Public Citizen Report Reveals Dents, Holes in Keystone XL Southern Half Weeks Before Planned Startup

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Theย southern halfย ofย Transcanada’sย Keystone XLย tar sands pipeline is supposed to beginย pumping up toย 700,000 barrels of diluted bitumen per day through the Cushing, OK to Port Arthur, TX route within weeks. But is it ready to operate safely?

Public Citizenย has released a chilling reportย revealing that the 485-mile KXL southern line is plagued by dents, faulty welding, exterior damage that was patched up poorly andย misshapen bends, among other troubling anomalies.

In conducting its investigative report, โ€œConstruction Problems Raise Questions About the Integrity of the Pipeline,โ€ย Public Citizen workedย on the ground to examine 250 miles of the 485 mile pipeline’s route. The groupย and its citizen sources uncovered over 125ย anomaliesย in that half of the line alone. These findings moved Public Citizenย to conclude the southern half of the pipeline shouldn’t begin service until theย anomaliesย are taken care of, and ponders if the issues can ever be resolvedย sufficiently.

After President Barack Obama temporarily denied a permit for Keystone XL‘s northern half in January 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted Keystone XL‘s south half a legally dubious Nationwide Permit 12ย to expedite construction. Soon after, President Obama issued his own Executive Order in March 2012 calling for the expedited building of the south half in de facto support of the Corps’ย permit.ย 

An August report by industry intelligence firm Genscape said the pipeline, rebranded by Transcanada as the โ€œGulf Coast Project,โ€ will ship tar sands dilbit through the line beginning in the first quarter of 2014. Now, the race to build the south half literally looks like it could come with major costs and consequences.ย ย 

Photos: Keystone XL South Halfย Anomaliesย 

The photos below of Keystone XL southern half’s anomalies mostly speak for themselves, thoughย Public Citizen’s report gives them the extra context they deserve. Public Citizen has placed additional photos up on Flickr.ย 

Pinholes in the applied coating can lead to exposing underlying pipe damage toย leakage.

Multiple coating patches over new pipe about to be placed into the trench during initialย construction.

Close up of section of Keystone XL southern half’s pipe marked โ€œjunkโ€ byย TransCanada.

Front of a cut out section of pipe on citizen David Whatley’s land marked โ€œDent Cutย Out.โ€

A dent anomaly on the exterior cut out section of pipe. The dent was about the size of aย brick.

Public Citizen Demands PHMSA, Congress, White House Weighย In

Public Citizenย has called for a U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) investigation into its findings. They have also called on Congress and the Obama White House to step up to theย plate.

โ€œPublic Citizenโ€ฆcalls on Congress to hold oversight hearings to ensure that PHMSA investigates the anomalies [and] conducts a quality assurance review,โ€ the reportย says.ย 

Further,ย Public Citizenย states these Keystone XL southern half blunders coupled with the 12 spills that took place in the original Transcanada Keystone tar sands pipeline’s first operational year must be part of the calculus for Keystone XL‘s northern half for the Obama State Department. And for the southern half, Public Citizen has called for a โ€œtimeย out.โ€

โ€œThe government should investigate, and shouldnโ€™t let crude flow until that is done,โ€ Tom Smith, Director of Public Citizenโ€™s Texas office said in a press statement. โ€œGiven the stakes โ€“ the potential for a catastrophic spill of hazardous crude along a pipeline that traverses hundreds of streams and rivers and comes within a few miles of some towns and cities โ€“ it would be irresponsible to allow the pipeline to startย operating.ย 

โ€œTransCanadaโ€™s history with pipeline problems speaks for itself and I fear we could be looking at another pipeline whose integrity may be inย question.โ€

Photo Credit: Publicย Citizen

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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