SACRED LAND, SACRED WATER
Even the casual follower on Facebook can’t miss the photos of the valiant walkers of “33 Days of The Evil Twin #66.” Many a Wisconsinite comes to walk for a day, learning and teaching others along the way about the evil of the twin #66 Enbridge pipeline. Lucrative to producers but costly and perilous to our environment.
Wisconsin is bisected by several pipelines operated by Enbridge, whose base is Calgary, Alberta (foreign oil). The current Enbridge 61 crosses 15 counties, from Superior to Delevan. That’s 321 miles! It removes almost 2000 acres from public domain, including wetlands. No money is paid to Wisconsin for the land it crosses over. No economic gain here.
Line 61 carries Dilbit (diluted bitumen), better known as “Tar Sands Oil.” Hexane and benzene are widely used chemicals shippers mix with bitumen to create dilbit. Both hexane and benzene are cancer causing substances. Dilbit sinks in water; making clean up nearly impossible.
Line 61 was never designed to carry tar sands oil. As recent as 2012 Adams county saw a 50,000-gallon spill. These spills are more common than you think. We only hear about the larger ones! How do you clean something like that up? Where do you dispose of it? So much for clean air, water, and land.
Pressure on the current line is 400 pounds per square inch (psi). When phase two is complete the pressure will be 1400 psi ! To accommodate this, Enbridge will build two pumping stations, one in Rusk county and one in Wood county. “Oh, but this creates jobs,” you say. Yes, it will, during the actual construction of the pipeline; but for how long and at what cost? A cost to you and I, the taxpayer. You could create more jobs fixing our crumbling infrastructure.
“33 Days on the Evil Twin #66” puts us at the very center of the controversy- geographically and politically. These pipelines leave scars on the landscape that was once forest and farms. Some counties and townships have made attempts to curtail or regulate the exploration; but our current legislature and big oil contributors have passed laws restricting our local control. So much for small government.
Remember, these issues are here, very real and on our doorstep. Which of your elected officials are a part of the problem, not the solution?