Free Republic

On the morning of Sept. 9, an inspector with the Alabama Surface Mining Commission was performing a routine monthly check of an old coal mine in Shelby County when he noticed "a strong odor of gasoline" as well as a sheen on the surface of one of the retention ponds. The gasoline he was smelling came from Colonial Pipeline's Line 1, an underground pipeline three feet in diameter that normally pushes 1.3 million barrels of gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers across the Southeast and along the eastern seaboard. That 36-inch line, built in 1963, has...

A leak has caused the closure of a crucial pipeline that carries gasoline to the eastern United States, a disruption that threatens to drive up prices and leave service stations without fuel to sell. A section of the Colonial Pipeline, which runs from Houston to New York, has been closed since Sept. 9 after a spill of roughly 250,000 gallons was discovered in rural Shelby County, Ala. The major pipeline, one pipe of which has been severed, provides gasoline for an estimated 50 million people on the East Coast each day, according to company estimates. The cause of the leak...

The Obama administration shocked the oil industry last week, pulling the plug on a major oil pipeline from the Bakken that had become a flashpoint between a pipeline company on the one hand, and a growing coalition of Native American tribes and environmentalists on the other. Everyone was anxiously waiting a Friday ruling from a U.S. federal judge, who was weighing a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.8 billion 1,168-mile oil pipeline that would run from North Dakota to Iowa and Illinois. The pipeline would threaten sacred lands and...

If you read the full ruling you will see the number of times that the tribe has either refuted studies which they themselves requested or simply failed to respond at all to questions raised about their objections in court. This wasn’t a search for answers and valid science, but legal maneuvering to simply shut down the project. And now, thanks to the White House, what was supposed to be a settled matter has multiple federal entities – including the Department of Justice, the Army and the Interior Department – dragged into the fray. The Army is claiming that a quick...

An effort to halt construction of an oil pipeline by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was rejected by a U.S. District Judge Friday. From the NY Times: The ruling by Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington rejected efforts by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to halt construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. A lawyer for the tribe says the ruling will be appealed. Although the $3.7 billion pipeline would not cross the reservation on its 1,170-mile path across four states, it would skirt the reservation’s northern boundary and run through what tribal officials say are ancestral lands. They say the...

Bin Laden's right-hand man 'instructed' Istanbul bombers Two key suspects in the Istanbul suicide bombings reportedly met with and took instructions from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. Hurriyet newspaper, quoting from the testimony of another suspect, said Habib Aktas and Azad Ekinci met the al-Qaida chief's top surviving lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, several times. The two Turks are suspected of hatching the plans for the November 15 suicide bombings against two synagogues and on the British Consulate and a British bank five days later. A total of 61 people died in the attacks. "They were the only ones to meet with...

The Obama administration said it would not authorize construction on a critical stretch of the Dakota Access pipeline, handing a significant victory to the Indian tribe fighting the project the same day the group lost a court battle. The administration said construction would halt until it can do more environmental assessments. The Department of Justice, the Army and the Interior Department jointly announced that construction would pause on the pipeline near North Dakota's Lake Oahe, a major water source on the Missouri River for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The agencies will now decide whether they need to reconsider permitting...

BISMARCK, N.D. — A protest of a four-state, $3.8 billion oil pipeline turned violent after tribal officials say construction crews destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites on private land in southern North Dakota. Morton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey said four private security guards and two guard dogs were injured after several hundred protesters confronted construction crews Saturday afternoon at the site just outside the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. One of the security officers was taken to a Bismarck hospital for undisclosed injuries. The two guard dogs were taken to a Bismarck veterinary clinic, Preskey said.

Final federal approval for what is being called the “new Keystone” came from the Army Corps of Engineers on July 26—allowing the pipeline to move forward. The 1,168-mile long Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), also called the Bakken Pipeline, is comparable in length to the Keystone XL. It will cross four states and carry 450,000 barrels of oil a day from North Dakota to a transfer terminal in Illinois where it will connect with other pipelines and be taken to refineries.The $3.8 billion dollar project has pitted environmentalists against economic interests.During the Keystone fight, outspoken opponent Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold...

Remember the Keystone XL Pipeline project? Remember what a cause célèbre it was for both the left and right? What the heck ever happened to it? Have you wondered that?Well, in short it was killed pretty much for good, or at least the foreseeable future – both here in the USSA and now in Canada. As you are no doubt aware, it was Obama who, with the left in the federal and various state legislatures – and with some help from Choo-choo Warren Buffet who owns most of the rail cars now hauling crude down south, vetoed the pipeline. And...

