The Exxon pipeline fiasco in Arkansas will surely lead to debate over the prudence of Keystone XL, especially if it traverses environmentally sensitive areas/communities.
Exxon Mobil was fined three years prior to this accident for failing to test the integrity of their pipeline frequently enough.
One question is: what are the federal safety requirements (i.e. excess flow devices, pressure monitoring, etc.) for pipelines that are hundreds of miles long? Did Exxon implement insufficient mitigation methods to prevent such a large spill or was this a lack of foresight by the government/NFPA to establish safety codes with adequate levels of protection? If Keystone XL moves forward, what will prevent this from happening again? TransCanada believes they have technology that could stop a leak in 15 minutes. Even if they do, that's a long time for a large, high pressure pipeline to be pouring out oil.
I wish we could spur debate on issues without bad things happening. #SandyHook #ExxonArkansas
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