{"id":20437,"date":"2016-05-05T05:54:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T10:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20437"},"modified":"2016-05-05T05:54:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T10:54:37","slug":"exclusive-release-of-inspection-reports-from-transcanadas-keystone-pipeline-expose-risk-of-future-spills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20437","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Release of Inspection Reports From TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline Expose Risk of Future Spills"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 id=\"page-title\" class=\"page__title title\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2016\/05\/03\/exclusive-release-inspection-reports-transcanada-s-keystone-pipeline-expose-risk-future-spills\">Exclusive: Release of Inspection Reports From TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline Expose Risk of Future Spills<\/a><\/h3>\n<article class=\"node-10576 node node-blog node-promoted view-mode-full clearfix\">\n<header>\n<p class=\"submitted desktop-only\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/styles\/full_width_blog_image\/public\/blogimages\/pipes_0_0.jpg?itok=pxpsHyfT\" alt=\"\" width=\"810\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"horizontal-social-bar horizontal-social-bar-top clearfix\">The\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">US<\/span>\u00a0government agency responsible for interstate pipelines recorded a catalog of problems with the construction of TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline and the Cushing Extension, a DeSmog investigation has found.<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Inspectors at the\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">US<\/span>\u00a0Department of Transportation\u2019s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (<span class=\"caps\">PHMSA<\/span>) observed TransCanada\u2019s contractors violating construction design codes established to ensure a pipeline\u2019s safety, according to inspection reports released to DeSmog under the Freedom of Information Act (<span class=\"caps\">FOIA<\/span>).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2013\/09\/22\/transcanada-whistleblower-evan-vokes-details-lack-confidence-keystone-xl\" target=\"_blank\">Evan Vokes, former TransCanada materials engineer-turned-whistleblower,<\/a>\u00a0told DeSmog the problems uncovered in the reports show issues that could lead to future pipeline failures and might also explain some of the failures the pipeline had already suffered.<\/p>\n<p>Vokes claimed\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">PHMSA<\/span>\u00a0was negligent in failing to use its powers to shut down construction of the pipeline when inspectors found contractors doing work incorrectly. \u201cYou cannot have a safe pipeline without code compliance,\u201d Vokes\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p>The Keystone and the Cushing Extension are part of TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline network, giving the company a path to move diluted Canadian tar sands, also known as dilbit, to the\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">U.S.<\/span>\u00a0Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n<p>The Keystone pipeline network is made up of the Keystone Pipeline (Phase I), that runs from Hardistry, Alberta, to Steele City,\u00a0Nebraska, and the\u00a0Keystone-Cushing\u00a0extension\u00a0(Phase ll), from Steele City to\u00a0Cushing, Oklahoma. There, it connects to the<a href=\"http:\/\/desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/PHMSA%20TransCanada%20southern%20route%20final%20report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0southern route of the\u00a0Keystone\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">XL<\/span>, renamed the Gulf Coast Extension (Phase\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">III<\/span>),<\/a>\u00a0that runs from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The final phase of TransCanada\u2019s network, the Keystone\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">XL<\/span>, (Phase lV), originating in Alberta, is meant to connect to the Gulf Coast pipeline. But\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">KXL<\/span>\u00a0is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/monkey-cage\/wp\/2016\/01\/08\/transcanada-is-suing-the-u-s-over-obamas-rejection-of-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-the-u-s-might-lose\/\" target=\"_blank\">blocked for now<\/a>\u00a0since President Obama rejected a permit TransCanada needs to finish its network.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exclusive: Release of Inspection Reports From TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline Expose Risk of Future Spills The\u00a0US\u00a0government agency responsible for interstate pipelines recorded a catalog of problems with the construction of TransCanada\u2019s Keystone Pipeline and the Cushing Extension, a DeSmog investigation has found. Inspectors at the\u00a0US\u00a0Department of Transportation\u2019s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) observed TransCanada\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1082,103,5317,11518,468,590,1350],"class_list":["post-20437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-canada","tag-desmog-blog","tag-julie-dermansky","tag-keystone-xl","tag-oil-pipeline","tag-transcanada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20438,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20437\/revisions\/20438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}