<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">And the beat goes on . . .</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of Think Progress at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/qcounev">http://tinyurl.com/qcounev</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "> </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">-------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "></p><h1 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 1.15em; font-size: 1.7em; font-family: Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(16, 119, 56); "><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/18/2167151/every-plant-and-tree-died-huge-alberta-pipeline-spill-raises-safety-questions-as-keystone-decision-looms/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(16, 119, 56); ">‘Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill Raises Safety Questions As Keystone Decision Looms</a></h1><p class="byline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 1.25em; font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">By <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/author/kkroh/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Kiley Kroh</a> on Jun 18, 2013 at 10:58 am</p><div class="post" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 639px; float: right; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; "></div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As the Obama administration’s decision regarding whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline draws nearer, the latest disaster is raising serious concerns about the safety of Canada’s rapidly expanding pipeline network.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/637772/pipeline-in-northern-alberta-leaks-9-5-million-litres-of-industrial-waste-water/">massive toxic waste spill</a> from an oil and gas operation in northern Alberta is being called one of the largest recent environmental disasters in North America. First reported on June 1, the Texas-based Apache Corp. didn’t reveal the size of the spill until June 12, which is said to cover more than 1,000 acres.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Members of the Dene Tha First Nation tribe are outraged that it took several days before they were informed that 9.5 million liters of salt and heavy-metal-laced wastewater had leaked onto wetlands they use for hunting and trapping.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Every plant and tree died” in the area touched by the spill, said James Ahnassay, chief of the Dene Tha.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As the Globe and Mail <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/apache-pipeline-leaks-60000-barrels-of-salty-water-in-northwest-alberta/article12494371/">reports</a>, the Apache disaster is not an anomaly:</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 10px 50px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; "><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The leak follows a pair of other major spills in the region, including 800,000 litres of an oil-water mixture from Pace Oil and Gas Ltd., and nearly 3.5 million litres of oil from a pipeline run by Plains Midstream Canada.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After those accidents, the Dene Tha had asked the Energy Resources Conservation Board, Alberta’s energy regulator, to require installation of pressure and volume monitors, as well as emergency shutoff devices, on aging oil and gas infrastructure. The Apache spill has renewed calls for change.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Following initial speculation that the leak stemmed from aging infrastructure, officials from Apache Corp. <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/northern-alberta-pipeline-was-only-five-years-old-before-toxic-spill/article12536856/">revealed</a> that the pipeline was only five years old and had been designed to last for 30.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The incident comes on the heels of accusations from the provincial New Democratic Party that Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes is withholding the results of an internal pipeline safety report pending the U.S. government’s decision regarding Keystone XL. The report was commissioned last summer by Alberta Energy following a series of toxic spills — including the Plains Midstream Canada spill that leached 475,000 liters of oil into the Red Deer River, a major source of drinking water for central Alberta.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/alberta-ndp-call-on-province-to-release-energy-pipeline-safety-report-206455481.html">Winnipeg Free Press</a>, “an engineering firm completed the technical report last fall and presented the findings to the government, which sent the findings to the Energy Resources Conservation Board for a review that was to be completed by March 31.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hughes denied delaying the report but declined to give a release date, <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Alberta+energy+minister+says+more+prompt+response+needed/8532109/story.html">saying </a>only that it would come “fairly soon.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A recent <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/571494/introduction-37-years-of-oil-spills-in-alberta/">Global News investigation</a> found that over the past 37 years, Alberta’s extensive network of pipelines has experienced 28,666 crude oil spills in total, plus another 31,453 spills of a variety of other liquids used in oil and gas production — from salt water to liquid petroleum. That averages out to two crude oil spills a day, every day.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As concerns mount over Apache’s delay in detecting and reporting its extensive toxic waste spill, Bloomberg <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-17/keystone-xl-pipeline-shuns-high-tech-oil-spill-detectors.html">reported </a>on Tuesday that TransCanada is not planning to use the external leak detection tools recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for its proposed Keystone XL pipeline. As a result, the State Department concludes “Keystone XL would have to be spilling more than 12,000 barrels a day — or 1.5 percent of its 830,000 barrel capacity — before its currently planned internal spill-detection systems would trigger an alarm.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); ">A section of the 100-plus acres contaminated by toxic waste in northern Alberta.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><img src="cid:3334AA1F-1CE2-4979-B1A7-73D32AE10FBE" alt="Alberta-pipeline-spill-e1371564188551.jpg" id="3334AA1F-1CE2-4979-B1A7-73D32AE10FBE" width="590" height="321"></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">-------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>