On today’s BradCast, the latest breaking news on the weekend terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota, and on the massive, broken gasoline pipeline in rural Alabama.
First up, the latest on what we know (and don’t) about the exploded and unexploded pipe and pressure cooker bombs in NY and NJ and the stabbings at a mall in MN over the weekend, following the arrest of a suspect in the NY and NJ attacks after a shootout with police on Monday morning. We also have responses to all of the above from President Obama as well as Presidential candidates Donald Trump (who blames Clinton and Obama) and Hillary Clinton (who accuses Trump of aiding the terrorists’ cause.)
Then, after a quick update on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota late on Friday, we’re joined by Alabama Media Group’s natural resources reporter Dennis Pillion on the massive pipeline rupture in his state, resulting in a state of emergency in six states, gasoline shortages in the Southeast and, according to the latest estimates from the Colonial Pipeline company and the EPA, the release of some 336,000 gallons of gas into the environment near an abandoned coal mine in Shelby County.
“They are still, ten days after this leak was discovered, having issues accessing the area right around the leak. Those estimates are based on the size of a mining retention pond that has collected a lot of this gasoline,” Pillion tells me.
The massive pipeline rupture, as he reports, was discovered by happenstance last week, during an on-the-ground inspection of the abandoned mine after the inspector noticed an overpowering smell of gasoline. As luck would have it, most of the gas from Colonial Pipeline’s broken Line 1 — which pumps some 1.3 million barrels of fuel every day from refineries in Houston, TX through nearly a dozen states up to Linden, NJ — has reportedly ended up in an old retaining pond from the coal mine. The toxic fumes have made it difficult for emergency responders to begin clean up or for journalists to confirm the official information while they are still barred from the area entirely.
“We don’t know when it would have started leaking,” Pillion says. “Colonial does says they monitor their lines twice a week by air, looking for evidence of leaks — dead vegetation, sheens on water, that kind of thing. And they said they did not notice anything in their air patrols, nor did they notice by volume that they were losing product.” That’s right. They inspect the underground pipeline twice a week from an airplane.
Pillion brings us up to date on what we know (and don’t) about the spill and its clean up at this time, while officials from the pipeline company, as well as federal, state and local officials respond to the disaster. He also offers the latest from local environmental groups who remain concerned about dozens of endangered and threatened species of fish and snails found nowhere else in the world but in the nearby Cahaba River.
Finally, as Clinton and Trump are now reportedly tied in polls across 13 swing states, Obama offers impassioned remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner in Washington D.C. on the imperative of voting in this year’s Presidential Election…
A major gasoline pipeline, mostly underground, that’s inspected from the air.
“What could possibly go wrong.”
Yesterday I had written elsewhere that I assumed Colonial noticed a pressure drop in their 40″ gasoline pipeline like Plains All American Pipeline did for their Santa Barbara county oil spill last year, and that’s why only 336,000 gallons gushed out into the abandoned retaining pond. I figured maybe for reasons yet unknown, there were delays from the time the rupture occurred, to the time it was detected, then finally to the time it was shut off.
I stand corrected.
Now that I’m thinking, I figure that if the pipeline pushes 1.3 million gallons of gasoline over a 24 hour period, that means it was “leaking” for over 6 hours.
That’s 1.3 million barrels of gasoline per day. A barrel is 42 gallons. Besides, and especially being underground, the pipeline breach wouldn’t necessarily dump out all the pipe’s contents.
Oh, never mind, it’s a mess.
On Veterans Day a few years ago, while working in the Washington metropolitan area, I spoke to a Representative about upgrading the grid in order to aid the transition to clean energy, a step that would have a multiplier effect in regards to infrastructure. At the time, the cost was about $70 billion, which is nothing compared to what we keep paying to mop up after these leaks.
The American Republic will never reach its full potential as long as issues are discussed in a very narrow band. And that is not going to change until we have public financing of campaigns, free air time for candidates, a strong conflict of interest provision, and the return of the fairness doctrine. But, meanwhile, the nineteenth century fuel industry stands in the way.
I read that corporations are starting to prepare for a carbon tax since there will be many wasted resources. I think everyond that has a fossil-fuel car will pay a carbon tax. You should promote EV in every Bradcast. Do you drive an EV? Walk the talk.
I hate pollution, and I really hate the spills and I do not see how carbon tax paid to the UN is going to help with such a spill. This is the United States not globalist planet earth!
It’s like okay you been raped and now for the shower were going to charge you $50 and also since the forced sex wasn’t that good an additional $5000.
Hmm on second thought, maybe you can wear a colored wristband saying “don’t rape me.” Except your still getting raped.
I am hoping that things haven’t gone too far with this deception and lies now. That’s my HOPE.