As cleanup continues at the site of the latest spill along the Keystone I tar sands pipeline, news broke this week of yet another oil pipeline spill.
On Sunday, a leak in the Marathon Pipeline dumped 1,150 barrels of oil into the Wabash River near Mr. Carmel, Illinois. Days later, workers are still attempting to find the source of the leak.
According to the Sierra Club, the leak was not discovered by the pipeline company but the pipeline company that discovered the leak, but local observers who noticed a “sheen” on the river.
“If it feels like pipeline spills like these have become a near-daily occurrence, that’s because they have,” said the Sierra Club in a statement. According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the last ten years have seen nearly 4,000 spills from hazardous liquid pipelines.
The group expressed frustration that the Obama administration is considering allowing Enbridge, which it calls, “a company with a particularly egregious safety record” to dramatically expand its network of pipelines across the Great Lakes region.
“Far too many communities have been forced to experience a pipeline or oil infrastructure project spill that pollutes our land and water,” said Catherine Collentine, Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Dirty Fuels Initiative. “President Obama must reject new and expanding fossil fuel infrastructure proposals--like he did with the formerly proposed Keystone XL pipeline--and continue our transition onto clean, renewable energy.
“Given the proven risks of spills, it is absurd that the Obama Administration is still allowing oil and gas development and infrastructure to be built, like Dakota Access and Alberta Clipper pipelines,” added Dallas Goldtooth, Campaign Organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network. “For the benefit of the land, water and tribal nations we need a different energy path forward.”