A recent advertisement, set to go up across Montreal was struck down, out of fear that it would offend the local Muslim population. The billboard ad, designed by the producers of The Rebel website, criticizes Mayor Denis Coderre for choosing "Charia [sic] oil" over Canadian oil, and features an image of King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Coderre previously had struck down a bill to build an oil pipeline from Alberta, citing environmental...

TransCanada Corp is formally requesting arbitration over U.S. President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, seeking $15 billion in damages, the company said in legal papers dated Friday. TransCanada submitted a notice for an arbitration claim in January and had then tried to negotiate with the U.S. government to “reach an amicable settlement,” the company said in files posted on the pipeline’s website. “Unfortunately, the parties were unable to settle the dispute.” TransCanada said it then filed its formal arbitration request under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provisions, seeking to recover what it says are costs and...

Police in a U.S. town bordering Mexico have apprehended an undocumented, Middle Eastern woman in possession of the region’s gas pipeline plans, law enforcement sources tell Judicial Watch. Authorities describe the woman as an “Islamic refugee” pulled over during a traffic stop by a deputy sheriff in Luna County, New Mexico which shares a 54-mile border with Mexico. County authorities alerted the U.S. Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) has been deployed to the area to investigate, sources with firsthand knowledge of the probe confirm. The gas pipeline plans in the woman’s...

BRUGES, Belgium -- The idea may have seemed mad, but after all, the beer is called the Madman of Bruges - or Brugse Zot in Dutch. And with the help of crowdfunding efforts among some 400 Madman fans, the dream of building a beer pipeline through the Belgian city of Bruges is becoming real. "You have to be a bit crazy - like the beer - to do such a project. I just had the money for that, and I liked it. So I went crazy and gave the money to the brewery," said local restaurant owner Philippe Le Loup,...

COAL RUN — A section of a proposed natural gas pipeline is scheduled to go through an area of Coal Township known for having abandoned mine workings and a underground mine fire...

Shell Pipeline crews are still cleaning up from the most recent spill near Interstate 580 and the border between Alameda and San Joaquin counties four days after the 24-inch diameter line broke. Crews with the oil giant were able to complete repairs on the pipe on Monday, according to a Shell official. The San Pablo Bay Pipeline stretches from Coalinga in Fresno County to Martinez. The rupture on the line was first reported at 3 a.m. on Friday, said Lisa Medina, an environmental specialist at the San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department. Shell discovered a drop in pressure in the...

The United States and Canada work well together. The countries share the world’s largest and most comprehensive trade relationship, exchanging more than $2 billion per day in goods and services; the U.S. is Canada’s largest foreign investor and Canada is the third-largest foreign investor in the U.S. The partnership clearly isn’t broken, but it may need some mending as bilateral and international gas trade stands to complicate matters in short order. As with most current global natural gas issues, we must first look back to the shale gas revolution. In 2005 – just as hydraulic fracturing was finding its feet...

Iran’s Hassan Rouhani arrived Friday in Pakistan on a landmark visit, his first since becoming president, at a time when Saudi Arabia is courting Islamabad to increase participation in a new Saudi-led military alliance of mostly Sunni nations, a coalition perceived by Tehran as an anti-Shiite block. Pakistan, a majority Sunni country, has traditionally close ties with Saudi Arabia, which is hostile to Iran, a Shiite power. The kingdom accuses Tehran of supporting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen against the internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. […] On the eve of his visit, Rouhani said that “constructive relations with...

American billionaire Warren Buffett, through his Nebraska-based company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), has acquired a $400 million stake in struggling pipeline company, Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI). According to a Berkshire Hathaway US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the 26.53 million shares of Kinder Morgan are valued at $395.8 million. The purchase adds to Buffett’s oil interests, which includes a recently purchased 14.3 percent stake in oil refiner Phillips 66 at a time when other oil and gas investors are looking for the exit. True to Buffett’s form, the Kinder Morgan purchase came shortly after its stock price fell 53...

A number of recently completed and upcoming natural gas infrastructure projects are expected to increase the reach of natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica regions of the Northeastern United States (see map). These projects are intended to transport natural gas from production centers to consuming markets or export terminals. Over the past several years, natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica areas has grown significantly: their combined growth of 12 billion cubic feet per day since 2011 accounts for 89% of the United States's total growth in natural gas production. The Marcellus and Utica shale plays are...