Tribe's request denied!

[Lee Borgersen]

    Dakota Access pipeline vandalism highlights sabotage risks.

Associated Press · Bismarck, N.D. · Mar 22, 2017


   ...........
The developer of the Dakota Access pipeline has reported "recent coordinated physical attacks" on the much-protested line, just as it's almost ready to carry oil.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners didn't give details, but experts say Dakota Access and the rest of the nearly 3 million miles of pipeline that deliver natural gas and petroleum in the U.S. are vulnerable to acts of sabotage. It's a threat that ETP takes seriously enough that it has asked a court to shield details such as spill response plans and features of the four-state pipeline that the company fears could be used against it by activists or terrorists.

Here is a look at some pipeline security issues:


Recent attacks

Authorities in South Dakota and Iowa confirmed Tuesday that someone apparently used a torch to burn a hole through empty sections of the pipeline at aboveground shut-off valve sites.

Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem said the culprit in Iowa appeared to have gotten under a fence around the facility, but Lincoln County Sheriff's Deputy Chad Brown said the site in South Dakota wasn't fenced. The Iowa incident was discovered March 13 and the South Dakota incident Friday.

Pipeline operators are asked to report security breaches to the National Response Center. Data on the center's website show no reports from ETP this month. The $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline runs 1,200 miles through the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois.


How do you attack a pipeline?

Because pipelines mainly run underground, aboveground shut-off valves are natural targets, according to Jay O'Hara, a spokesman for the environmental group Climate Direct Action. That group targeted valves on pipelines in October in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Washington state, though the pipeline companies said activists didn't succeed because none of the sites were operating when the attacks happened.

Explosives, firearms and heavy machinery also have been used to try to sabotage pipelines.

  ....
Securing pipelines is difficult because they often travel long distances through remote and even uninhabited territory, said Kelly Sundberg, a professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, who studies energy infrastructure security and environmental crime.


The danger:

Sundberg said "it's stupid and dangerous" to tamper with pipeline shut-off valves.

Modern oil pipelines are "incredibly sophisticated" systems that move huge volumes of petrochemicals at high pressures, he said. Simply closing a valve can cause the pressure upstream to increase quickly, creating a significant risk of a spill that endangers the environment and anyone in the area where the pipe suddenly bursts, he said.

In response to the October incidents, federal regulators issued a bulletin warning that tampering with pipeline valves "can have significant consequences such as death, injury, and economic and environmental harm."

Sundberg also said that it's ironic for people who say they're concerned about the environment to take an action that could cause an environmental disaster.

But O'Hara said: "The hypocrisy really lies in the pipeline corporations who say their pipelines are safe, say leaks don't happen. They blame activists who are trying to stop global cataclysm by taking action to point out what they do every day, which is leak and spill."

Someone who targets a pipeline facility in the U.S. could face up to 20 years in prison.


• In depth: Oil, water, race and treaty rights


Who's responsible for the recent attacks?

No suspects have been identified in either state and no group has claimed responsibility.

O'Hara told The Associated Press that Climate Direct Action wasn't involved in any actions against the Dakota Access pipeline.

Attorneys for the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes, which are leading the legal battle against the pipeline, said the tribes don't condone acts of violence against pipeline property.


How frequently does pipeline sabotage occur?

Not very often, Sundberg said. It happens more frequently in Canada than the U.S. It's generally committed by people trying to make an environmental point. It would be "very scary" if terrorist groups tried it in North America, he said.

Some of the worst incidents in the U.S. were on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Vandals blew up a section in 1978, spilling about 16,000 barrels of oil near Fairbanks. In 2001, a drunken man fired a hunting rifle into the pipeline near Livengood, causing more than 6,000 barrels to spray out.

Some of the most notable incidents in Canada happened in the 1990s and 2000s in Alberta and British Columbia. A series of bombings in 2008-09 targeted pipelines in British Columbia. Weibo Ludwig, an Alberta man who crusaded against the extraction of "sour gas" containing high amounts of hydrogen sulfide, was convicted in several of the 1990s acts of vandalism. He was arrested but never charged in the later attacks.

Pipeline sabotage happens with some regularity in war zones. Iraqi insurgents, Colombian rebels and Mexican guerrillas all have claimed responsibility for pipeline attacks in recent decades.

