Exxon Proves It’s Not If, But When: Another Residential Spill From Same Pipeline
Just days after the one month anniversary of the pipeline rupture in Mayflower, Arkansas that coated a residential neighborhood with toxic tar sands oil, Exxon Mobil proved it’s not a matter of if, but when pipelines will spill following another oil spill on residential property Tuesday in Ripley County, Missouri. The spill occurred on the same Pegasus pipeline that burst in Arkansas, meaning Exxon’s tar sands pipeline has now spilled twice in residential communities in just over one month.
“Two residential tar sands spills in just over one month is devastating and it shows just how risky it would be to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Keystone XL would run through the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest sources of freshwater that provides millions of Americans with drinking water every day,” said All Risk, No Reward Coalition Chair Randy Thompson. “It’s an enormous risk that the American people shouldn’t have to take.”
On top of the risks to land and water, the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline is an export pipeline that would not enhance American energy independence. The pipeline would not reduce dependence on Mideast oil because Keystone XL products will likely be exported overseas, including to China and Venezuela.
TransCanada, who would own and operate the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has a similarly atrocious safety record to ExxonMobil. TransCanada’s original Keystone pipeline experienced 12 separate spills in the United States in the first year of operation– nearly one every month. One of those spills alone released 21,000 gallons of dirty tar sands oil. Between the U.S. and Canada, the original Keystone pipeline had “over 30 spills” in its first year, according to a report by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.
Since then, the line was temporarily shut down in 2012, a few weeks ago, and just the other day.
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May 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil confirmed on Wednesday that an oil spill occurred Tuesday on its Pegasus crude pipeline in Ripley County, Missouri, the same line that ruptured thousands of barrels of oil into an Arkansas neighborhood at the end of March.
An Exxon spokeswoman said a resident notified the company of oil staining on the surface near the pipeline on Tuesday. The cleanup of the one-barrel leak was near completion, she said.
The pipeline was already out of service following a spill in Mayflower, Arkansas, on March 29, Exxon said.
