The 383,000-gallon Keystone pipeline spill is ten times worse than originally reported.
John,
On October 29, the Keystone Pipeline spilled 383,000 gallons of conventional and dirty, sticky tar sands crude oil into the North Dakota wetlands.
Now reports say the spill is almost ten times worse than originally reported.1,2
Originally, we were told that the spill affected only about 2,500 square feet. Now we learn that the area affected is 4.8 acres — almost ten times larger.
Enough is enough. It’s time to put an end to these dirty, leaking pipelines.
Let’s be clear: there’s no such thing as a pipeline that doesn’t leak. In fact, the October 29 leak is the 21st (!) spill from Keystone 1 just in the last ten years.3
But TC Energy, the company that operates the pipeline, has not only restarted the Keystone 1, it's pushing to build an even bigger tar sands pipeline, the Keystone XL. That pipeline would go across one of the world’s largest freshwater sources, the Ogallala Aquifer, endangering the drinking water source for millions of people across multiple states.
Tar sands oil, the kind of oil that would be transported through Keystone XL, is 20% more carbon-intensive than conventional crude oil. It’s also far thicker, which means it must be transported at super-high pressures, increasing the risk of spills. And because tar sands oil is sticky and sinks in water, any spill would be a cleanup nightmare.
To protect our land and water — and save the climate — we simply can’t allow pipelines like Keystone XL to be built.
Food & Water Watch is working in Washington, DC, as well as in state capitols and courtrooms across the country, to stop this new generation of pipelines that will doom our climate and destroy our land and water.
Food & Water Watch and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Action, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
