Washington, DC, May 1, 2013 – One month after the Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas and coated a residential neighborhood with toxic tar sands oil, Exxon Mobil proved it’s not a matter of if, but when pipelines will spill. On Tuesday, the same Pegasus pipeline spilled again in Ripley County, Missouri.
This spill reinforces the idea that the Keystone XL pipeline is too risky for American families.
Washington, DC, May 1, 2013 – One month after the Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas and coated a residential neighborhood with toxic tar sands oil, Exxon Mobil proved it’s not a matter of if, but when pipelines will spill. On Tuesday, the same Pegasus pipeline spilled again in Ripley County, Missouri.
This spill reinforces the idea that the Keystone XL pipeline is too risky for American families.
“Two tar sands spills in one month is devastating no matter where it happens, but it is particularly alarming that Keystone XL would run through one of our country’s largest sources of freshwater that provides irrigation and drinking water for millions of Americans,” said All Risk, No Reward Coalition Chair Randy Thompson. “The images from the Arkansas community were awful. Just imagine those same photos from the Ogallala Aquifer, and the financial damage that would cause. America cannot afford this kind of risk.”
Just yesterday, a new group of Mayflower residents called “Remember Mayflower, Arkansas” released an ad to spread the message that tar sands oil and water don’t mix.
Exxon’s tar sands pipeline has now spilled twice in one month.
TransCanada, who would own and operate the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has a similarly atrocious safety record. Their original Keystone pipeline experienced 12 separate spills in the United States in the first year of operation– nearly one every month. One of those spills alone released 21,000 gallons of dirty tar sands oil. Between the U.S. and Canada, the original Keystone pipeline had “over 30 spills” in its first year, according to a report by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.
Since then, the line was temporarily shut down in 2012, a few weeks ago, and just the other day.
The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will run through America, but does not benefit America. Based on the State Department’s Environmental Impact Statement, the pipeline will create only 35 permanent jobs. It would also put American communities at significant risk of oil spills like the recent tar sands spill in Arkansas. The pipeline will not reduce dependence on Mideast oil because Keystone XL products will likely be exported overseas, including to China and Venezuela.
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May 1 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil confirmed on Wednesday that an oil spill occurred Tuesday on its Pegasus crude pipeline in Ripley County, Missouri, the same line that ruptured thousands of barrels of oil into an Arkansas neighborhood at the end of March.
An Exxon spokeswoman said a resident notified the company of oil staining on the surface near the pipeline on Tuesday. The cleanup of the one-barrel leak was near completion, she said.
The pipeline was already out of service following a spill in Mayflower, Arkansas, on March 29, Exxon said.
All Risk, No Reward Coalition