Pipelines
All oil, crude oil, and tar sands pipelines are unsafe to the communities they pass through with frequent spills, and to keep building them is irresponsible in this day and age of global warming. Instead, we need to build up, research, and expand renewable energy. The spills contaminate the water supply and the land. The pipelines themselves also leak Benzene into the air and cause cancer and other illnesses to the surrounding area, as we now know from a recent Texas study. This is not what the oil and gas industry would have you believe but it is what many of the Indigenous people have been telling us for a long time.
The oil and gas industry seems to wish to drain every last drop of oil from the ground until the Earth is sucked dry; however that is going to be a big problem because of the very real problem of global warming, also known as the problem of climate change. Scientists say we must leave much of known global resources of coal, oil, and natural gas in the ground if we are going to achieve not raising our global temperature more than 2°C, which is necessary to prevent major catastrophe (the World bank says “there is no certainty that adaptation to a 4°C world is possible”, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR4 synopsis says “unmitigated climate change would, in the long term, be likely to exceed the capacity of natural, managed and human systems to adapt”). When the politicians say that it is not “widely accepted” that climate change is a real phenomenon, what they are really saying is that they are unwilling to accept conventional wisdom even though without such leadership the fate of our planet could be sealed within 5-10 years, based on the UN IPCC report from 2018.
The oil and gas industry continues to escalate their extraction of oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada and the Bakken in North Dakota, as well as Texas, New Mexico, and many other places. This is against the latest conventional wisdom that says that we must leave much of this oil in the ground for all the future. We need to transition to electric using renewable energy as soon as possible and end our dependence on fossil fuels, such as are being carried through pipelines. Therefore all new pipeline construction must be stopped, and the demand for oil should be met with rising costs to allow renewable energy to fairly compete in the marketplace and win out as the only sustainable solution going forward. However, we have learned that a lot of oil is being transported through the pipelines to the Gulf Coast, for example, and other coastal cities, where it is exported out of the U.S. for a short-term profit. We have learned that tar sand oils that go to the Gulf Coast in Texas are refined and 60% of the oil refined there is exported out of the U.S. Also, the US approved the export of unrefined oil more than 6 years ago. In our opinion, we should not be exporting oil to other countries to encourage this behavior of inducing more global warming, where third world countries are being hit the hardest. This is just not responsible stewardship of the planet.
The biggest oil pipeline companies in Canada are Enbridge, Trans-Canada, and Kinder-Morgan. Trans-Canada is the father of the Keystone Pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline which drew the first, large resistance in recent memory from the public and widely publicized resistance. The KXL pipeline was stopped by President Obama, but then President Trump tried to bring it back, but later it was stopped again. But actually this is not a good story because the tar sand oil from Alberta, Canada is still being extracted and sent around the world in other ways, and the KXL pipeline is not the only pipeline that would have carried it. We should not be extracting the tar sands from Alberta, Canada if we want to meet the Paris-Climate Treaty objectives or the 2016 mandate from the Oil Change International “Sky's Limit” report, which says we should not start any new fossil fuel infrastructure because our “carbon budget” is all but used up. The tar sands from Alberta, Canada is still planned to be rammed through Minnesota via Line 3 instead of KXL so there is no anticipated loss of profit for the oil and gas industry by just stopping KXL by itself for the investors who care only about money and don't seem to care about anything else, and don't seem up to the challenge of transitioning away from fossil fuels, which is a solvable problem. We also have to stop Line 3 and Kinder-Morgan as well to fully stop the harmful extraction process in Alberta Canada. Trans-Canada tried to levy a billion dollar lawsuit against the US government for trying to stop KXL because according to the NAFTA trade agreement, nothing can stand in the way between a large company and its right to pursuit of profit, which is one of the moronic mandates of recent trade laws that we must also fight.
We also need to fight against natural gas pipelines because the natural gas extraction creates a lot of methane gas that makes the problem of global warming much worse, and the detrimental health effects of natural gas leaks in the immediate surroundings, as well as devastation from more extensive leaks, should not be tolerated in the face of the fact that wind and solar energy can produce the electricity we need and also can provide adequate heating and cooking with electric heaters and electric stoves.
