A total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline’s operator, TransCanada, said. Crews shut down the pipeline within minutes of discovering an irregularity and officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which occurred about three miles southeast of the town of Amherst. The spill has been controlled, the company said, with no further environmental impacts observed and no threat to public safety.
Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources said “ This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota. In April 2016, there was a 400-barrel release — or 16,800 gallons — with the majority of the oil cleanup completed in two months, Walsh said. About 5,000 barrels of oil spilled Thursday. “It is a below-ground pipeline, but some oil has surfaced above ground to the grass,” Walsh said. “It will be a few days until they can excavate and get in borings to see if there is groundwater contamination.” “There were no initial reports of the oil spill affecting waterways, water systems or wildlife” he said.
According to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ website, this is the third pipeline spill in the state this year. Another 84 gallons of crude oil leaked from the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in Spink County in April. That pipeline, which runs through both Dakotas and two other states, drew fierce resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, the tribe’s allies and environmentalists.
The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward. The Keystone Pipeline system stretches more than 2,600 miles, from Hardisty, Alberta, east into Manitoba and then south to Texas, according to TransCanada. The pipeline transports crude oil from Canada. The sections of pipeline affected stretch from Hardisty to Cushing, Oklahoma, and to Wood River, Illinois.
The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Hardisty to Steele City, Nebraska, would complete the proposed system by cutting through Montana and South Dakota. TransCanada said it was working with state and federal agencies. “The safety of the public and environment are our top priorities and we will continue to provide updates as they become available,” the company said. Environmental activist group Greenpeace said the spill shows the new pipeline in Nebraska should not be approved.
In March, the Trump administration officially issued a permit that approved construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The approval followed years of intense debate over the pipeline amid hefty opposition from environmental groups, who argued the pipeline supports the extraction of crude oil from oil sands, which pumps about 17% more greenhouse gases than standard crude oil extraction. Tar sands oil is also much thicker and stickier than traditional oil, significantly complicating cleanup efforts. Since it’s thicker, it needs to be combined with other hazardous materials to allow it to be transported in pipelines.
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Hundreds of trials for activists who stood against the Dakota Access Pipeline have seen the courtroom but only two have received jail time so far. A judge in North Dakota has sentenced two water protectors to jail time after they were convicted on misdemeanor charges over an October 2016 protest at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Twenty-seven-year-old Alexander Simon, a school teacher from New Mexico was sentenced to serve 18 days in jail for obstruction of a government function. Mary Redway, a 64 year old retired environmental biologist from Rhode Island was sentenced to six days in jail for disorderly conduct. The sentences were imposed by Judge Thomas Merrick despite the fact that the prosecution had not recommended the two serve jail time.
Journalist Sara Lafleur-Vetter, who was filming for The Guardian at the time of her arrest, was acquitted on misdemeanor charges stemming from her reporting on the protest on October 22. Hundreds of unresolved criminal cases related to the months-long resistance at Standing Rock remain open. Hundreds of cases have been
The Water Protector Legal Collective- an indigenous-led legal team defending activists arrested during the months-long Dakota Access Pipeline controversy is currently fighting over 427 criminal cases in North Dakota, according to the legal team’s website. Another 272 cases have been dismissed due to lack of evidence of any crime being committed. Morton County has put out warrants, dismissed cases, recharged water protectors, and failed to send mail or contact arrestees regarding scheduled court dates-all resulting in new warrants being issued for accused water protectors without their knowledge.
Three water protectors are currently imprisoned while awaiting trial: Red Fawn Fallis, Little Feather and Dion Ortiz. Fallis, the most seriously charged water protector, was arrested at Standing Rock on October 27, 2016 accused of possessing and discharging a firearm as she was being restrained by police near construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Fallis, the organizer of the “Frontline Camp” was arrested during the October 27th raid on the camp when over 300 police officers—some carrying M16 rifles and clad in flak vests advanced to remove all remaining protestors. Four officers left formation and tackled Fallis to the ground, holding her face down. Four additional officers assisted in trying to handcuff her as she was being tased. In the course of the raid, the police fired tear gas and concussion grenades and peppered the water protectors with rubber-tipped bullets and bean bag pellets, causing dozens of injuries. Fallis was held in a Rugby, North Dakota jail until her transfer to a halfway house in Fargo in June 2017. Her jury trial was originally slated to begin on July 17, but it has now been postponed until December 5.
