A Koch-owned pipeline spilled 17,000 gallons (400 barrels) of crude oil in the town of Smithville, TX. yesterday. This incident marks the latest in a
number of inland oil spills that have ravaged the continent.
Though there were no injuries, the spill has caused a sizeable amount of land and environmental damage. A rural area of about 100X25 yards and two
livestock ponds have been contaminated, cutting down the drinking supply of the property’s livestock. The pipeline is owned by the Koch Pipeline
Co., which is a subsidiary of Koch Industries.
Recently, in North Dakota, a busted pipeline loosed over 20,000 barrels of crude oil over 7.3 acres of land. The spill from the pipeline, which is
owned by Tesoro Logistics, went unreported to the public for 11 days. The lack of urgency and compassion exuded by the state government aroused anger
and discontent.
“It shows an attitude of our current state government and what they think of the public,” said Dakota Resource Council director, Don Morrison.
“There is a pattern in the state government to not involve the public.”
Aside from that incident, the “second-leading oil-producing state in the country,” it was later indicated that 300 pipeline spills have gone
unreported. However, the pipeline incidence are barely half of the 750 “oil field incidents” that have occurred since January 2012.
The spill in Texas has been contained by SWS Environmental, and the location of and the reason for the burst pipeline has not been confirmed.
The Koch Pipeline Co. “had no estimated time for repairs. Neither Koch nor the Texas Railroad Commission had a public statement about the
incident.”
Source
All this shows is how little the company & the government care for our health and our environment. How do they get away with 300 unreported oil
spills? Why aren't they cleaning it up? Why isn't the government monitoring what they do with all this oil?
Crude oil is so outdated.
But unfortunately, oil is literally a currency of it's own now, so it now holds power.