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On Heels of Spill, Public Hearings for Keystone XL
By Heather Moyer, Sierra Club
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
“They said this could not happen and here it is right here in front of you.”
Those words come from a North Dakota farmer who had front row seats to the May 7th TransCanada Keystone 1 tar sands oil pipeline spill in Sargent County, North Dakota. Paul Matthews and his neighbors saw the oil spewing up to 60 feet in the air. The gusher was halted, and the exact size of the leak is not yet known, but so far officials are saying it could be close to 16,800 gallons (400 barrels). Here’s the key issue with this oil disaster:
“The leak happened at a TransCanada facility, was highly visible, and took 30 minutes to shut down after discovery,” said Kate Colarulli, Associate Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Oil Campaign. “How long would it have taken to shut down if the leak had occured elsewhere or hadn’t been so visible?”
Keep reading on the Sierra Club website
Tagged with: keystone xl, pipeline, oil spill
