Study rebuts concern about oil in Keystone line

pioneer press/chicago tribune ^ | 6-28-13 | Neela Banerjee

[TurboZamboni]

WASHINGTON -- The type of crude oil that would be pumped through the Keystone XL pipeline is no more likely to corrode pipelines or heighten the chance of leaks than other kinds of petroleum, according to a study by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

The finding rebuts one concern raised by opponents of the controversial 1,700-mile Canada-to-Texas pipeline. They have long argued that pipelines are more prone to corrosion and leaks if they carry diluted bitumen, the tar-like substance extracted in Alberta mostly by strip-mining, mixed with chemicals and pumped at high pressure through pipeline networks to refineries.

The National Research Council study did "not find any causes of pipeline failure unique to the transportation of diluted bitumen." The study was done at the behest of the Transportation Department.

[TurboZamboni]

environutters deeply saddened.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I’m old enough to remember the fight over the Alaska pipeline. Worried about the caribou. As it turned out the caribou herds grew because the area around the pipeline was warmer so they made whoopee more often.

These environmentalists-can’t tell em’ nothin.’

[Dilbert San Diego]

But, in keeping with the times, we have to ask — what about the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered caribou? Did they have equal rights in the warmth created by the pipeline???