Energy Incidents
Summary: March 29, 2013 in Mayflower, Arkansas a Exxon Mobile pipeline carrying Canadian crude from oil sands ruptured, sending a major oil spill into a residential neighborhood which was evacuated. While some questioned if sabotage was possible, it was thought most likely to be a Corrosion or weld failure seem to be two likely possibilities for the cause of 22 foot gash in the pipe.
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mayflower_oil_spill
2. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/02/1952171/exxon-spills-tar-sands-oil-again-in-missouri-cant-find-126000-gallons-spilled-in-arkansas/?mobile=nc
4. CNN: Looks like the Exxon Valdez was cracked open in middle of Arkansas -- Town turned into La Brea tar pits (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/cnn-looks-like-exxon-valdez-cracked-open-arkansas-oil-spill-town-turned-la-brea-tar-pits-video
6. Sabotage questioned but unlikely in Arkansas Tar Sands Spill
7. 22 foot long gash
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mayflower_oil_spill
The 2013 Mayflower oil spill occurred on March 29, 2013, when an ExxonMobilpipeline carrying Canadian Wabasca heavy crude from the Athabasca oil sandsruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. Approximately 12,000 barrels (1,900 m3) of oil mixed with water had been recovered by March 31. Twenty-two homes were evacuated.[1] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified the leak as a major spill.[2] A reported 5,000−7,000 barrels of crude were spilled.[3][4]
Exxon's Pegasus pipeline carries 95,000 barrels per day (15,100 m3/d) of crude a distance of 850 miles (1368 km) from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas. The pipeline is twenty inches in diameter and is buried an average of twenty-four inches below ground.[5] On April 2, 2013, PHMSA, the federal pipeline regulator, issued a corrective action order until repairs have been completed and all safety concerns addressed.[6]
2. The Sierra Club requested the accident incident report, which said that 3,000 barrels of oil (some 126,000 gallons) have not been recovered no matter how energetic Exxon’s response was:
Despite a massive cleanup effort in the Mayflower, Arkansas, neighborhood, the federal pipeline safety agency reports that ExxonMobil has recovered only 2,000 of the total 5,000 barrels of spilled tar sands crude. The accident incident report, which the agency shared with the Sierra Club after a Freedom of Information Act request, gives new insight into the size of the spill and the ineffectiveness of the cleanup effort. The report reveals that in total 83 people were evacuated from their homes, emergency response took 40 minutes, the pipeline was operating at 708 pounds of pressure when it burst, and 2,000 barrels reached local waterways.
The Pegasus pipeline was built to carry diesel fuel in 1947, Exxon converted the pipeline to carry tar sands crude and reversed its flow in 2006. In 2011, the federal pipeline safety agency fined Exxon $26,500 for failure to properly inspect a section of the line.
3. http://enenews.com/major-oil-spill-in-u-s-after-pipeline-bursts-just-40-miles-from-arkansas-nuclear-plant-at-emergency-level-4-like-a-river-of-crude-video
Major oil spill in U.S. after pipeline bursts — 40 miles from Arkansas nuclear plant at ‘emergency Level 4’ — “Like a river” of crude — Nearly 500,000 gallons spilled (VIDEO)
Photo: 22-foot gash in Arkansas oil pipeline — “Substantially larger” than thought -Official April 15, 2013
http://enenews.com/photo-22-foot-long-gash-in-arkansas-oil-pipeline-substantially-larger-than-many-of-us-initially-thought
5NEWS, April 15, 2013: ExxonMobil will remove the damaged section of a pipeline that ruptured spilling thousands of barrells of oil into a Central Arkansas town. The 52-foot section of the pipe will be cut and placed on a flatbed truck for transport to an independent third-party laboratory for metallurgy testing [...] Water and air quality testing continues [...]
AP: An ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured last month and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in central Arkansas has a gash in it that is 22 feet long and 2 inches wide, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Wednesday. “The pipeline rupture is substantially larger than many of us initially thought,” McDaniel told reporters Wednesday evening. [...]
