"Crude Awakening": E&B proposing 3.5 mile oil pipeline for the South Bay

Oil Transport is known as "the Achilles Heel of the Oil Industry." For the past week, more than 600 ExxonMobil employees and contractors have been working 24 hours a day to contain 5,000 barrels (200,000 gallons) of crude oil that spilled from a pipeline into a residential neighborhood in Mayflower, Arkansas. Many residents didn't even know ExxonMobil's Pegasus Pipeline, which was constructed in 1947, transported oil underneath their homes.  

A major component of the E&B drilling project is a 3.5 mile pipeline to transport oil to Torrance (it will run through neighborhoods in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance).  Only residents who live within 300 feet from the proposed oil pipeline will be notified of construction (Though not specified, it appears that the pipeline intends to deliver 8,000 barrels a day to Exxon Mobil's Torrance refinery).   

Oil spills from pipeline failures and truck spills are common to the oil industry. "Most of them are accidental, so no one can know when, where, or how they will occur. Spills can happen on land or in water, at any time of day or night, and in any weather condition." (E.P.A.).  Structural failures are the most common cause of U.S. pipeline spills - from corrosion, defective pipes & welds, and outside force damage (e.g., earthquakes).  

The oil industry will try to assuage concern by stating its reliability rate (only 54,000 barrels [about 2.3 million gallons] of crude oil spilled last year when millions more barrels were delivered "safely").  They will also reassure with words like "modern techniques, modern coating, modern welding practices."  

What will words like reliability rating and "modern" mean when one of the thousands of earthquakes that will occur in the South Bay during the proposed duration of the E&B oil project (30-35 years) creates enough "outside force" to break a pipeline and spill 1,000s of gallons of crude oil into one of our neighborhoods?  These words won't help when families are evacuated from their homes or when property values permanently diminish in affected areas.

In California, E&B Natural Resources has reported 15 spills since 2007, most of them nominal by industry standards with 2,000 gallons of diesel and 50 barrels of crude oil (2,000 gallons) being standouts. E&B, like most rational actors in the petroleum business, seeks to optimize their oil plays for maximum revenue.  But, the oil game is risky.

The first step to prevent an oil spill is prevention - beginning with a "safe, environmentally acceptable, economical, and practical" pipeline route.  Some points for consideration from the International Pipe Line and Offshore Contractors Association (IPLOCA):

• "corridor should be selected to avoid urban areas, major road, rail and water crossings and environmentally sensitive areas."
• "avoid built-up areas or areas with frequent human activity"
• "The extreme effect of a geological hazard on the pipeline is a rupture." 
• "As far as is possible all geo-hazards should be avoided by a pipeline route."

E&B's proposed oil pipeline route may be economical and practical, but is it safe and environmentally acceptable?  

Are the threats posed to our densely populated, earthquake vulnerable, and environmentally sensitive neighborhoods and communities reasonable and acceptable?  Does revenue from unnecessary, rapacious oil exploitation outweigh its nuisances, hazards, harms, and risks (especially when the overwhelming majority of profits will NOT stay in the local economy)?

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

Learn more from your concerned neighbors:

http://stophermosabeachoil.com/

http://www.nobpinhb.com/

Resources:

International Pipe Line and Offshore Contractors Association (IPLOCA):

http://wiki.iploca.com/display/rtswiki/Appendix+5.1.1+-+Pipeline+Route+Selection+Process

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (USDOT):

http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/4%202013%205006H_Corrective%20Action%20Order_4%2002%2013.pdf

CA Office of Spill Prevention and Response:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/

ExxonMobil:

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/safety_response_arkansas.aspx

E&B Oil Development Plan:

http://www.hermosabch.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=2103

City of Torrance General Plan Update:

http://www.torranceca.gov/pdf/gp_drafteir/Ch%2005-07%20HAZ.pdf

"almost 40 percent of the pipe ruptures reported in previous earthquakes can be attributed to seismic wave propagation effects...Therefore, since these pipelines are within 15 miles of three significant seismic sources in the southern California area, seismic shaking has the potential to significantly impact them." (page 5.7-9)

ANALYSIS OF OIL SPILL TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORLDWIDE (2001)

http://www.environmental-research.com/publications/pdf/spill_statistics/paper4.pdf