Vandals burn holes in Dakota Access Pipeline

[Valin]

Legal Insurrection:

The pipeline is poised to start moving oil as early as next week.

Leslie Eastman

Saturday, March 25, 2017

 

The last time we checked on the Dakota Access Pipeline, recovery crews were digging through mountains of garbage left by protesters and trying to find families for the dogs abandoned at the Standing Rock site by the evicted eco-activists.

 

President Trump put his pen to work, which moved both the Dakota and Keystone pipelines forward. the US State Department is putting the finishing touches on a permit for Keystone’s international structure.

 

Meanwhile, South Dakota and Iowa authorities are investigating the vandalism of the almost operational Dakota Access Pipeline.

 

 

The next activists who try to burn a hole through the Dakota Access pipeline may find that carbon pollution is the least of their problems.

 

The $3.8 billion project is expected to begin running oil this week, as authorities investigate two separate incidents of vandalism in Iowa and South Dakota involving holes torched in pipes located at above-ground valve sites.

 

No oil was flowing through the pipes, but if there had been, the consequences could have been disastrous, said Brigham A. McCown, former acting administrator of the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

 

“If they had tried to utilize a torch to burn through the sidewall, they would have likely ignited the oil inside and been killed instantly,” said Mr. McCown, now an infrastructure consultant. “This is a serious safety issue and cannot be justified under any basis. Those responsible should face severe criminal penalties.”

 

 

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