Enbridge is the father of a whole different chain of pipelines that carry more tar sand oil than Keystone and Keystone XL. The point of entry into the United States is line 3, and it was seen recently in 2015 that Enbridge used illegal political manuevers to coerce the U.S. State Department to allow this pipeline to go over the U.S. border without proper Environmental Impact Statements. Trans-Canada is also planning new pipelines and Enbridge is planning on building more pipelines, such as a line 3 replacement that would carry more tar sands oil, extacted from Alberta, Canada, where we are not supposed to extract any more oil, more oil than Keystone XL would ever have carried. Phil Reynolds and Anna Moeller, so far, are the only elected official in Illinois that have not just rubber-stamped the approval of Enbridge pipelines through Illinois, and for that we honor Phil Reynolds and Anna Moeller.
Kinder-Morgan has recently been approved to build a pipeline going West from Alberta tar sand fields to the coast of Canada where Canada will try to export this tar sands to other countries directly without passing through the United States, despite courageous opposition especially in British Columbia and especially from indigenous people who are most directly affected first-hand because spills from pipelines completely destroys their lives that depend on local clean water. This pipeline was recently approved by Justin Trudeau, a day after Canada's Environmental Ministry declared a Climate Emergency. This pipeline is being fought mainly in British Columbia, where many First Nation people and environmentally conscious people live.
Pipelines, as well as oil by rail, are also a threat to our water supply because of the problem of contamination of water when there are oil spills or leaks. Both pipelines and oil by rail must be stopped to truly end the fossil fuel contamination and pollution nightmare and begin the just transition to renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. From 2010 until 2015, there have been over 3,300 spills from oil or natural gas pipelines, some big, some small, and when waterways are contaminated, it is impossible to fully clean them up, despite what is being portrayed in the media. We know people in Michigan who have told us that after the Kalamazoo River spill, that river is still not really cleaned up, for example, just layers of sand were put on top of very contaminated soil underneath.
In Illinois, Forest City 350 have constructed a double-headed pipeline snake monster to demonstrate and protest against pipelines like the Dakota Access Pipeline and the twinning of line 61 by Enbridge, with many sister organizations creating sections of the pipeline snake monster. The plans for this pipeline monster are online and other organizations, such as Bold Nebraska, have also used this symbol of the pipeline monster. This snake has been brought to many demonstrations including the 2015 Break Free From Fossil Fuels Action in Whiting, Indiana where the world was told that it is past time to transition away from fossil fuels. This snake was also brought to Chicago a number of times, at the 2017 Earth Day Climate March and also during a demonstration there against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016.
In 2016 and early 2017 at the Oceti Sakowin Camp, afilliated with Standing Rock, a convergence of Indigenous peoples, has gotten International attention for their brave stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Indigenous people from all around the world have united for the first time ever to make this last stand against the anachronistic fossil fuel empire. They were joined with American war veterans to stand against this pipeline. The veterans were apalled at the United States government using military methods against its own civilian population and stood against the use of military violence against peaceful protestors.
Iowa put up a good fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but the Iowa Utility Board (IUB), a board with only 3 members that were being leaned on by industry, voted to continue construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through Iowa despite massive public opposition.
In Illinois in 2015, Tabitha Tripp of the Shawnee Sentinels and SAFE was one of the only defenders of the public who managed to successfully file a Petition to Intervene in Illinois, and she fought on behalf of real public need and interest, and some of us helped her as much as we could, but the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) (sometimes confused with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce) decided against her without even considering her arguments because they claimed she did not properly admit evidence into the case. The only reason she was not able to admit her evidence into the case was because her hard drive crashed moments before the evidentiary hearing. They would not allow her to admit evidence or any further testimony based on said evidence in follow up hearings.
Another group in Illinois called Save Our Illinois Land (SOIL) is hoping to learn from this experience and intervene in the ICC proceedings the next time an oil or crude oil pipeline is being proposed to run through Illinois, and is looking for help among fellow people in Illinois to help intervene, which is a process that can be done entirely remotely. SOIL also fought heavily to prevent the doubling of Dakota Access Pipeline with a lawyer who was a former administrative judge of the ICC named John Albers, but again the ICC simply discarded all the arguments opposing the pipeline and sided with industry every single time, despite a tremendous legal battle including appeals court and help from Sierra Club and NRDC.
If Line 3 begins to run (God Forbid!), then SOIL may be intervening in the next battle over the twinning of line 61, an Enbridge pipeline that is fed by Line 3. The tar sands from Alberta Canada may run through Illinois through the twin to Line 61 or it may run through Michigan and the Great Lakes through Line 5, both extremely bad scenarios. Any citizen can get involved in this upcoming battle over the twinning of Line 61 if it occurs by participating in the ICC intervention process.
