The Dakota Access Pipeline is leaking, even before opening

L’oleodotto voluto da Donald Trump, il Dakota access pipeline, non è ancora entrato in funzione e già sta perdendo petrolio.

“We told you so”. It’s not a nice thing to say but in the case of the Dakota Access pipeline is right. The pipeline, firmly supported by US President Donald Trump, has already leaked 300 litres of crude oil, despite it hasn’t yet become operational. The spill is allegedly due to a damaged pump and took place on 4 April in Spink County, 160 kilometres from Lake Oahe, where most of local communities’ demonstrations were organised. The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources published on its website some figures of the leaking but didn’t released any statements about the spill.

Dakota Acess pipeline oleodotto
Works for the Dakota Access pipeline

There’s no danger according to experts

The 3.8 billion-dollar pipeline has a length of 1,886 kilometres and has been designed to transport oil from bakken fields in North Dakota to Illinois, passing through South Dakota and Iowa. It is estimated to become operational on 1 June and will have a capacity of 470,000 oil barrels per day. Builders and experts say there’s no danger linked to the realisation and functioning of the work.
“We realize Dakota Access gets a lot of attention. We also try to treat all of our spills in a consistent manner. We treated this as we would treat any other 84-gallon oil spill,” said Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “The oil was contained on site by a plastic liner and containment walls and quickly cleaned up. Some oil-contaminated gravel will be disposed of at an area landfill”. The pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners claims the pipeline is safe and that the spill occurred within in a containment area. Also, authorities said that no other spills have been detected along the pipeline in South Dakota.

Dakota Access Pipeline protesta sioux
The protests of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe ©Alex Wong/Getty Images

The reaction Standing Rock Sioux tribe

“With 1,200 miles of pipeline, spills are going to happen. Nobody listened to us. Nobody wants to listen, because they’re driven by money and greed,” Standing Rock Sioux tribe chairman Dave Archambault II said. “The Dakota Access pipeline has not yet started shipping the proposed half million barrels of oil per day and we are already seeing confirmed reports of oil spills from the pipeline,” Archambault said in a statement. “This is what we have said all along: oil pipelines leak and spill. Our lawsuit challenging this dangerous project is ongoing and it’s more important than ever for the court to step in and halt additional accidents before they happen – not just for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and our resources but for the 17 million people whose drinking water is at risk.”

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