While the country focuses on the pending Senate vote to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, another Canadian company is quietly pressing ahead on a pipeline project that will significantly raise the volume of tar sands oil transported through the U.S. The company is pressing ahead without a permit, and environmental groups say it is flouting the law.
The company, Enbridge, is the same firm that spilled more than one million gallons of thick, sticky tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010.
Inside Climate News reports that Enbridge applied for a State Department permit two years ago for its latest project: a bid to increase the capacity of its “Alberta Clipper” pipeline from 450,000 to 800,000 barrels of tar sands crude per day. The Clipper crosses the border from Canada into the U.S. in North Dakota, so a Presidential Permit from the department would be required by law.
But, frustrated with the lengthy permitting process, Enbridge engineered a work-around that appears to get the job done, without a permit. By running a connection between two parallel Enbridge pipelines right on the border with the U.S., the company will be able to swap the contents of each. As the crude approaches the border with Canada in the Alberta Clipper pipeline, it will be diverted into the parallel “Line 3” pipeline, and swapped back into the Clipper once it reaches the U.S.. The move is projected to increase capacity to 570,000 barrels per day. But by the middle of next year, the company says it will transport 800,000 barrels per day of Canadian tar sands into the U.S. with "no additional permit," according to Enbridge attorney David Coburn.
Alexandra Klass, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, told Inside Climate News that Enbridge's strategy isn't surprising. "This happens in environmental reviews all the time. You seek approval for smaller pieces, which on their own don't seem like they'll have a big environmental impact. But considered cumulatively, they do."
more
http://www.newsweek.com/all-eyes-ke...n-tar-sands-pipeline-quietly-snakes-us-285256
The company, Enbridge, is the same firm that spilled more than one million gallons of thick, sticky tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010.
Inside Climate News reports that Enbridge applied for a State Department permit two years ago for its latest project: a bid to increase the capacity of its “Alberta Clipper” pipeline from 450,000 to 800,000 barrels of tar sands crude per day. The Clipper crosses the border from Canada into the U.S. in North Dakota, so a Presidential Permit from the department would be required by law.
But, frustrated with the lengthy permitting process, Enbridge engineered a work-around that appears to get the job done, without a permit. By running a connection between two parallel Enbridge pipelines right on the border with the U.S., the company will be able to swap the contents of each. As the crude approaches the border with Canada in the Alberta Clipper pipeline, it will be diverted into the parallel “Line 3” pipeline, and swapped back into the Clipper once it reaches the U.S.. The move is projected to increase capacity to 570,000 barrels per day. But by the middle of next year, the company says it will transport 800,000 barrels per day of Canadian tar sands into the U.S. with "no additional permit," according to Enbridge attorney David Coburn.
Alexandra Klass, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, told Inside Climate News that Enbridge's strategy isn't surprising. "This happens in environmental reviews all the time. You seek approval for smaller pieces, which on their own don't seem like they'll have a big environmental impact. But considered cumulatively, they do."
more
http://www.newsweek.com/all-eyes-ke...n-tar-sands-pipeline-quietly-snakes-us-285256