[LPS]

Good read.

[dew2]

 Ya its a good read! oil spills are activists or terrorists EH?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Oil+Pipeline+spill+cover+ups&rlz=1C1AOHY_enUS727US727&oq=Oil+Pipeline+spill+cover+ups&aqs=chrome..69i57.17315j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[LPS]

Ya they are their own worst enemy.  Sometimes actually having a real job is beneficial not only to earn money but just to give one something productive to do in life.

[Lee Borgersen]

  Pipeline opponents vow  as Trump approves Keystone XL

Mar 24, 2017 at 1:39 p.m.

  .....
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday the United States has issued a presidential permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, but environmental groups and Native American tribes vowed to fight the project in the courts and on the land.

  ..."Resistance spirit camps" are expected to be erected along the Keystone XL route similar to the camps established by Dakota Access Pipeline opponents in North Dakota, said Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network.

South Dakota's Cheyenne River Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes have said they will provide space to resist construction of the pipeline, said Goldtooth, who was a key figure at the main Dakota Access camp.

Pipeline opponents, bolstered by the unity they found while opposing Dakota Access, will likely work to fight the pipeline in various locations along the route, he said.

"Donald Trump should expect far greater resistance than ever before," Goldtooth said Friday, March 24. "Indigenous people are rising up and fighting like our lives, sovereignty and climate depend on it, because they do."

Others welcomed Trump's approval of Keystone XL, including South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

"This is a victory for all of us who rely on oil to heat our homes, fuel our cars, and power our tractors, and pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to transport oil," Daugaard said in a statement.

The governor added he recognizes that some South Dakotans will not celebrate the news and he respects their perspective.

   ......
"I hope we will all seek to exercise our First Amendment rights peacefully, and respect the right of others to do likewise," Daugaard said.

  .......
Native American communities along the Keystone XL route have similar objections to this project that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others had against Dakota Access.

Chairman Larry Wright of Nebraska's Ponca Nation said during a conference call with reporters that he's concerned about protecting water and preventing sacred sites from being disturbed.

In addition to concerns about impacts to land and water, South Dakota tribes also believe the pipeline route violates treaty rights, Goldtooth said.

TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said the company recognizes that construction activities would occur on tribes' ancestral homelands. He said TransCanada is committed to building long-term relationships with indigenous communities "based on respect, trust, open communication."

The biggest remaining hurdle for Keystone XL may be in Nebraska, where the state Public Service Commission is still reviewing TransCanada Corp's application. Approval in Nebraska is needed before construction can begin.

  ....
In addition to Native American tribes, environmental groups like 350.org and others said they're fighting the project. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said the organization plans to file a court challenge in the coming days.

The pipeline linking Canadian oil sands to U.S. refiners had been blocked for years by former President Barack Obama, who said it would do nothing to reduce fuel prices for U.S. motorists and contribute to emissions linked to global warming.

Trump, however, campaigned on a promise to approve it, saying it would create thousands of jobs and help the oil industry, and signed an executive order soon after taking office in January to advance the project.

The multibillion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline would bring more than 800,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canada's oil sands in Alberta into Nebraska, linking to an existing pipeline network feeding U.S. refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico.

Keystone XL would not cross North Dakota, but it would have the capacity to transport up to 100,00 barrels of Bakken crude a day from an oil terminal near Baker, Mont.

The need for Bakken pipeline capacity has changed significantly since Keystone XL was first proposed. With the addition of Dakota Access, North Dakota will have pipeline capacity for 1.3 million barrels per day. The state currently produces about 980,000 barrels a day, projected to return to 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2018.

At one time, Keystone XL had commitments to ship 65,000 barrels a day of Bakken crude, a 2014 State Department report showed. TransCanada would not comment Friday on the amount of Bakken crude committed to the pipeline, saying those discussions with customers are ongoing.

All three members of North Dakota's Congressional delegation applauded Trump's action Friday.

"Approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline is a clear signal that our nation is once again open for business and that we are committed to building the infrastructure we need now and in the future," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the project will create temporary construction jobs and permanent jobs and displace oil from hostile countries with oil from "our friendliest, longest neighbor in Canada."

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said the announcement is "important to renewing the United States' commitment toward mutually beneficial energy solutions with Canada."

Reuters contributed to this report.