Leaker, no you're the leaker!

[Arctish]

There are already pipelines that cross the Rockies.

And some of them are in Canada.

 

[dismal]

When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras.

Pipelines leak all the time. It's the nature of the beast. This one will be no different, no matter what pie-in-the-sky promises TransCanada makes.

I'm thinking some eco-nut, not someone trying to make them look bad.

Yeah, but you're still thinking sabotage when pipelines leak all by themselves pretty much all the time, even with regular maintenance and no sabotage at all.

Big leaks are unusual, but not so unusual that anyone should be surprised when they happen.

No, pipelines do not generally "leak all by themselves". Especially not a new pipeline buried in the middle of a field. Where pipelines come in to surface facilities there are valves and seals that fail.

But barring decades of corrosion, a buried pipeline tends to fail because someone dug into it.

 

[LordKiran]

I'm thinking some eco-nut, not someone trying to make them look bad.

Yeah, but you're still thinking sabotage when pipelines leak all by themselves pretty much all the time, even with regular maintenance and no sabotage at all.

Big leaks are unusual, but not so unusual that anyone should be surprised when they happen.

No, pipelines do not generally "leak all by themselves". Especially not a new pipeline buried in the middle of a field. Where pipelines come in to surface facilities there are valves and seals that fail.

But barring decades of corrosion, a buried pipeline tends to fail because someone dug into it.

Is this your expert opinion as a pipeline contractor?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah, but you're still thinking sabotage when pipelines leak all by themselves pretty much all the time, even with regular maintenance and no sabotage at all.

Big leaks are unusual, but not so unusual that anyone should be surprised when they happen.

No, pipelines do not generally "leak all by themselves". Especially not a new pipeline buried in the middle of a field. Where pipelines come in to surface facilities there are valves and seals that fail.

But barring decades of corrosion, a buried pipeline tends to fail because someone dug into it.

Is this your expert opinion as a pipeline contractor?

dismal isn't too far offset from the field, so I wouldn't take his statement with that large a grain of salt. In general, these things fail when you first use them (inadequate installation) or corrosion. It should be too new for corrosion, shy of a very corrosive area, but it'd have to be very very corrosive.

I'm not too familiar with how long it takes a spill to be noticed. Depending on the leak, it could take much longer to produce enough material to become visible at the surface... and of course there is the tree falling in woods when no one is near it thing as well. Based on the photo, included in the OP, it doesn't appear to be sabotage, as the ground looks undisturbed, other than the saturated oil.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

This is clearly the fault of the Obama Clinton administration just like 9/11 and Ben Gozzy. Now that we run the EPA like a business by businessmen we will see that there is no real danger from Obama/Clinton's mistakes here. All this oil is good for the environment. Ducklings will take baths in it. Eagles will find prey more easily. (probably the ducklings). We don't need Indian burial grounds either so if they get covered in oil, it's no problem. Statues of Confederate soldiers, on the other hand, that's valuable history!

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[dismal]

No, pipelines do not generally "leak all by themselves". Especially not a new pipeline buried in the middle of a field. Where pipelines come in to surface facilities there are valves and seals that fail.

But barring decades of corrosion, a buried pipeline tends to fail because someone dug into it.

Is this your expert opinion as a pipeline contractor?

dismal isn't too far offset from the field, so I wouldn't take his statement with that large a grain of salt. In general, these things fail when you first use them (inadequate installation) or corrosion. It should be too new for corrosion, shy of a very corrosive area, but it'd have to be very very corrosive.

I'm not too familiar with how long it takes a spill to be noticed. Depending on the leak, it could take much longer to produce enough material to become visible at the surface... and of course there is the tree falling in woods when no one is near it thing as well. Based on the photo, included in the OP, it doesn't appear to be sabotage, as the ground looks undisturbed, other than the saturated oil.

They hydrotest these things at well above their maximum operating pressure before commissioning so this makes the "leak was always there" theory unlikely.

It would be odd for a weld to pass the hydrotest and then fail shortly after startup.

 

[dismal]

View attachment 13209

That oil looks to be hopelessly polluted with dirt. Probably a total loss of the 5000 bbls.

 

[Arctish]

Is this your expert opinion as a pipeline contractor?

dismal isn't too far offset from the field, so I wouldn't take his statement with that large a grain of salt. In general, these things fail when you first use them (inadequate installation) or corrosion. It should be too new for corrosion, shy of a very corrosive area, but it'd have to be very very corrosive.

I'm not too familiar with how long it takes a spill to be noticed. Depending on the leak, it could take much longer to produce enough material to become visible at the surface... and of course there is the tree falling in woods when no one is near it thing as well. Based on the photo, included in the OP, it doesn't appear to be sabotage, as the ground looks undisturbed, other than the saturated oil.

They hydrotest these things at well above their maximum operating pressure before commissioning so this makes the "leak was always there" theory unlikely.

It would be odd for a weld to pass the hydrotest and then fail shortly after startup.

