From: HuffPost
Reuters
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By Kristen Hays and Matthew Robinson
March 31 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a
pipeline spill that spewed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude
in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the
incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.
Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Sunday that crews had yet to
excavate the area around the pipeline breach, a needed step before the
company can estimate how long repairs will take and when the line might
restart.
"I can't speculate on when it will happen," Jeffers said. "Excavation
is necessary as part of an investigation to determine the cause of the
incident."
Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels
per day (bpd) of crude from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was
shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a
subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation
of 22 homes.
Exxon also had no specific estimate of how much crude oil had
spilled, but the company said 12,000 barrels of oil and water had been
recovered - up from 4,500 barrels on Saturday. The company did not say
how much of the total was oil and how much was water.
Allen Dodson, Faulkner County judge who is the top executive for the
county where the spill occurred, told Reuters in an interview on Sunday
that the smell of crude was less potent on Sunday as cleanup efforts
continued, saying it was weaker than the smell of fresh asphalt laid on a
road.
"The
freestanding oil on the street has been removed. It's still damp with
oil, it's tacky, like it is before we do an asphalt overlay," he said.
Exxon said it staged the response to handle 10,000 barrels of oil "to ensure adequate resources are in place."
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA) also were on site to investigate the spill.
Fifteen vacuum trucks remained on the scene for cleanup, and 33 storage tanks were deployed to temporarily store the oil.
The pipeline was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of
the leak. An oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels into a Wisconsin
field from an Enbridge Inc pipeline last summer kept that line shuttered
for around 11 days.
The 848-mile (1,381 km) pipeline used to transport crude oil from
Texas to Illinois. In 2006 Exxon reversed it to move crude from Illinois
to Texas in response to growing Canadian oil production and the ability
of U.S. Gulf Coast refineries to process heavy crude.
The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000
bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which also would carry heavy crude from
Canada's tar sands to the Gulf Coast refining hub.
Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of
developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to
pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian
crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.
"Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in
Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of
this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers
and for our environment," said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts
Democrat.
Supporters of Keystone XL and oil sands development say the vast
Canadian reserves can help drive down fuel costs in the United States. A
report from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, put together by
oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argued diluted bitumen is no more
corrosive than other heavy crude. MORE
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