David Daniel is one of the unlucky people who happen to own property in the path of Trans Canada's southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will extend the existing Keystone tar sands pipeline to the Texas gulf coast refineries. He was interviewed by the NPR program "All Things Considered". One trip they made was to Michigan, to see damage still there along the Kalamazoo River, where another pipeline carrying the tar sands oil ruptured two years ago.
The NPR page contains the story in print, and a link for the audio from the program.
In Michigan, a cleanup worker turned whistle-blower named John Bolenbaugh helped answer one of Daniel's questions: If there's a spill, will they clean up all the oil? ... A couple of minutes later, he walks out of the river, holding up a blue latex glove covered with tarry black stuff.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/16/158025375/when-this-oil-spills-its-a-whole-new-monster
Comments
Here is another story about the construction of the Keystone XL in Texas :
http://www.nationofchange.org/pipeline-construction-begins-protests-texas-1345211107
UPDATE!!!
On Aug. 10, statewide groups of all political persuasions went to the Lamar County courthouse to support Texas landowner Julia Trigg Crawford against TransCanada, which has announced plans to start building the southern segment of the Keystone pipeline to carry tar sands crude from Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
The courtroom showdown marked the first landmark battle following a recent Supreme Court case ruling in favor of landowners. Crawford’s hearing is the first case since the Supreme Court ruling to protect private property from an illegal taking. Julia Trigg Crawford, along with her attorney Wendi Hammond, faced Judge Bill Harris and a team of TransCanada lawyers in a packed courtroom of observers with an overflow crowd for more than six hours. Crawford’s attorney contended that TransCanada is a foreign-owned pipeline carrying tar sands for private profit, challenging its qualifications as a common carrier with eminent domain rights.
SEE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT THE LINK BELOW...
http://ecowatch.org/2012/transcanada-eminent-domain/
I don't think any tar sands can cross the border, and that the southern portion needs a larger supply of regular oil, which is bad enough.
But there are no tar sands crossing the border, Obama stopped that.
We need neighborhood central hydrogen fuel cells, each independent of a grid, making local electricity.
But all the refineries are down there, so how do you get the regular oil down there so that gasoline is $0.29 a gallon again.
Build the southern portion, and never connect it.
I like the solution.
But I think we need to crash the price of oil, and make it non-profit.
TransCanada is trying to get around Obama by building the pipeline in segments. The only segment that needs Presidential approval then will be the portion that connects at the border.
Right now though the fight in Texas (and maybe in other states though I have not heard) is against TransCanada trying to claim eminent domain in order to take the land from landowners so they can build their pipeline. In order to claim eminent domain however, the pipeline is supposed to be for the public, such as a gas line that would service a neighborhood, but the TransCanada pipeline is for a private foreign company that is for profit not for the public!
More on the fight against construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline in Texas :
Why We’re Putting Ourselves on the (Pipe)Line With the Tea Party
Occupiers, Tea Partiers, landowners, and environmentalists are challenging construction of the Keystone XL pipeline’s Gulf Coast segment—together.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/why-we-put-ourselves-on-the-pipeline-with-the-tea-party-keystone
Bad news out of Texas Thursday on the fight to stop the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline :
Judge clears way for northeast Texas pipeline
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-23/judge-clears-way-for-northeast-texas-pipeline
Judge Upholds Eminent Domain for Pipeline in Texas
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us/texas-judge-rules-transcanada-can-seize-pasture-for-keystone-xl.html
Texas judge deals setback to opponents of Keystone XL pipeline
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-keystone-xl-pipeline-texas-20120823,0,7657215.story
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Keystone pipeline could be chief Texas impact of Romney plan
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/keystone-pipeline-could-be-chief-texas-impact-of-2441041.html
Canada Orders TransCanada To Fix Safety Lapses On Keystone Line
http://www.euroinvestor.com/news/2012/08/22/canada-orders-transcanada-to-fix-safety-lapses-on-keystone-line/12073164
Watch as Jane Kleeb of the environmental group Bold Nebraska, who attended the court proceedings in Texas detailed above, educates the Fox business reporter doing the interview about the Keystone XL pipeline :
Judge Backs TransCanada’s Use of Eminent Domain ...
Bold Nebraska Executive Director Jane Kleeb argues the Keystone Pipeline is not a step towards US. Energy independence.
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1801219654001/judge-backs-transcanadas-use-of-eminent-domain
WHAT THE HECK DOES THIS MEAN???>>>> Harris ruled otherwise, meaning the project is under the authority of the Texas Railroad Commission and qualified for land condemnation.
Harriman's Empire rises for a few seconds!
Then, the railroad learns that no Canadian Tar sands will never flow through the southern leg, and their 'right-of-way' has less value than dirt, and it's like they don't even own the land, or worse.
Then the government leases the land cheap, long-term, with a clause to close the pipeline when hydrogen fuel cells are no longer treason in America.
Soon, the entire pipe is recycled, and the land cleaned, since oil becomes moot to energy.