The 2016 Oil Change International “Sky's Limit” report tells us that we must not start any new fossil fuel infrastructure projects at all if we are to keep from averting major catastrophe.
We need to turn to renewable energy now before our climate becomes unliveable.
There is also a horrible record of spills from pipelines in the U.S. Enbridge alone, between 1999 and 2010, has a record of more than 800 spills including the horrible spill in the Kalamazoo River from line 6B that still has not been fully cleaned up, despite what they are telling us. The Kalamazoo River spill occurred after Enbridge knew about several deficiencies in their pipeline but did not act significantly on that knowledge.
Please also see the following site for the gross negligence of Enbridge in maintaining their pipelines as evidenced in the Kalamazoo spill and since they are self-supervised we have no way to know that they will ever improve: Elizabeth McGowan and Lisa Song, “The Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You´ve Never Heard Of, Part 1,” June 26, 2012, Inside Climate News.
Now let me tell you about Line 5. Line 5 itself has spilled over one million gallons of oil and gas, now tell me that's safe. So I believe we are rightfully and greatly concerned about Enbridge line 5, that passes through the Mackinac Strait, straight through the Great Lakes (yes, straight through the water, along the bottom of the lake) between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. This pipeline is over 60 years old. When the pipeline was first built, they anticipated it would only be good for 50 years. Enbridge has made no announcement yet to stop using this pipeline. This is a major disaster waiting to happen. They already found leaks in this very pipeline such as in December of 2014 and fixed it (it was found by a visual inspection). Parts of this pipeline are swaying under heavy underwater currents. Some commenters were quick to point out that in the winter months of January and February, visual inspection (as well as cleanup) is next to impossible when the strait is frozen over. A contamination of Lake Michigan would affect the water supply of the Greater Chicago area as well as the entire region. There has been discussion that this would be the worst possible place in the entire world for a pipeline spill.
Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Keystone (KXL) were recently (2017) illegally approved by US President Donald Trump despite the fact that both were previously not approved. DAPL was still undergoing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) review per an order of the Army Corps of Engineers from December 5th 2016, after Massive opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline all the year of 2016 at the Standing Rock camp in North Dakota. People from all over the world came to stand ground to protect our environment with the Water Protectors and demonstrations all over the world occurred in support of Standing Rock. This became a global phenomenon, largely under-reported by mass media. Even though the Dec 5th 2016 order was to stop construction of DAPL under Lake Oahe, numerous reports indicate that DAPL had illegally continued construction efforts anyhow through January 2017, probably confident that the newly elected president at the time was giong to pave the way for it. President Trump has illegally ignored the EIS review process and mandated that the pipelines continue in February of 2017 within the first 2 weeks he was in office. Many, including me, argue that Trump is stupid for doing this. He seems to be ignorantly unaware of the consequences of these pipelines, pushing long-term effects further down the road for short-term profits, and never actually tackling the necessary just transition away from fossil fuels, allowing gas prices to rise naturally and allow renewable energy to naturally compete in the marketplace. There were numerous attacks of the Water Protectors in North Dakota with rubber bullets, water cannons, audio attacks, and extremely merciless law enforcement activities that is largely unreported by the mass media. How long will the attack on our environment continue unchecked while the poor people who actually care about the future are stifled and muffled and prevented from protecting our planet?
Update on Keystone XL: the courts just recently (Nov, 2018) decided rightfully that current "president" Donald Trump's decision to go forward wtih Keystone XL was illegal because it was based on an outdated environmental impact statement, ignored all input from Native American Indian councils, and circumvented all sorts of normal legal processes. We are grateful for Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and many other very important organizations who brought this case to fruition. IEN had this to say about this decision.
Indigenous people (American Indians) have often been at the forefront of this fight and for that we are extremely grateful to their under-appreciated, but highly advanced, sustainable civilization, culture, and knowledge.
The Sioux Tribe also brought the case of the illegal approval of Dakota Access Pipeline to the Supreme Court, but the highest court in our country did not stop the flow through the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The story of the Line 3 fight is very similar to these stories; brave activists threw their bodies in the way and countless lawyers and lobbyists sought to stop the Line 3 replacement project but the money of the oil and gas industry has continued to silence these voices. You can read more about the Line 3 fight here.
