[Also online at KELOLand.com!]
Transcanada promises that after it steals land from South Dakotans, it will build a perfectly safe oil pipeline, so safe they don't even need to consider plans to truck in water to residents in case of a leak that would contaminate local water supplies (Scott Waltman, "Leaks Among Top Concerns," Aberdeen American News, 2007.06.28, archived at DakotansConcerned.org).
Can we trust them? The Madville Times has made its sentiments clear. But today, let's check the record... oh look! A Transcanada project from the 1990s, as described by Joseph Berger, "Hazard Underground: A Special Report; 375 Miles of Suspected Short Cuts Fuel Fears of Northeast Pipeline," New York Times, 1995.03.27. Some selected passages:
To sell hundreds of New York and Connecticut landowners on the idea of a high-pressure gas pipeline passing across their properties, Iroquois Gas Transmission Systems promised "a pipeline of exceptional safety" and pledged to take dozens of expensive measures to avert a calamity.
That's why Neil Baumann of Schoharie, N.Y., was startled in 1991 to see a crew dumping tons of large rocks back into the 1,000-foot trench splitting his farmland. The Iroquois company had assured him -- and government officials -- that rocks larger than 18 inches would not be used in refilling the trench after the pipeline had been laid. Rock, after all, can scratch or dent a pipe's steel wall and heighten the potential for an explosion.
Mr. Baumann complained and a state inspector forced Iroquois's contractor to redig the trench across the farm. But Mr. Baumann said the inspector never insisted that Iroquois remove oversize rocks from trenches on any of his neighbors' properties. The inspector said that since those landowners never complained, he could not do anything.
What's this have to do with Transcanada?
Executives at Iroquois denied any wrongdoing and refused to comment on the plea agreement offers. Iroquois is a consortium based in Shelton, Conn., whose 12 partners include suppliers, like TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. and Tenneco Gas, as well as such utilities as Brooklyn Union Gas Company and the Long Island Lighting Company.
"At no time were we rushing and at no time were we taking any short cuts," said Robert J. Reid, the company's president when the pipeline was built and now a senior vice president at TransCanada. "This line in terms of environmental and safety standards was built better than many pipelines, better than most pipelines."
(Reid is now on the Board of Directors at Aboriginal Pipeline Group.)
For the record, four Iroquois officials on that project copped guilty pleas, and the Transcanada-owned company paid $22 million in fines for its malfeasance. Do we really want to let an outfit like this condemn South Dakotans' property just so some rich guys in Calgary can reap big profits and leave us with a 220-mile-long environmental hazard (economists call that an externality, a form of market failure)?
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let's look at the record and then show Transcanada the door.
No, I do NOT trust them. They have not been truthful. They promised to get their land agents under control and that never happened. North Dakota PSC have questioned their integrity several times. South Dakota PUC has complaints on file. They now have permission to use more pressure in thinner pipes. Who is going to pay? Doesn't matter if it is your home or land that is destroyed! When the damage is done, there is no going back. Are they going to pay damages without some landowner having to sue them? Suing hasn't worked in the Veldz spill. They still haven't paid after almost 20 years.
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