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Oil could start flowing through the highly contested $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline as early this week. The company building the Dakota Access pipeline says the project remains on track to start moving oil this week despite recent “coordinated physical attacks” along the line. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners didn’t detail the attacks, but said they “pose threats to life, physical safety and the environment.”
Two American Indian tribes have battled the $3.8 billion pipeline in court for months, arguing it’s a threat to water. The company has said the pipeline will be safe. An appeals court rejected the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Nations’ request for an emergency injunction to stop the pipeline from becoming operational.
Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia cleared the way for the startup, when he turned down two North Dakota tribes’ request for a preliminary injunction to prevent oil from flowing under Lake Oahe.
The 1,172-mile, four-state pipeline constructed almost entirely on private land is 99 percent complete, but a federal easement which was obtained in February-was required in order to finish the final 1,100-foot stretch in North Dakota. When complete, the pipeline will move crude oil from the Bakken field in North Dakota to a shipping point in Patoka, Illinois via 30-inch diameter pipes, and then connect to an existing reconfigured pipeline.
The pipeline consists of more than 700 miles of existing pipeline that has been converted to crude oil service from Patoka to Nederland, Texas. The two pipelines are expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2017.
The approval in February was granted after President Trump issued an executive order to expedite the process. The US Army Corps of Engineers originally granted the easement for the pipeline in July, but withdrew it in December under political pressure from thousands of protesters camped near the construction site at Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
The Corps abandoned the additional environmental review launched in December and argued in court that it undertook a two-year review of the project’s impact on water quality and historic relics, including 389 meetings with 55 tribes. The company rerouted the pipeline 140 times in response to concerns raised.
Greenpeace and a group of more than 160 scientists dedicated to conservation and preservation of threatened natural resources and endangered species have spoken out against the pipeline. Many Sioux tribes say that the pipeline threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance.
Protests at sites in North Dakota began in the spring of 2016 and drew indigenous people from throughout North America creating the largest gathering of Native Americans in the past hundred years. In January, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department released figures showing the state and local policing of the protests have cost $22.3 million since August 10 2016.
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The Army Corps of Engineers appears ready to approve the final permit required to build the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The Dakota Access project has faced months of resistance from hundreds of indigenous nations and non-Native allies. Policing the protests in North Dakota has cost the taxpayers over 22 million dollars.
North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said that acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer has directed the Army Corps to issue the easement for Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline. The easement allows the company to drill underneath the Missouri River.
Energy Transfer Partners is poised to begin drilling under Lake Oahe as soon as approval is given. Workers have drilled entry and exit holes for the crossing and oil has been put in the pipeline leading up to the lake in anticipation of finishing the project. CEO Kelcy Warren has said the company should be able to finish the project in about three months once the permit is granted.
The 1,200-mile pipeline would carry North Dakota oil through the Dakotas and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. Dallas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners had hoped to have the pipeline operating by the end of 2016, but construction has been stalled while the Corps and the company battled in court over the crossing.
An assessment conducted last year determined the crossing would not have a significant impact on the environment. However, on Dec. 4th, then-Assistant Army Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy declined to issue permission for the crossing, saying a broader environmental study was warranted. The Corps launched a study of the crossing on Jan. 18th. President Donald Trump signed an executive action Jan. 24 telling the Corps to quickly reconsider Darcy’s decision and shortly after court documents were filed that include a proposed Federal Register notice terminating the study.
The Corps has notified the remaining protesters that the government-owned land will be closed Feb. 22nd 2017. The Standing Rock Sioux and supporters fear a pipeline spill could contaminate the river, which serves as a drinking water source for millions.
Water protectors say that if the easement is granted, the government would be illegally circumventing the process of an environmental impact statement, which was ordered in December under President Obama’s administration. Members of the resistance camp Sacred Stone on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota have called for water protectors to come to support the resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline.
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