According to the latest from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest volume flow of tar sands from Canada and North Dakota via pipeline (1.2 million barrels per day), has been approved for operation across Wisconsin by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources....on an "air permit". Actually, though the MJS repeatedly referred to the pipeline contents as "oil" in it's online article, diluted bitumen (dilbit), a mixture of tar sands and a proprietary mixture of chemicals to enable tar and sand to flow through both pipelines and pumps is what even Enbridge admits will flow in, and hopefully not spill out of Line 61.
Environmental activists have asked that the potential for spills of the corrosive mixture under high pressure from the 42" diameter Enbridge Line 61 crossing some of the most sensitive and extensive wetlands in the midwest (including Fox River wetlands within a couple miles of John Muir's boyhood home) be studied. Unlike crude oil, dilbit's consistency makes it prone to settle to the bottom of wetlands where extraction is nearly impossible, but still....
Kristin Hart, an air regulator at the DNR, said the agency's job was to focus on the air permit....and concluded that the project did not require a full environmental review.Though an Enbridge dilbit line ruptured in Kalamazoo, Michigan in July 2010, spilling 834,000 barrels of oil into the Kalamazoo River, and Enbridge paid $1.1 million to settle claims by the Wisconsin DNR and Department of Justice that the company violated environmental laws during the initial phase of the pipeline project in 2007 and 2008, and another Enbridge pipeline in the same right-of-way that contains Line 61 ruptured and caused a geyser of "oil" in Adams County, Wisconsin in July, 2012, with official cause listed as "unknown".....
DNR officials also said state law doesn't allow officials to use a company's past operating record when reviewing environmental permits.And public input? Meh!
Elizabeth Ward of the Sierra Club in Wisconsin said that the public was "completely cut out of the process" when the DNR decided not to conduct a complete environmental review, and instead considered only an air permit and a previously approved permit to disturb a small number of wetlands....Ward emphasized that the corrosive nature of the oil, combined with increased pressure and higher heat in the pipeline, raises the likelihood of a future rupture.But, not to worry....
Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little said [of the "oil" from Canada and North Dakota]....."It's a lubricant".Of course, Enbridge has it all under control, monitoring the pipeline....
From its system control centre in Edmonton, Alberta, the company maintains the smooth and safe flow of product from one site to another, paying special attention to preventing leaks.(My emphasis)
It's nice to know someone is happy about all this....
Another spokeswoman, Becky Haase, said Enbridge is pleased with the DNR decision.