Michigan rivers suffered from a tar sands oil leak back in 2010, and it's back in the news
because the rivers are considered "safe" now.
But the oil is still on the bottom of the riverbed.
Why?
Because they don't know how to remove it.
Tar sands oil doesn't float to the top of the water like crude does (bp oil spill-Gulf of Mexico).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
http://green.blogs.n...ds/?ref=science
http://www.treehugge...or-5-years.html
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Cleaning up tar sands oil? They don't know how to do it.
Started by Shortpoet-GTD, Jul 11 2012 03:11 AM
5 replies to this topic
#2
Posted 11 July 2012 - 04:20 PM
If these pipelines are not going to be inspected periodically, cracks. fizzures and leaks will happen. Still the GOP wants to run miles and miles of that pipeline from Canada through the U.S. This is the history that people should pay attention to.
#3
Posted 12 July 2012 - 05:02 AM
Rachel Maddow covered this on her show-here is the transcript. *You'll have to hit the "show more text" button to read it,
it's farther down.
http://www.msnbc.msn...el_maddow_show/
it's farther down.
http://www.msnbc.msn...el_maddow_show/
#4
Posted 13 July 2012 - 12:50 PM
I accidentally started another thread. I'm going to repost here what I had written as I summed up more of the report than just the clean up. There are some serious problems with the whole way tar sands oil importation is regulated. This way we won't be posting to two different threads.
This may be one of the most damaging Midwest disasters that no one ever reported on. It might be big news in Michigan, but out on the West Coast it got barely a whimper.
In case you didn't hear of this, two years ago, a pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada through Michigan ruptured and sent a massive amount of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River.
The report on how the disaster played out is finally finished. Some things to note:
1. Enbridge Oil knew about leaks in the pipe line 5 years earlier, but chose not to repair them.
2. After the spill, it took 17 hours before Enbridge Oil was aware that there was a spill. I should clarify this. They had warnings in the control room, but no one heeded them for 17 hours.
3. Enbridge Oil had no emergency contingency plan in place in the event there was a spill because it was not required by the Federal Government. It's come out that tar sands regulation is almost non-existent.
4. So far it has cost $800 million to clean up the river.
5. The clean up was far more difficult that when regular oil spills. Normally, they try to skim the oil off the top and remove it that way. But, tar sands oil sinks. I heard on the radio they had to "shake" the water (disrupt it with machinery) and try to catch the oil as it unsettled.
As I understand it, there is tar sands oil from the spill still on the bottom of the Kalamazoo River. I heard that on the radio, so I'm not sure it's in the articles.
There's more in this article:
http://www.examiner....ridge-oil-spill
A summary of the actual report can be found here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/...l_mi/index.html
It's really unsettling, though not surprising, how little oversight there is. This idea that you leave it up to the corporation to do the right thing is a bunch of malarkey.
Enbridge claims that they have made several procedural changes. I hope so, though I'm not holding my breath. It's like PG&E and the San Bruno explosion all over again.
This may be one of the most damaging Midwest disasters that no one ever reported on. It might be big news in Michigan, but out on the West Coast it got barely a whimper.
In case you didn't hear of this, two years ago, a pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada through Michigan ruptured and sent a massive amount of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River.
The report on how the disaster played out is finally finished. Some things to note:
1. Enbridge Oil knew about leaks in the pipe line 5 years earlier, but chose not to repair them.
2. After the spill, it took 17 hours before Enbridge Oil was aware that there was a spill. I should clarify this. They had warnings in the control room, but no one heeded them for 17 hours.
3. Enbridge Oil had no emergency contingency plan in place in the event there was a spill because it was not required by the Federal Government. It's come out that tar sands regulation is almost non-existent.
4. So far it has cost $800 million to clean up the river.
5. The clean up was far more difficult that when regular oil spills. Normally, they try to skim the oil off the top and remove it that way. But, tar sands oil sinks. I heard on the radio they had to "shake" the water (disrupt it with machinery) and try to catch the oil as it unsettled.
As I understand it, there is tar sands oil from the spill still on the bottom of the Kalamazoo River. I heard that on the radio, so I'm not sure it's in the articles.
There's more in this article:
http://www.examiner....ridge-oil-spill
A summary of the actual report can be found here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/...l_mi/index.html
It's really unsettling, though not surprising, how little oversight there is. This idea that you leave it up to the corporation to do the right thing is a bunch of malarkey.
Enbridge claims that they have made several procedural changes. I hope so, though I'm not holding my breath. It's like PG&E and the San Bruno explosion all over again.
#6
Posted 19 December 2013 - 04:42 AM
3 years later and the mess remains.
http://www.onearth.o...l-spill-already
See also-
http://www.altenergy...-report-is-out/
http://www.onearth.o...l-spill-already
See also-
http://www.altenergy...-report-is-out/
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