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Dakota Pipeline that Native Americans feared would leak, has leaked

D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...eline-springs-small-leak-south-dakota-n757666

Not a big leak, but still a leak.

The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, which Donald Trump pushed through upon taking the presidency, leaked about 200 miles south of where the well-reported Standing Rock protests were located.

A tank inside a pump station in the small rural town of Tulare, South Dakota, leaked about 84 gallons. The station caught it all inside a containment area made of gravel and a synthetic liner.

"They have the main line and the main pump, but they also have a surge tank, which they have pump a little off the main line into," said Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the Ground Water Quality Program of the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. "And that's where the leak occurred — at the surge pump."

...
Click to expand...
 
S

Spoiled Milk

Banned
Also from your article:
The public often does not know about those types of leaks because of their size. Companies do not have to report oil pipeline leaks to the federal government unless they're over five barrels, which is 210 gallons of oil, and if they clean them up quickly.
Click to expand...

Here are 55 gallon barrels for reference.

Steel-Drums~~element29.jpg
Click to expand...

The spill was less than four of these. It doesn't matter.

It also occurred, as you noted, in a "containment area made of gravel and a synthetic liner." The area was a potential source of leaks because it's the surge pump, but they explicitly protected that area just in case this happened. Seems pretty safe to me.
 
A

akira28

Member
so this was just a routine spill, not a massive environmental disaster spill? oh, I'm relieved.

I did not know these things were built to spill, but the water protectors did, and I'd say this proves their point, not the oil company's.
 
T

torontoml

Member
Leaks are bad and the concerns around the pipeline are warranted, but making a story out of this is ridiculous. It was extremely small and was contained by the engineering safety measures in place.
 
W

Wuthering_Heights

Banned
Spoiled Milk said:
Also from your article:

Here are 55 gallon barrels for reference.



The spill was less than four of these. It doesn't matter.

It also occurred, as you noted, in a "containment area made of gravel and a synthetic liner." The area was a potential source of leaks because it's the surge pump, but they explicitly protected that area just in case this happened. Seems pretty safe to me.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much a non story.
 
T

torontoml

Member
Spoiled Milk said:
Also from your article:

Here are 55 gallon barrels for reference.



The spill was less than four of these. It doesn't matter.

It also occurred, as you noted, in a "containment area made of gravel and a synthetic liner." The area was a potential source of leaks because it's the surge pump, but they explicitly protected that area just in case this happened. Seems pretty safe to me.
Click to expand...

It was actually less than 2 of those as the leak was only 84 gallons.
 
A

akira28

Member
ridiculous why?

is it not newsworthy unless they really really fucked up really badly and its a public safety issue and they kind HAVE to tel us by law? I mean, the thing just opened up and its got spilling on schedule already.
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Spoiled Milk said:
Also from your article:

Here are 55 gallon barrels for reference.



The spill was less than four of these. It doesn't matter.

It also occurred, as you noted, in a "containment area made of gravel and a synthetic liner." The area was a potential source of leaks because it's the surge pump, but they explicitly protected that area just in case this happened. Seems pretty safe to me.
Click to expand...
heres the point | -------------------------------------------------------------------------> and here's you |.

Wuthering_Heights said:
Yep, pretty much a non story.
Click to expand...
not really, when pretty much the whole point of the DAPL protests were its going to leak and if and when it does our water supply is right there.

Interestingly no one seems to give a shit that the white neighborhood north of Standing Rock "protested" and the pipe was moved, but when its coming near the Native Americans, fuck 'em.
 
T

torontoml

Member
akira28 said:
ridiculous why?

is it not newsworthy unless they really really fucked up really badly and its a public safety issue and they kind HAVE to tel us by law? I mean, the thing just opened up and its got spilling on schedule already.
Click to expand...
Honestly in my opinion, it's not news worthy. 210 gallons is when they have to report and this wasn't even half of that. It was contained within the engineered containment area which did what it was supposed to do.

Leaks do happen and likely considering the reporting requirements stated, a lot more often than the news talks about. They are contained and are not a risk, I'll have no problem with reporting on leaks when they exceed the engineered safety measures, but this is a non story.
 
X

Xal-Shoota

Member
To those saying it wasnt much...
They caught it early. If they didn't it would be much bigger. That, and it shouldn't freaking happen in the first place.
 
T

torontoml

Member
Xal-Shoota said:
To those saying it wasnt much...
They caught it early. If they didn't it would be much bigger. That, and it shouldn't freaking happen in the first place.
Click to expand...
But they caught it and their systems did what they are supposed too. I'm not trying to make excuses, but trying to make a big story out of a situation that was corrected because things worked properly seems misguided to me.
 
Emerson

Emerson

May contain jokes =>
The pipeline was literally engineered with a failsafe for this eventuality and it worked. This isn't a story worth getting angry about.
 
L

Loudninja

Member
Emerson said:
The pipeline was literally engineered with a failsafe for this eventuality and it worked. This isn't a story worth getting angry about.
Click to expand...
The goddamn pipeline should not be there in the first place.

Its annoying who this is being hand wave away because sit was only a little leak.
 
A

akira28

Member
torontoml said:
Honestly in my opinion, it's not news worthy. 210 gallons is when they have to report and this wasn't even half of that. It was contained within the engineered containment area which did what it was supposed to do.

Leaks do happen and likely considering the reporting requirements stated, a lot more often than the news talks about. They are contained and are not a risk, I'll have no problem with reporting on leaks when they exceed the engineered safety measures, but this is a non story.
Click to expand...

and in context of those who say the pipeline has a real chance of polluting their water sources and farmland? yes the failsafe caught the leak, but remember this is a political football not a life and death necessity. those people living around this thing shouldn't have to rely on fault tolerance for "acceptable levels" known pollutants. I would surely like to know if my aquifer might be in danger of 100 gallons of crude oil.

Your lack of concern doesn't make this any less an issue worth reporting on. The lack of an environmental emergency doesn't mean we just ignore it till it happens.
 
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