Keystone XL isn’t even built yet and already it’s faulty

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/keystone-xl-isnt-even-built-yet-and-already-its-faulty/

?w=250&h=139

Property owners who watched with disgust and fear as TransCanada contractors ripped up their land to lay the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline are being treated to a repeat performance.

The pipeline isn’t even in service yet, but already TransCanada is digging up stretches of faulty piping and replacing them, raising fresh safety fears. The pipeline is intended to link up with the Keystone XL northern leg — which is still waiting for approval from the Obama administration — and then carry tar-sands oil down to refineries in Texas.

From a Public Citizen press release:

Dozens of anomalies, including dents and welds, reportedly have been identified along a 60-mile stretch of the southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, north of the Sabine River in Texas.

In the past two weeks, landowners have observed TransCanada and its vendor, Michels, digging up the buried southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline on their properties and those of neighbors in the vicinity of Winnsboro, Texas. Some of the new pipeline has been in the ground on some owners’ land for almost six months. It is believed that problems identified on this section of the Keystone XL route must have triggered the current digging, raising questions from landowners about the safety of the pipeline and the risk to personal property and water supplies.

[Buzz Clik]

1. THIS should be the focus.

Hold their feet to the fire. Make them explain the problems. Force them to prove that every inch of pipeline of meets every regulatory requirement.

[limpyhobbler]

2. kick/rec.

Tar sands are gross.

[think]

3. +1

[wtmusic]

4. I thought the pipeline wasn't approved yet.

Is this presidential seal of approval as worthless, as pointless, as it appears? Or is the official position going to be, "We now have this marvelous pipeline built, and it would not only be a shame but wasteful to not go ahead and use it?"