4. CNN: Looks like the Exxon Valdez was cracked open in middle of Arkansas -- Town turned into La Brea tar pits (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/cnn-looks-like-exxon-valdez-cracked-open-arkansas-oil-spill-town-turned-la-brea-tar-pits-video
Source: CNN
Date: April 12, 2013
http://enenews.com/cnn-looks-like-exxon-valdez-cracked-open-arkansas-oil-spill-town-turned-la-brea-tar-pits-video
It looks as if the Exxon Valdez was cracked open right in the middle of Arkansas […]
The spill, at least 160,000 gallons, has turned Mayflower into the La Brea tar pits […]
Journalists from Inside Climate News and an NPR affiliate say they’ve been threatened with arrest for visiting the spill site. […]
5. http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-exxon-oil-spill-701/
6. Sabotage questioned but unlikely in Arkansas Tar Sands Spill
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/16855-the-press-and-public-are-contained
The Press and Public Are Contained
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
08 April 13
he first "Tar Sands Oil Arkansas" (published April 7) discussed a number of questions raised by the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline that burst in Mayflower, Arkansas, on March 29, pumping tar sands oil Ð technically Wabasca Heavy crude oil Ð into a residential neighborhood for almost an hour.
Among the questions touched on in that piece were protecting the pipeline from terrorists, residents suing ExxonMobil in federal court, the nature of Wabasca Heavy tar sands oil, some effects of the spill, and the "martial law" atmosphere described by reporters trying to look at the cleanup site.
As the second week of toxic air in Mayflower begins, here are more of the questions this disaster raises and some of the current answers, subject to future refinement. A reader writes:
What is the point of origin of the leak? In front of whose house? Why no image of the hole in the ground or in the pipe? Was it corrosion, a weld failure, sabotage by cutting or explosives, or WHAT? Do we have to wait for NTSB for answers? Are ExxonMobil and their execs too big to jail?
The point of origin appears to be in the woods, behind the houses, and underground. The absence of images is unexplained.
Corrosion or weld failure seem to be two likely possibilities for the cause of the leak.
As reported so far, the spill started quietly, with no one aware of the moment it started. It's not clear how long it took for someone to become aware, but not too long, presumably.
The circumstances known so far make sabotage (or inadvertence) by cutting, explosion, backhoe, bulldozer, or other means seem unlikely
raised, too, a question mentioned here yesterday by another pipeline engineer about the wisdom of building new subdivisions over existing pipelines, as happened in Mayflower.
Considering the potential stress of building on top of a pipeline and the high pressure used when transporting heavy crude,É the developer of Northwoods should have worked with Exxon to reroute Pegasus around the neighborhood.
If it were more traditional, lighter crude oil in the pipeline, someone would be paying 8 cents per barrel into the oil-spill liability trust fund.
Isn't tar sands oil like Wabasca Heavy more difficult and more expensive to clean up than lighter traditional oils?
Yes.
Doesn't that make a difference?
Apparently not to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which administers the cleanup fund. In a 2011 decision, the IRS exempted tar sands oil, diluted bitumen, dilbit fron the 8 cents tax per barrel (42 gallons).
..There are more than 100 photographs on the web site for the EPA On Site Coordinator, from the period March 29-April 6. They show that the oil got into active waterways almost immediately on March 29. And at least some of the oil was also flowing on the ground and into the street, ending up going down a storm drain.
7. 22 foot long gash
5NEWS, April 15, 2013: ExxonMobil will remove the damaged section of a pipeline that ruptured spilling thousands of barrells of oil into a Central Arkansas town. The 52-foot section of the pipe will be cut and placed on a flatbed truck for transport to an independent third-party laboratory for metallurgy testing [...] Water and air quality testing continues [...]
AP: An ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured last month and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in central Arkansas has a gash in it that is 22 feet long and 2 inches wide, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Wednesday. “The pipeline rupture is substantially larger than many of us initially thought,” McDaniel told reporters Wednesday evening. [...]
See also: CNN: Looks like the Exxon Valdez was cracked open in middle of Arkansas -- Town turned into La Brea tar pits (VIDEO)
Mayflower Arkansas Oil Spill Notes Accident
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10/20/20123
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