Exxon’s Ark. spill raises new scrutiny
Keystone pipeline approval in balance
WASHINGTON — An oil spill that polluted an Arkansas town is drawing new scrutiny to the risks of transporting fuel across a national labyrinth of pipelines as President Barack Obama weighs whether to approve Keystone XL.
Environmental groups point to the rupture of the Exxon Mobil pipe on March 29 in Mayflower, Ark., 22 miles northwest of Little Rock, as a reason Obama should reject Keystone. Industry groups contend that pipelines remain the safest way to transport oil and other fuels, and that existing regulations are adequate.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday the White House takes the safety of the pipeline system “very seriously.” He said the Environmental Protection Agency is working with local officials and Exxon on the Arkansas spill.
Republicans and some Democrats in Congress argue Keystone will create thousands of jobs and improve U.S. energy security. The Senate on March 22 approved 62-37 a nonbinding resolution encouraging development of the project. If built, the pipeline each day could carry more than 800,000 barrels of diluted bitumen, or dilbit, from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Exxon’s pipeline, known as Pegasus, can carry 96,000 barrels a day. The 20-inch line runs to Nederland, Texas, from Patoka, Ill.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, a San Francisco-based environmental group, in a statement called the spill “another reminder that oil companies cannot be trusted to transport toxic tar-sands crude through Americans’ backyards, farmlands and watersheds.”
One question central to the debate is whether the diluted bitumen is more corrosive than conventional heavy crude.
Crude from Alberta’s oil sands can pose a greater risk if it is transported at a higher temperature or under greater pressure, Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts Inc., a Redmond, Wash.-based pipeline safety consultant, said in a phone interview.
Operators using modern pipeline-safety techniques can manage any increased corrosion potential by cleaning the line more frequently or carefully monitoring how the bitumen is diluted, he said.
“You just don’t write off the corrosion threat. You’ve got to be sure you’re managing it,” he said. “. . . Corrosion is just one bank of risk threats associated with dilbit.”
Last year, there were 364 spills from pipelines that released about 54,000 barrels of oil and refined products, according to the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a division within the Department of Transportation. Any incident in which more than five gallons of fuel leaked is counted as a spill.