"WASHINGTON -- The Keystone XL pipeline section from the oil transport hub of Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Gulf Coast is plagued by construction problems, code violations and improper inspection and shouldn't be allowed to operate until the government steps up oversight, the watchdog group Public Citizen argued in a report Tuesday."
"The report, compiled with documentation from landowners along the pipeline's Texas portion, said the roughly 500-mile section of pipeline has problems that include dents, sags and damage to the coating. Public Citizen claimed pipeline owner TransCanada's failed internal processes, and its history of unreliable pipelines, should push the federal government to require more testing before the Keystone XL southern leg is allowed to start operating.
'The government should investigate and shouldn’t let crude flow until that is done,' said Tom 'Smitty' Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, in a call with reporters on Tuesday. 'Given the stakes -- the potential for a catastrophic spill of hazardous crude along a pipeline that traverses hundreds of streams and rivers and comes within a few miles of some towns and cities -- it would be irresponsible to allow the pipeline to start operating.'"
Farah Mohamed reports for the Huffington Post November 12, 2013.
