Keystone pipeline: Too much risk, not enough reward

This is an EPA photo of Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline spill in Mayflower, Ark., on March 29. Do you still want to see the Keystone XL pipeline run the length of our country, carrying the same diluted bitumen (tar sands) oil — but ten times more? Canadian oil at that. Most of it not bound for the US at all, but for our ports, for export to China and elsewhere. The only jobs it will generate will be temporary, two years of construction work. Period. Decidedly not worth decades of risk to the American heartland. Except, of course, for Canada, the oil companies, and all those overseas markets.

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See all the EPA’s Mayflower oil spill photos here.

About the Pegasus pipeline:

The Pegasus pipeline that ruptured and spilled thousands of gallons of tar sands crude in Mayflower was 65 years old, and was initially built to carry thinner oil at lower pressure in the opposite direction than today.

The 858-mile Pegasus Pipeline operates from Patoka, Ill., to Nederland, Tex.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Because ‘Bitumen is not Oil,’ Pipelines Carrying Tar Sands Crude Don’t Pay into US Oil Spill Fund (desmog.ca)
• 6 things you need to know about the Arkansas oil spill (salon.com)
• Pictures: Arkansas Oil Spill Darkens Backyards, Driveways (news.nationalgeographic.com)
• Exxon Oil Spill in Arkansas, Keystone Spoiler? (247wallst.com)