Independent Guestatorial: Oil pipeline ecocide

Ecocide is the destruction of ecosystems, a crime against nature.

Coral reefs are one of Earth’s most wonderful ecosystems, with brilliant colors and a variety of sizes and shapes, full of life. Finding a white, dead reef is like finding a human corpse on the street. What used to be a living person is gone forever; and killing someone is a crime. By the late 1970s, Exxon knew everything about climate change. Exxon decided to hide the facts and stop people from sounding the alert. Exxon is a climate criminal, a destroyer of life. Killing coral reefs is ecocide, a crime against nature.

The ExxonMobil May 2013 Mayflower spill of dilbit [diluted bitumen for easier transport in pipelines] was an irresponsible catastrophe. Exxon’s response has been to deny liability and criminal conduct. On September 10, 2016, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sided with Exxon “to protect the U.S. economy.” This is a reckless and corrupt decision. Sick people can’t work, medical expenses are exorbitant, and contaminated water is irreplaceable. How can the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ignore the social cost of the worst type of oil spill and destruction of life?

Plains All-American Pipeline LP (PAP), the company trying to build the Diamond Pipeline traversing Arkansas, is one of the worst companies in the industry. The Attorney General of California recently filed criminal charges against PAP for a massive 2015 oil spill which dumped 143,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, killing sea and wildlife. This is only their most recent catastrophic spill.

Unscrupulous pipeline operators and leaking pipes

Welspun Little Rock, an international company based in India, got a $47 million order for two-thirds of the Diamond pipes. The 2009 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration report says 88 percent of leaking pipes found in the field were made by Welspun!

Ignoring Welspun’s OSHA willful violations and unsafe work practices, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission awarded extensive incentives to bring Welspun to Little Rock saying “a company’s safety record has no bearing on incentives they receive.”

Rusty red virtual pipes

Industry insiders wonder if the 350-mile inventory of old Keystone XL pipes, stacked at the Welspun Little Rock facility, will end up buried in the ground. Welspun just laid off 100 people knowing the PAP project was a done deal. What is the real reason to build the Diamond pipeline? Is it just to use old rusty red XL pipes?

Pipeline leaks and lies

All pipelines leak, and when they do, environmental damage is catastrophic. There are no safe pipelines. PAP claims Diamond would use 20-inch diameter pipe, but the easements are for up to 30 inches. PAP claims sweet crude oil will flow in the pipes, but the oil is coming from fracking. Shale oil is more corrosive and harder to clean up than crude oil. Only PAP would know what is flowing at high pressure in the pipeline. Without inspection, jurisdiction, or review of the Diamond pipeline by federal or state agencies, what happens underground stays in the ground.

Environmental Justice

No one has the right to threaten people with violence, or destroy natural ecosystems and all forms of life. All people and communities are entitled to equal protection of our environmental, health, employment, education, housing, transportation, and civil rights laws. Stopping ecocide, a crime against nature, supersedes state and federal laws.

Environmental Justice demands prevention and prompt remedial action from oil spills, and ending construction of new pipelines. Fossil fuels from shale plays and tar sands are export commodities driving runaway climate change. The U.S. is no longer the leader of the free world, it has become the most dangerous country using all its resources to destroy life on Earth.

Call for action

Dakota and Lakota, once again, are leading the peaceful fight to protect Mother Earth. In years to come, when your grandchildren ask, “What did you do during the shale oil pipeline and tar sands crises,” you don’t want to say, “I stayed home and did nothing.” Please join the brave people who care.