Another Pipeline Bursts Endangering Drinking Water

| January 21, 2017 | Reply

Another Pipeline Bursts Endangering Drinking Water Of 6 Million People – Same Company Behind Dakota Access Pipeline

 burst - Another Pipeline Bursts Endangering Drinking Water

While most of us are enjoying lower gasoline and natural gas prices these days – a big help to the family budget – it is increasingly difficult to defend the oil and gas industry when it keeps polluting our treasured natural resources.



The most recent incident occurred in Pennsylvania, and it involves the same company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, and which bulldozed ancient Native American burial sites: Sunoco.

 

 “Another Pipeline Bursts Endangering Drinking Water major waterways should be protected. the best way is at the breach by have product such as Oilzorb available. the water can be pumped through the Oilzorb which will filter it out of the water or dispersed on the water itself then collected and recycled. the advantage of Oilzorb is that there is no dangerous contaminants to dispose of later, Both Oilzorb and the oil spilled are separated and can be reused.”

A pipeline managed by the company has leaked 55,000 gallons of gasoline into a major waterway, thereby contaminating the drinking water of some 6 million people. The pipeline burst in recent days after heavy rainfall in the area, Natural Blaze reported.

The gasoline streamed into Wallis Run, a tributary of the Loyalsock Creek that eventually drains into the Susquehanna River. The leak was detected very early in the morning after the pressure within the pipeline suddenly dropped in a big way, thereby triggering a pipeline shutdown.



What’s the extent of the damage this time?

“Crews will use skimmers to remove gasoline from the top of affected waterways and will erect containment booms downstream,” Sunoco Logistics said in a statement, as reported by Fortune.

But even after the flow of gasoline within the pipeline was cut off, the same heavy rains that caused the leak continued for several hours, making it impossible to measure the extent of the leak and the damage right away.

The breach led Pennsylvania water authorities to warn customers to hold off from using water from the river for the time being, until environmental authorities can determine the level of contamination, Fortune noted further.

So far, nothing official in terms of data has been released by environmental officials.

Natural Blaze noted that the Susquehanna had previously been declared the third most endangered river in the United States by American Rivers, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to protecting and preserving rivers around the country.

The Susquehanna has also come under threat from development of natural gas, and in particular by the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” Natural Blaze noted. Some environmental groups claim that fracking has caused major contamination problems in the U.S. as the result of loopholes that exempt the natural gas industry from most U.S. environmental regulations.

The Sunoco spill came as the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists protest against the construction of an 1,100-mile pipeline in North Dakota that Sunoco will operate, claiming that it threatens the local water supply and sacred burial sites.

NewsTarget reported that tribal officials said bulldozers were used to “brazenly … destroy our burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts,” even as the tribe sought a court injunction to halt the development.

“The desecration of these ancient places has already caused the Standing Rock Sioux irreparable harm. We’re asking the court to halt this path of destruction,” tribal chairman David Archambault II said in a statement in mid-September.

Via CNN rest of the article can be found here

Category: Oil Spills, Pipe Line OilSpills

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