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From the Sept. 14, 2014 Enbridge Sandpiper EIS Public Scoping Comments Summary

 
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From the Sept. 14, 2014 Enbridge Sandpiper EIS Public Scoping Comments Summary
Tar sands oil to be shipped on this line is costly to produce, so it needs to be sold in foreign markets like China, which pay more and offset the higher production costs. Much, most or all of this tar sands oil will not benefit Wisconsin or the U.S., but is destined for use in foreign markets.

Don’t accept company line of “responding to market demand and customer need” because domestic demand is flat. The emphasis is on meeting the needs of oil refineries instead of on meeting the energy needs of the United States.

Oil is running out, as seen by use of costly fracking and tar sands extraction methods. We are past Peak Oil and we should keep our remaining oil for more essential uses and use electric cars.

Iraqi oil was important to the U.S. economy [and Canadian crude is needed to make up for the loss of some of that since 2002?]

Will or could these oil pipelines be used at some future time to export water from Lake Superior?

Affected Environment
Include within the affected environment all of Lake Superior, not just the streams that the pipeline crosses.
Include within the affected environment all of the 1837, 1842 and 1854 Ceded Territory.

Review a correspondingly broad scope of alternatives in the EIS.
Include an alternative to pipe this oil straight down to refineries in Oklahoma, Texas, and/or Louisiana? Provide a continental scale alternative showing the most efficient way to meet U.S. energy needs.

Alternatives – include shipping – spill hazard compounded by inability to clean heavy oil from deep cold water of Lake Superior. Shipping on Great Lakes is also a risky alternative. Detail and analyze those risks, which are part of the secondary and cumulative impacts of the proposed project.

Alternatives – include rail – spill and explosion hazards from rail cars of substandard strength; also contribution to rail traffic delays for agricultural and other commodities and passenger rail service. Trains carry crude oil to Minneapolis refineries now. A rail benzene spill in the Nemadji River at Superior in 1992 shut down service for a time.

Alternative – trucking oil can slow up food delivery (? - this is not really done over any great distance, is it?).
Why is there no proposal to route Canadian tar sands crude via a port in Canada, namely Thunder Bay? Include that as an alternative.

The need for this project has not been established. Can conservation, better fuel economy and other measures negate the supposed need for the increased pipeline capacity?
Jobs can be created with safer energy sources and transportation fuels and modes.

Construction Impacts
Evaluate the potential for introduction and spread of invasive species along the construction corridor and into and along streams crossed by the pipeline.
Document the measures to be implemented to avoid or control the introduction and spread of invasive species, and assess their effectiveness based on past results.

Climate Change Impacts
Include the relationship of an added increment of global CO2 increase from extracting and processing tar sands crude.
Include the relationship of an added increment of global CO2 increase and related climate change from shipping, refining and burning tar sands crude.
Analyze the climate change-related carbon and other emissions output and climate change impacts on both local and regional scales. Incorporate the findings of the WICCI study and the Lake Superior Work Group.
Document that climate science is demonstrating that our planet is in jeopardy from the impacts of our heavy reliance on carbon fuels – refer to the WICCI study. The buildup of fossil fuel combustion products threatens extreme weather, as noted in the IPCC report – “Hot and Hungry.”
Discuss the social disruptions re: gardening and other activities (snow sports, water sports, etc.) impacted by climate shifts.

Enbridge Environmental Stewardship Record
Enbridge is a responsible company that cares about environmental protection. One project was delayed 8 months due to a wild iris and a rare goldenrod. Kirtland warbler nest – caring for this nest stopped the hydrostatic testing until protocols were developed to protect the nest and its occupant.

Enbridge employees are drug tested (what about contractors?). Pipeline welds are X-rayed. Monitoring is adequate and overall pipeline safety is good.

Enbridge is “restoring [ROW] to original condition.”
ROW restoration & maintenance is supposed to be completed, to 70% [of soil? original vegetation?], but DNR does not enforce this. Nothing but grass grows has grown on one landowner’s ROW land for the past 12 years. His land that was once covered in trees and wetlands is now open grasslands.

Spill and Leak Impacts
Check with PHMSA/Nat Acad Sci new study in spill impacts
Review impact information developed by North Dakota and Minnesota regarding multi-jurisdictional pipeline projects, including Keystone XL, and include any pertinent information.
Analyze the cumulative impacts from potential spills from all pipelines in the region, not just those owned and operated by Enbridge.

In January, 2003, there was a petroleum leak in the Superior area, but no long term damage, and much of the spilled petroleum was recovered.

Document the present impacts of existing pipelines and of past oil spills on groundwater and surface water resources.
Quantitatively assess the possible changes to surface water and groundwater that may occur as a result of an oil spill.
Do not allow the use of dispersants in the event of a spill. Dispersants are toxic by themselves, and have a synergistic effect when combined with oil that can make them up to 52 times more toxic to aquatic life than crude oil alone.

Kalamazoo River spill is still not cleaned up after spending $1 billion over three years. At least 320 homes were evacuated there due to off-gassing “something.” What are the ramifications of this kind of “extreme oil” spill or leak, with its chemical cocktail diluent?

What would be the impacts to Lake Superior from a loading or shipping spill? Consider the heavy nature of tar sands crude and its propensity to sink the bottom of a water body. It has been shown that tar sands crude sinks in water, where it will be extremely difficult to clean up, especially in deeper water. What are the impacts of that in the short term and long term? What kind of cleanup technique is going to succeed at cleaning that up?

Some 200,000 tourism jobs [in WI or Lk Superior watershed?] rely upon clean water and healthy lakes and would be jeopardized by a major spill or leak.

Impacts of spills upon Lake Superior need to be evaluated in light of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada, and notify other parties to this agreement, as required under Article 6.
In evaluating spill and leak impacts, examine all media (air, soil, water) and life forms (bacteria, plants and animals).

Examine “downstream” projects and their individual and cumulative impacts, including Line 61; Line 5 to Michigan; Line 3 tar sands crude.

We know petroleum products spills cause respiratory and gastro-intestinal illness. We do not know long term impacts of breathing hexane, benzene and similar compounds – We need to know what are all of potential these impacts.
Statistically, about 60% of an oil spill remains in the environment. What are the impacts of that in the short term and long term?

“Inert” ingredients can be worse than what may be stated as “active.” Consider impact of “worst case” spill. Look at the complete picture and everyone who is impacted.
We don’t want bad things to happen but have to live with risk [when the odds favor a greater benefit]
“DNR is charged with protecting flora and fauna” and “taking care of risk.”





GLP