“We can’t solve problems with the same way of thinking used to create them.” – Albert Einstein
Asking the right questions is the key to sustainable solutions. Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem, and 5 minutes looking for solutions.” Building pipelines for 100 years of additional greenhouse emissions is suicidal. Ignoring the economic boom of 21st century technologies will bankrupt the U.S. economy. America First is looking more like America Last.
Oil is an addiction
Frackers say, “How are you going to go from point A to point B without filling your tank at the pump?” India has a great answer; by 2030, only electric vehicles will be sold. India is shutting down coal-fired power plants currently providing 70 percent of power, replacing them with Sun by day, Wind at night: free clean energy 24 hours a day.
Japan’s Shinkansen is a 50-year old network of high-speed electric railway lines, a perfectly safe way for mass travel. The new 2015 Maglev trains use magnetic levitation to float over the rails eliminating wheel maintenance, traveling at over 370 miles per hour. Japan solar fields built on abandoned golf courses, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells are Japan’s green energy future.
Dark money, dark secrets
Kochs’ dark money has been flushed from the shadows. The Kocharachas are now taking credit for obstructing the U.S. government from addressing the climate emergency. They argue government action was “making people’s lives worse rather than better,” as if they care.
Pipelines are unsustainable
Fracking and oil sands operations are remote, concentrated, high-volume, furious extraction of unconventional crude. Transmission pipelines for oil and gas are booming, but most of the crude ends up in giant storage tank farms and even crude oil stationary tankers used as storage tanks. Frackers and investors dream of crude export revenues. Investment bankers get high-fees and Master Limited Partnerships (MLP) control distributions, and are happy to play the game.
Pipelines are built on the cheap
Pipelines are like toll ways. Diamond is a $900 million construction project. Without revenues until crude flows in the line, pipelines are built on the cheap, using cheap pipes and components, and taking every possible shortcut. The work is done by unsupervised third party contractors trying to meet deadlines. Safety promises are easily made and impossible to keep.
Construction claims are false
Horizontal directional drilling, an old idea in use for 80 years, was used as proof pipelines are safe. Diamond claims to have the latest technology to drill away from river bottoms. What could go wrong? In May 2017, HDD was used in the Energy Transfer’s Rover pipeline, drilling under the Tuscarawas River in Ohio. The result was a 5-million-gallon spill of drilling fluids on fragile wetlands, an ecological disaster for decades. No one will remember what Diamond said when millions of gallons of toxic crude “accidentally” destroy rivers and farms.
Diamond’s operational safety claims are false
Plains All-American does not replace leaking pipes to keep the cash-flow running. The high-tech leak detection system used by Texas control center operators, does not prevent leaks, and it does not detect minor leaks. Spills are commonly found by people on the ground calling PAA to shut off the line. The risk of spills increases every day; corrosion is unavoidable using cheap pipes. Diamond has proven to be arrogant, unreliable, and irresponsible.
Diamond will not pay for damages
Diamond is not required to post a bond to pay for damages. PAA has not paid for the May 2015 California spill, with their legal team delaying the proceedings.
What are we waiting for?
Jen Miller, director of Sierra Club Ohio, is calling Ohio EPA to halt construction. She said, “if Rover is already destroying our air, water and land, how can we trust them to build a pipeline that functions properly?”
Diamond has been in Arkansas for three years. I will send U.S. Senator John Boozman a request to halt the line, a clear and present threat, worse than Clean Line.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Here is an update on the PAA 901 Pipeline El Refugio Beach CA May 2015 crude oil spill:
On May 19, 2015, an oil pipeline failed near Santa Barbara, sending thousands of gallons of oil to the Refugio Beach shore.
“It was devastating to me. It almost doesn’t have words. It was just like a tar field,” said Janet Wolf, Santa Barbara County District 2 Supervisor.
The oil pipeline rupture sent more than 140,000 gallons of oil spewing down into the Pacific Ocean, killing more than 200 birds, 106 marine mammals and an unknown number of marine wildlife residing along the surf line.
Workers in hazmat suits spent days crouching over oil-stained beaches scooping up the toxic sludge.
To mark the anniversary, county supervisors met this week, discussing prevention efforts and the lessons learned from mistakes made.
“The response time was huge and one of the most frustrating things about this incident,” Wolf said.
Clean-up efforts didn’t begin until 16 to 18 hours after the spill was discovered.
“A lot of that oil made it from the pipeline on shore into the ocean and that never should have happened,” said Linda Krop, Chief Counsel for the Environmental Defense Center, the organization that was developed in response to Santa Barbara’s first massive oil spill in 1969.
That year, an oil well blew out off the coast, dumping three million gallons of crude oil and coating 35 miles of beaches, killing thousands of animals. This sparked President Richard Nixon to focus on environmental policies.
“Which not only raised a lot of attention and awareness about the risks of offshore development but also led to the enactment of the state and federal environmental protection laws we have today,” Krop said.
Laws that are still in a constant tug of war with state environmental protection bills now colliding with federal goals and regulations.
“Between Congress and the president, there’s a tremendous interest in increasing oil and gas development. So even though we haven’t had a federal oil lease since 1984, that could change,” Krop said.
For now, since Plains All American stopped all crude oil transport from its Ellwood Onshore facility after their 2015 spill, Venoco is decommissioning platform Holly, which has been dry since the spill.
The actual pipe that ruptured, line 901, still sits empty and idle while Plains All American remains under investigation with several pending lawsuits from the county, state and federal governments.
“No one even knows if that pipeline will be replaced, so this issue is going to be going on for some time,” Krop said.
Two years and two oil spills later, the California shoreline and Refugio State Beach continues to be a battleground between environmentalists and pro-oil developers, but with both sides agreeing on one thing – learning from past mistakes to stop history from repeating.
Hundreds of marine mammals were rescued during the 2015 spill. While we won’t know how many of them survived, one rescue group was able to track some of the birds.
Fifty brown pelicans were captured, covered in crude oil. After hours of cleaning and two weeks of rehabilitation, they were released back into the wild.
UC Davis’ Oiled Wildlife Care Network placed tracking devices on 12 of them and the group says the rescue effort was a success. All the birds migrated and survived at least 18 weeks after their release.
“It’s heart-warming to see them go home. They do not stop, they do not turn around and say thank you, they just go, and that’s a wonderful thing,” said Christine Fiorello, Ph.D, of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, an organization in partnership with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
While nearly all transmission signals have since been lost, all the rescued birds had identifying tags. The organization says 31 out of the 50 have been re-sighted these last two years.
NO word from Senator Boozman … yet
A request for action sent to U.S. Senator John Boozman … let’s hope he is listening to Arkansas