It would not be odd for someone to fudge the hydrotest so the big expensive investment can start paying off.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

dismal isn't too far offset from the field, so I wouldn't take his statement with that large a grain of salt. In general, these things fail when you first use them (inadequate installation) or corrosion. It should be too new for corrosion, shy of a very corrosive area, but it'd have to be very very corrosive.

I'm not too familiar with how long it takes a spill to be noticed. Depending on the leak, it could take much longer to produce enough material to become visible at the surface... and of course there is the tree falling in woods when no one is near it thing as well. Based on the photo, included in the OP, it doesn't appear to be sabotage, as the ground looks undisturbed, other than the saturated oil.

They hydrotest these things at well above their maximum operating pressure before commissioning so this makes the "leak was always there" theory unlikely.

It would be odd for a weld to pass the hydrotest and then fail shortly after startup.

It would not be odd for someone to fudge the hydrotest so the big expensive investment can start paying off.

Shit sometimes doesn't work. But I like the passive aggressive argument from dismal that it was sabotage, despite any evidence.

 

[Derec]

Nothing is perfect. All the other methods of transporting oil long distances have risk of accidents, and pipelines are overall the best bet. But that does not mean the risk is zero, and neither should that be a requirement.

And if it turns out the company was cutting corners, they should be subject to fines and lawsuits.
On the other hand, if it is sabotage, I think whatever outfit the saboteurs are with should be sued and possibly be prosecuted under RICO statutes. \
Sabotage is not so unlikely. Ecomentalists have been monkeying around with valves a lot lately. Like this idiot.
Oregon climate activist found guilty of turning off pipeline valve in Chouteau County

 

[thebeave]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product. That's terrible. We can't be recklessly destroying our lands. But where else have I seen this before? Gotta think.... oh, yeah!

 

[dismal]

They hydrotest these things at well above their maximum operating pressure before commissioning so this makes the "leak was always there" theory unlikely.

It would be odd for a weld to pass the hydrotest and then fail shortly after startup.

It would not be odd for someone to fudge the hydrotest so the big expensive investment can start paying off.

Shit sometimes doesn't work. But I like the passive aggressive argument from dismal that it was sabotage, despite any evidence.

It was so passive it was I almost as if I said absolutely nothing that resembled it.

 

[dismal]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

 

[Elixir]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Yeah, all it takes is one tweet; "It didn't happen!". Problem solved.
Just like the Access Hollywood tapes, and Cheato now telling us that it's Fake News.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Yeah, all it takes is one tweet; "It didn't happen!". Problem solved.
Just like the Access Hollywood tapes, and Cheato now telling us that it's Fake News.

It is a matter of statistics. Do something, enough times, something will go wrong. Look at the Space Shuttle program, one of the highest levels of safety and care, and still, x number of missions, y number of disasters.

dismal is pleased that this can be remedied, which is nice. The trouble however, is if this happens where contamination into sensitive surface or subsurface ground waters occurs. Granted, anything can be remedied and there are lawyers to keep the price of recovery and lawsuits down.

 

[dismal]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Yeah, all it takes is one tweet; "It didn't happen!". Problem solved.
Just like the Access Hollywood tapes, and Cheato now telling us that it's Fake News.

You appear to have some trouble with the meanings of English words.

"This had little consequence" not equal "this did not happen"

No one has argued this did not happen.

 

[dismal]

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Yeah, all it takes is one tweet; "It didn't happen!". Problem solved.
Just like the Access Hollywood tapes, and Cheato now telling us that it's Fake News.

It is a matter of statistics. Do something, enough times, something will go wrong. Look at the Space Shuttle program, one of the highest levels of safety and care, and still, x number of missions, y number of disasters.

dismal is pleased that this can be remedied, which is nice. The trouble however, is if this happens where contamination into sensitive surface or subsurface ground waters occurs. Granted, anything can be remedied and there are lawyers to keep the price of recovery and lawsuits down.

I suppose it's possible something significant might happen.

I'm just not sure what that has to do with this, which appears to be a largely unsignificant event.

Similarly, it's possible that my car might catch fire, launch off a ramp and broadside a bus full of school children on my way home from work tonight. But that doesn't have much relevance to what happened on my relatively uneventful trip in to work.

 

[thebeave]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Well, its permanently altered if they do nothing. Is it always guaranteed some remediation will take place even if its in the middle of Bumfuck, South Dakota?

 

[dismal]

So, it looks like we have a few acres of land that has apparently been permanently altered and/or destroyed by a petroleum product.

Permanent? You can remediate a spill like this for next to nothing.

It's somewhat amazing anyone would think this incident has much significance.

Well, its permanently altered if they do nothing. Is it always guaranteed some remediation will take place even if its in the middle of Bumfuck, South Dakota?

I think it would be under state level regulation, but yes, the pipeline company will almost certainly have to clean it up.

ETA: I found the Texas law here, if you're interested

http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/publi...oc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=16&pt=1&ch=3&rl=91