The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. – Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking, a bona fide genius, was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo, Jan. 8, 1942, into a family of scientists. Growing up, meals were silent, everyone reading a book. Hawking studies the cosmos and the big questions, writing books to help people understand. His first book, A Brief History of Time sold more than 10,000,000 copies in 40 languages.
Pipelines leak
Diamond is designed to be a high-pressure, 440-mile long machine controlled by people looking at a screen far, far, away. Someone decides what and how much oil goes in the line. Sixty-five million barrels of crude shale oil, in steel storage tanks, some as large as a football field are waiting for a ride in Cushing, Okla. At the end of the line, up to 200,000 barrels (8.4 million gallons) gushing out, every day. Massive pumps are used to keep the oil flowing with pressure sensitive shut-off valves to contain the oil to one segment when a pipe leaks. Small leaks go undetected, unless someone smells, sees or hears it.
Engineering is based on physics, observation, and experimentation. Engineers are curious people, looking for safe, simple, and easy ways to perform defect-free tasks, and train everyone on standard procedures. Take a handful of drinking straws and make a 10-foot line, using masking tape or any way you find to join the straws. Diamond will use over 60,000 pipes with 60,000 welds. None of these jobs is for Arkansans. Diamond hires Strike and other Texas companies, with crews moving from line to line.
Pipeline integrity
The elusive goal is unattainable: oil goes in one end and comes out the other, with no leaks. A great amount of energy is required to maintain an even flow, traversing rivers and steep hills. If you have gone tubing downstream a river, you know about eddies and turbulent flow. Pipe corrosion and pressure variations create turbulence. Stopping and restarting the flow on a pipeline create stress from the inertia of the oil in front or behind. Karst topography and seismic activity must be considered in pipeline design. Steel pipes break.
Plain lies
Plains All-American, with a little help from their friends, claims Diamond is safe. Tom Parker, executive director of the Arkansas Petroleum Council, said on a recent KATV newscast pipelines are safe: “In 2013, some fifteen billion barrels of oil were transported through pipelines, and 99.9999 percent arrived safely.” Where was Parker when the Pegasus ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured? In 2013, there were 38 major spills in the U.S. alone.
The magnitude of pipeline leaks has increased since 2009. Previously, low-pressure pipelines were used from the Gulf Coast and other ports inland, with high-quality imported crude oil from overseas oil fields. With sociopaths in control of energy financing, the U.S. is destroying life.
Welspun leaks
Senator John Boozman recently said, “I welcome the president’s decision to allow work on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to move forward. The fact that this was one of the first items on President Trump’s agenda speaks volumes about how his administration will prioritize job creation, energy infrastructure, and economic opportunity.” Thanks a lot!
The Congressional Delegation endorses Welspun, ignoring irresponsible managers: one worker killed at work, several maimed and injured, temporary workers without training or supervision, and a yard full of rusting pipes for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Time to think
Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, recently said “Americans overall are bad at science. Scared of math. Poor at physics and engineering. Resistant to evolution. Science illiteracy is a threat to the nation. You breed a generation of people who do not know what science is, nor how and why it works. You have mortgaged the future financial security of your nation. Innovations in science and technology are the basis of tomorrow’s economy.” This bothered me – why ignore science? Knowledge and logical thinking are tools for survival, our best assets to stop fracking and pipelines.
Diamond will be stopped. The Diamond Legal Challenge is in progress.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Saying pipelines are safe based on the number of gallons delivered as a percent of the number of gallons shipped, is misleading.
There are low-pressure and high-pressure pipelines, long and short; there are many types of crude oil and LNG. Tom Paker is not alone, every pipeline company claims 99.999 percent deliveries.
For 2013, here are some of the spills:
• On January 1, a Colonial Pipeline line was over-pressured by improper operation, causing a spill of about 5,500 gallons of petroleum product in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• On March 29, the ExxonMobil’s 20-inch Pegasus crude oil pipeline spilled near Mayflower, Arkansas. Over 300,000 gallons of diluted bitumen were spilled, flowing through homes, yards, and gutters, towards Lake Conway. Quick-thinking residents dug a ditch to stop the flow and saved the lake. Weld cracks and extremely low-impact toughness in the low-frequency electric resistance weld seam of the pipe were identified as causes of the failure. The root cause was the irresponsible decision made by Exxon executives to upgrade, in 2009, a pipeline built in 1940 with high-pressure pumps, reversing the flow.
• On July 26, a leaking BP 20-inch crude oil pipeline spilled 4,200 gallons in Washington County, Oklahoma. Some of the crude spilled into a drainage ditch leading to a water reservoir.
• On October 29, a Koch Industries crude oil 8-inch pipeline spilled 17,000 gallons near Smithville, Texas, polluting a stock pond and two reservoirs.
Each one of these spills from the 300,000 gallons at Mayflower to the 4,200 gallons in Oklahoma, were long-term disasters for these communities paying with their health, homes and money. ExxonMobil, for example, avoided paying fines with the help of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2015.
Pipelines to export shale oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, will destroy our environment and economy.
Spend a day in Mayflower and talk to the people you meet. Medical clinics, schools, and city representatives, say all is good.
The homes for sale at bottom prices, without buyers tell the true story.