Recently also the scandalous fight over the Coastal Gas Link natural gas pipeline has made major environmental news and a big stir worldwide. They intend to place a natural gas pipeline through Wet'suwet'en land, which is a place in Canadian British Columbia that is “unceded” land (it was never given to Canadians and is still rightfully owned by Indigenous people). It is mind-boggling to see the audacity of these oil and gas companies that they think they can just break International Treaties in their endless quest for short-term profit at the expense of long-term catastrophe. For Americans who are not used to this violation of sovereign rights, this is eye-opening, although in places like Africa and South America we are aware that this has already been happening for a long time, which does not make it right.
Please find your local environmental group and get involved in trying to change the route we're on. If we don't act now, we may never get another chance.
If you are in Minnesota, you should contact Minnesota 350.
In Indiana, you can contact 350 Indiana-Calumet.
In Wisconsin, you can contact 350 Madison.
If you are in Illinois, some ways to get involved include contacting 350 Kishwaukee (DeKalb) or Forest City 350 (Rockford) or or Save Our Illinois Land, or Rising Tide Chicago.
A good, solid organization that is working on this issue throughout the US, providing help for front-line activists and indigenous people who are trying to slow down or stop unnecessary oil pipeline infrastructure expansion is called Camps A Rising.
Some good indigenous organizations that are also very instrumental in trying to slow down or stop unnecessary oil pipeline infrastructure exapnsion are Indigenous Environmental Network, Lakota People's Law Project, and in Minnesota, the Ginew Collective.
It may seem like there are a lot of organizations fighting for the Earth, but the truth is the opposition has billions of dollars and complete access and domination of the media, so they are usually getting the upper hand in almost every fight, which makes this job difficult. We need you to step in and join the ranks because the people have power if they unite!
James Hansen, a respected scientist with NASA, said pipelines like KXL and Line 3 are Game Over for the Planet (and we've suspected this for a long while, following the pattern of global warming). This is no overstatement. We are past using up our Carbon Budget and the continued unabated extraction of fossil fuels threatens all life on this planet (see previous citations).
There is also a group of youth that have filed suit against the US government for infringing on their inalienable rights by destroying their futures called the Youth Climate Intervenors. This case has been going on for years. some of our last hope rests with these brave souls along with numerous Indigenous tribes who also fight to save the Earth, and the defenders against Kinder-Morgan and Coastal Gas Link in British Columbia, and Water Protectors of all races everywhere who continue the resistance to this anachronistic and very harmful industry.
The time of reckoning is surely at hand. Either you are part of the solution or you are part of the problem.
In Minnesota, the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) SEEMED LIKE they were finally starting to understand that Enbridge's Line 3 is not in the public's best interest, and is not necessary, as also agreed upon by the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the governor of Minnesota; however the PUC decided unanimously in favor of proceeding forward with the pipeline along Enbridge's preferred route, much to the dismay of the informed public. The Youth Climate Intervenors and many brave and persistent activists in Minnesota fought legally for years to stop this decision but in the end it appears that the interests of quick and dirty money has prevailed. Even more new pipeline resistance camps have sprung up and the resistance to this horrible pipeline continue.
In Pennsylvania, a Sunoco gas pipeline was shutdown due to a series of spills and leaks that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection finally had enough of.
The Sabal Trail pipeline and two other pipelines are also being fought due to an inadequate Environmental Impact Statement that fails to account for all the real damages caused by these pipelines, but now they are delaying the shutdown and allowing catastrophic construction to continue.
In Louisiana, they have their hands full with the Bayou Bridge pipeline which they are fighting against the best they can.
In the Summer of 2019, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Dakota Access Pipeline applied to double the flow through the Dakota Access Pipeline to over 1 million barrels per day, from North Dakota down to Texas where a majority of it will be exported. This will make the problem of resource depletion worse and also the problem of global warming will be accelerated and the risk of spill increased. This was fought in South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois through which the DAPL pipeline runs through. In Illinois it was fought by Save Our Illinois Land and they had a very experienced lawyer, but they were unable to convince the largely industry captive ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) after an extensive legal battle. I believe that The Sioux successfully took a case to the US Supreme Court and stopped the DAPL doubling for a little while. I hope that the US comes to its senses and realizes that the time for fossil fuels is over and we need to stop encouraging the use of gasoline in the industry in order to have the economy naturally switch over to the more economical renewable energy choices sooner rather than later because we are running out of time to address this problem before the devastation and destruction of our ecosystems and the worsening warming of our climate.
This page last updated on 12/8/2021.