6 ms·
Pretty unacceptable - in context this is 10-12 average swimming pools or ~8,800 bbls which I suppose is much less dramatic than 1.4m l.
by cascom 7y ago
Pretty unacceptable - in context this is 10-12 average swimming pools or ~8,800 bbls which I suppose is much less dramatic than 1.4m l.
- triceratops 7y ago"Pretty unacceptable" is how I'd describe the spill. 8800 bbls is 3.4% of what was spilled in the Exxon Valdez accident[1]. This is in addition to the 1.07m liters in 2017, which the article also mentions.[2] So the pipeline has already spilled equivalent to about 6.5% of one of the worst human-caused ecological disasters ever. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill 2. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keystone-spils-over-1-million-litres-oil-north-dakota-1.5343509 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keystone-spils-over-1-milli...
- lettergram 7y agoI believe the fact I’m this is on land may make it dramatically less impactful though.
- hinkley 7y agoIt’s in land that feeds one of the largest watersheds in the US, and an important aquifer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer This is why people protested so hard. Not some vague Luddite treehugger ideal. Not even global warming although that was a distant second. But because this was a really fucking stupid place to have an oil spill. Let alone two. And of course there will be more.
- ryanlol 7y agoIt seems worth noting that this particular spill is clearly not in the area you're describing. The title states North Dakota, where this Aquifer is not. lettergram is most likely correct.
- masonic 7y agoNone of the Ogallaga Aquifer is in North Dakota, where this spill is.
- hinkley 7y agoIs there something about the pipeline, the maintenance crews, safety practices, government oversight and corporate policies, that makes North Dakota a special place where all of the problems will occur? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline Where does the existing pipeline go? Where does the proposed one go?
- wahern 7y agoThat area seems closest to the Northern Great Plains aquifer system, but not actually in it: https://pubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_i/gif/I049.GIF https://pubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_i/gif/I049.GIF And the area seems to be part of the Hudson Bay watershed: https://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/Pubs_resources_tools/resources/eei_awards/2011nd.aspx https://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/Pubs_resources_tools/re... So it doesn't seem that even the runoff would threaten any American aquifers.
- Reason077 7y agoIn terms of volume spilled, the Deepwater Horizon spill was much larger than the Exxon Valdez: 4.9m bbls (579,000 metric tons) vs 290,000 bbls (31,000 metric tons).
- black_puppydog 7y agoYeah, it could be much worse. That's a shit defense line though.