Independent Guestatorial: Plain lies

“A lie keeps growing and growing until it’s as plain as the nose” – Pinocchio

The Santa Barbara 2015 crude oil spill was no accident. A known defective pipe ruptured under pressure. Plains All-America (PAA) decided to keep the line running. The spill created a 9-mile slick along the coastline with cleanup costs exceeding $92 million. Two months later, a second spill shut down the 277,000 barrels per day Capwood Pipeline with crude oil reaching a nearby creek. Plains has not paid for damages.

The Diamond lie

It all starts with high-cost shale fracking to extract poor quality crude. Ignoring the sea of shale oil in Cushing, Okla., frackers keep fracking to pay their bills. Diamond is one of many pipelines to the Gulf shipping ports. Promises of tax-free distributions and investment bank fees keep the illusion of becoming a third world country, with a few profiteers making millions, an unsustainable financial scheme. Gov. Hutchinson and public officials ignore Arkansans. Silence is one way to lie.

Diamond Pipeline has been approved

False. PAA took private property without approved river crossings. USACE granted Diamond a permit to tunnel under the rivers, and APSC decided they had no objections to barges and other navigation on our main rivers. Diamond does not have a permit to build a 440-mile pipeline, they have hidden the structural design of the line and even the route of the line.

The Diamond line is needed

False. Southwest Power Pool is using wind power. On Feb. 12, 2017, at 4:30 a.m., over half their load was serviced with wind-generated electrons; the sun was shining the rest of the day with capacity to power everyone. Mexico, Brazil, and many other countries use electric buses. Many electric cars are available today.

Pipelines are critical infrastructure

False. Bridges, highways, airports, rivers, clean water, clean air, dams, schools, hospitals, and other community resources deserve care and protection, as critical infrastructure. The proposed Oklahoma House Bill 1123 to prevent pipeline opposition violates the First Amendment, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This bill shows high-level political corruption.

Diamond hazards are insignificant

False. The USACE Environmental Assessment (EA), shows Diamond knows returns of drilling fluid to the surface during construction, crude oil leaks, and catastrophic rupture contaminating the Mississippi and other rivers from seismic activity, are likely events. The EA says changing the route to prevent these hazards would require major changes to the route. Given a choice between stopping the line to protect the Mississippi River or helping Diamond shareholders and the investment banks profiting from loans and stocks, the Corps gave Diamond approval to drill. Why would the Corps ignore known risks? Diamond says they will have emergency response plans for whatever may happen. USACE trust Diamond. If Diamond says they will have response plans, that is good enough for the Corps.

To compensate for damages, Diamond paid the Corps an undisclosed amount. Using the Freedom of Information Act, I requested a copy of the documents showing the amount paid. This is their response: “Diamond was required to purchase 17,954 stream credits and 61 wetland credits on January 18, March 11, and March 17, 2016, to compensate for impacts to waterways with the Dutch Creek Mitigation Bank.” Unfortunately, they can’t find the records showing the amount paid by Diamond.

Diamond is safe

False. Try the following experiment. Find a large metal container, and mix 42 gallons (one barrel) of benzene, toluene, and other hydrocarbons. Call FedEx and ask how much would it be to ship. Homeland Security will be at your home in 30 minutes. Diamond would ship 200,000 barrels per day!

Diamond is a public threat. Safety depends on the probability of a leak, the likelihood to detect it, the time to contain the leak, the emergency response time, the damages to public health and ecosystems, and the ways used to clean up toxic chemicals. Shareholder-owned crude oil export pipelines built and operated at great risk for Arkansans must be stopped.

Dr. Luis Contreras