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Ballot measure can fix Keystone mistake |
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Thursday, 28 February 2008 |
Letter from Richard Starke
Burlington, N.D.
The Public Service Commission made the wrong decision in allowing the Keystone pipeline to cross farmland, wetlands and native prairie near the Sheyenne River rather than putting the pipeline in a safer location on a highway right-of-way.
The carbon steel pipes inevitably corrode, and the first symptom is a pinhole leak. A pinhole leak of 2 percent is NOT DETECTABLE; so 2 percent of 435,000 barrels per day will leak for 90 days before coming to the surface and being spotted or smelled by a farmer or motorist. How many barrels of oil will have leaked by then?
It will take Keystone three days to get here from Omaha, Neb., to call the center to shut the valves both upstream and downstream from the leak. By then, 410 acres will be flooded with oil, which would reach the Sheyenne River from my farm in less than one hour after breaching the trench. Fargo's 20 hours of emergency water supply will be used, and the city left without water.
The oil will enter the Red River just north of Fargo and flow north to Grand Forks and Winnipeg, then Lake Winnipeg! Now, wouldn't it be a good idea to move the pipeline to the Hwy 32 right-of-way as originally planned? This is on the other side of a moraine from the river and lake, so the water supply would be safe.
I testified under oath before the PSC with documents which proved these statements, and they ignored my documents and chose the false testimony of keystone "expert" Heidi Tilquist, who said that "the land was flat so no oil would reach the river." In truth, this land drops 200 feet in three miles. Dr. Thomas Scherer, Agricultural Engineer at NDSU Extension Service in Fargo, calculated the data.
We can still force Keystone to move the pipeline to a safe location, via an initiative of the people. Our ballot measure is now in preparation, and I ask the help of all North Dakotans concerned about this terrible threat to our state. If you are willing to circulate our initiative petition, please call me at (701) 838-8003 or e-mail my sister in Valley City at:
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Editor’s note: Starke owns land east of Valley City.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
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