On December 7, 2022, (click here) a TC Energy pipeline, part of the Keystone pipeline system, ruptured south of where it crosses Mill Creek northeast of Washington, Kansas. An estimated 588,00 gallons were discharged. The Washington County, Kansas Emergency Management Agency constructed a large underflow dam to provide containment and prevention of oil from migrating downstream. EPA On-Scene Coordinators have remained at the site to oversee and direct response action since December 8, 2022.
Every spill of any substance always carries risks of contamination, especially to water and air of which people drink and breath. We have seen some terrible contaminations in the USA and it needs to stop.
I have no doubt the illnesses the people of East Palestine are experiencing are directly from the leaks from the train disaster. The air was full of toxins and the evacuation may not have been expeditors as it should have. The Governor did not respond well to this disaster and provide timely relief to the people.
The land is contaminated and there is no doubt about it. The water was contaminated as well and ran all the way down to the main rivers. The rivers were watched and contained, but, the immediate vicinity of East Palestine is a disaster area. The people are going to need health observation for a long time including any that move from the area to gain relief from the pollution and toxins.
Flint, Michigan was a disaster that taught government a lot about the way toxins can effect adults and children. There were many miscarriages because of the toxins in the water. It also taught the vulnerabilities of human health and how a long view needs to be taken and provided for in budgets and/or financial settlements. I doubt health care will be come cheaper in the future.
East Palestine is going to need the same type of intervention as Flint, except, there is also air contamination that entered lung tissue that is delicate in nature the way it is. Lungs are very vascular and will soak up all sorts of stuff. They are supposed to soak up and release oxygen and carbon dioxide. Anything within that air will be absorbed by the lungs. Lungs are about supplying the body with plenty of air for life, the lung cells don't discriminate and why cigarette smoking is such a dangerous habit.
January 23, 2023
By Paul Hammel
Lincoln - TC Energy, operator of the Keystone pipeline, (click here) announced plans Tuesday to build a temporary bypass around a pipeline spill on a Kansas creek to aid in the cleanup and reclamation of Mill Creek.
Meanwhile, two critics of the pipeline questioned why more details have not been provided about the total amount of the spill, the extent of the cleanup, and its cause.
On Dec. 7, the 36-inch pipeline sprang a leak just east of Washington, Kansas, spilling an estimated 14,000 barrels (or 588,000 gallons) of crude oil near and into the creek.
Largest leak on 12-year-old pipeline
It was the largest leak to date on the 12-year-old crude oil pipeline, larger than five previous leaks combined, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. The spill occurred as a diagnostic tool was being run through the pipe in that area....
First isolation of people and toxins, followed by clean up including removal of contaminated soil and then reclamation of the land. This is all well established practice and most scientists that work in this field know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. The USA EPA should have professional staff to aid in this and the US Army Corp. is well versed in disaster protocols. There is no reason for controversy unless, of course, the expertise of these agencies were drained under Trump resulting in incompetency.
NOT A MINOR POINT, the rescue workers involved in the site clean up and restoration have a right to a safe environment to carry out their work, including all necessary equipment and contamination suits and respirators.
These episodes of contamination are expensive. The government has a right to reclaim those expenses in court if necessary. Besides that there are fines for having this happen in the first place. In the case of the petroleum industry, they just don't care until the emergency happens. After all, it might just need a "junk shot" to end the danger to life on Earth.
“Eww.” (click here) A toxic-smelling trail of “dispersed” oil in the Gulf.Photo: National Wildlife Federation Down $350 million so far and its much-hyped containment dome done in by clumps of icy slush, BP is mulling other options to shut off the gushing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It might try again with a smaller dome. Or it might go all high-techy and shoot shredded tires and golf balls into the spewing pipes. No, really.
“The next tactic is going to be something they call a junk shot,” Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “They’ll take a bunch of debris — shredded up tires, golf balls, and things like that — and under very high pressure, shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak.”
Now that we’ve reached the tragic farce level on this disaster, more and more questions are being raised about how we got here....
The petroleum industry CURES are basically as toxic as their pollution and toxins in the first place.
East Palestine may run into the same issue in it's reclamation process if the industry simply has no clue to end the pollution and reclaim land. The USA government needs to up it's game and KNOW the solution without lending credence to the industry involved.
Polluters pollute. Does anyone actually expect to find solutions to their pollutions in the annals of their own executive board minutes?
Remember: Flint was suffering for a year in a cover-up by Snyder and his administration before the public found out. A train derailment and explosion is more difficult to cover up.
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