why a more-serious disaster was averted. "There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond."
Great. So they have had so much practice with spills they are getting better at it. Somehow that doesn't fill me with confidence about averting future disasters.
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond,"
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
"There's so many pipelines going in around the state and this has been happening periodically, and these companies are set up to respond," he said. – See more at: http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/548629/Spills-reach-wetlands.html?nav=5006#sthash.oIgNVwoI.dpuf
I could spend all my time tracking pipeline spills and reminding people that such spills will only increase if we build more pipelines like Keystone XL. From the many miles of new pipeline, to the shoddy construction, and the even more toxic nature of tar sands oil — there's a lifetimes worht of bad news to report right now. Each oil spill used to be news. Remember the Exxon Valdez story? That was't even the worst spill, actually clocking in at #36. And now oil spills, especially from pipelines, are so frequent they don't even make the national news.
It's up to us to get this information out. And remind the public that there's no safe way to drill, refine, transport or burn oil. And helpfully, Canadian news network CBC set up an infographic of their review of the last twelve years of pipeline spills, from 2001 to 2012 (note older and more recent spills like Lisbon, Ohio, Mayflower, Ark. and the many other spills of 2013 are not included). While news coverage of Big Oil's messy mistakes may be down, the rate of such spills has doubled over the last few years. Check it out below or on the CBC's website and help us spread the word.
