September 21, 2012 – TransCanada claims that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will be the “safest, most advanced pipeline ever built in North America”—and points to its leak detection system as proof positive of that claim. But a new investigation by Inside Climate News shows that the spill detection sensors are far less accurate than landowners are led to believe.
From Bloomberg:
“For years, TransCanada, the Canadian company that wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline, has assured the project's opponents that the line will be equipped with sensors that can quickly detect oil spills.
“But an InsideClimate News examination of 10 years of federal data shows that leak detection systems do not provide as much protection as the public has been led to believe.
“Between 2002 and July 2012, remote sensors detected only 5 percent of the nation's pipeline spills, according to data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
“The general public reported 22 percent of the spills during that period. Pipeline company employees at the scenes of accidents reported 62 percent.
Anthony Swift, an attorney who has spent years researching pipeline safety for the Natural Resources Defense Council, was taken aback by the findings. Swift's organization opposes the Keystone XL, and he said he had always known that leak detection systems didn't catch most of the spills. But "the fact that 19 out of 20 leaks aren't caught is surprising, and certainly runs counter to a lot of rhetoric we hear from the industry," he said.”
For more information, you can read NRDC’s “Pipeline leak detection systems miss 19 out of 20 spills” blog post here or contact Josh Mogerman at jmogerman@nrdc.org or 312.651.7909.