Below is an informative commentary as to how this crude oil extraction takes place and its repercussions. It certainly paints a very clear picture.
"For those who have questions about development of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, I suggest an experiment. You'll need: peanut butter, at least four straws, superglue, some bleach, chloric acid, some Liquid Plumr and a strong tire pump.
We're going to create our own model of the pipeline.
First push some peanut butter into one end of a straw and attempt to blow it through the straw. Bitumen or tar san ds-- the product TransCanada wants to ship through the US -- is the consistency of peanut butter.
You'll notice it didn't move.
Now take the three remaining straws and superglue them together end to end. This will be our pipeline.
Take more peanut butter and mix it with the chemicals we listed to thin the consitency of the peanut butter to a more manageable liquid. This is what TransCanada will be doing with the bitumen, thinning it with corrosive chemicals to be able to move it through their pipeline.
Push some of this mixture into the end of the pipeline we created. It moves a little better, but we want to increase the movement so attach the tire pump to the straw and apply pressure.
What's that you say?
The pipeline ruptured at the joint? Not surprising.
Nor are all the small seam leaks, pinhole leaks or larger holes appearing along the length of the straws.
The pipe to be used by TransCanada is designed for pressure of 1,910 psi. However, TransCanada will be pushing the diluted bitumen through the line at 2,200 psi...
You can guess what effect the corosive chemicals will have on what experts have stated is substandard pipe.
Whistleblowers from within TransCanada's ranks have reported numerous issues which will be detrimental to the safe transport of bitumen tar sands through the US.
We all know what that means, or should, by looking at TransCanada's record in Canada.
TransCanada, and its associates, have experienced 1,047 incidents in the 12 years the pipeline has been in existance in Canada and the northeastern US.
The TransCanada line running from Oklahoma to Texas experienced 14 spills in one year. Another 21 leaks occurred on the Canadian side of the current pipeline and 25 repairs had to be made to preclude problems.
Those ruptures (we're not counting pump station failures, fires, explosions or fatalities -- all of which have taken place) have released anywhere from 126 litre ( approximately 40 gallons) to more than 96 million litres (approximately 21 million gallons) of tar sands.
A TransCanada leak in its current line through North Dakota left a plume 60 feet high near Ludden, ND; while families were driven from their homes in Mayflower, Ark, when one of TransCanada's partners, Exxon, had a rupture of their pipeline there.
TransCanada and two Calgary executives, pleaded guilty in 1996, to numerous violations of US environmental and safety laws in Syracuse, NY.
Another TransCanada project, the Bison pipeline in Wyoming, had to be shut down after a portion of it blew open.
Where repairs have been made, the topsoil hasn't recovered and erosion has become a secondary problem.
It's already an established fact TranCanada's claim of being able to create up to 49,500 jobs has been proven to be false. Even President Obama says no more than 2,000 jobs a year will be created during the two-year construction period... and only 35 permanent jobs will result.
Let us not forget none of the product being transferred through this pipeline will be sold in the US. It will have no effect on our current demands.
All of the final product will be shipped overseas from refineries in Foreign Trade Zones and will avoid paying US taxes.
For the life of me. I can't see how this product will be good for America's economy or environment.
Can you? " - Magic John
Video: http://vimeo.com/95882606
Excellent information.
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