Oil Is Bustin' Out All Over

Or - the pelicans' revenge.

On March 27 - in Minnesota. On March 31 - in Arkansas.

I don't know the immediate cause of "the incident." Maybe a mole burrowed through the pipeline. Maybe a seam burst. But I can tell you the general causes of "the incident." One general cause of "the incident" is that energy companies, and their partners in the various extraction industries, lie. They lie about jobs, and they lie about the environmental impact of what they do, and they lie at full volume when something goes radically wrong with the stuff about which they've previously lied. They lie for a living. They lie as a perfect demonstration of what they are, and they lie as an essential part of their overall business model. And they lie without consequence, knowing they can buy their way out of any situation in which their lies do actual harm. And they lie in service to their fundamental public-relations strategy which is, basically, Trust Us.

[...]

TransCanada is no different from Exxon, which is no different from Shell — which, as kindly Doc Maddow has been pointing out, is having the devil's own time keeping track of its wandering oil rigs in the Chukchi Sea. It lied. It lies. It will lie again. (Also, as we always point out on this issue, there's already one Keystone pipeline, and it's already leaked all over the landscape.) That is what the president is being asked to invite into the country. Just so we're all still clear — which, apparently, cannot be said any more of several rivers in Arkansas.

  Charlie Pierce

[Since June 2010, TransCanada] has seen twelve oil spills from its brand new, state-of-the art pipeline — with one “six-story geyser” dumping 21,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota.

  Esquire

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.