Pipelines being laid for the Keystone 1 Pipeline near Swanton, Nebraska. The Keystone 1 Pipeline was completed in June 2010, according to Transcanada, the Canadian firm that sought approval for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Photo by Shannon Ramos
Atom Bombs - Rotting Pipe Lines! What’s the Difference?
By Dave Archambault Sr.
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nsweekly.com The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe worries constantly about what the esteemed and honorable leaders of America will end up doing. Will the Army Corps, politicians, the judge, EPA, Justice Department, and the White House - will they just go ahead and put a time bomb on the Tribe’s doorstep? What worries the “red man” living in America are the micro-bugs that will eat away at steel that leads to pressure ruptures in pipelines. In the oil industry the micro-scopic bugs are called MIC’s, Microbiological Induced Corrosion. These little super-bugs cause build up and blockages and worst of all - deterioration. They are what most threaten the integrity of any and all oil pipelines. It is very important to know that the pipeline builders have no defense against them. The next big worry or identified weakness of a pipeline is the welding that is done at the joints. This is not to say there is poor workmanship by welders at all. Much of the welding is done by state of the art automated welding machines however; a welded joint ages and becomes brittle, cracks, and loses its integrity. This inherent weakness ultimately gives way to the tremendous pressure that compression stations force into the pipelines in order to move the heavy payload. In the end because there are a jillion welds all over the pipeline infrastructure in America, the fact is that the welds will be put under incredible stress and the pipelines will eventually leak or rupture. The other very troubling aspect to subsurface crude oil transportation is the unforcastable movement of earth’s crust. Compared to the power of Mother Earth, a pipeline is like a “pretzel” in the ground. Even though a pipeline is made of steel, as the land continually rises and drops, heaves and shifts, the steel welded tube is insignificant to its muscle.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Atom Bombs - Rotting Pipe Lines! What’s the Difference? (Contact Dave Archambault Sr. at joebuckinghorse@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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