The Arkansas oil leak: Proof the Keystone pipeline is dangerous?

Opponents of the controversial pipeline proposal say, "Told you so"

Spilled oil is seen in a drainage ditch near evacuated homes in Mayflower, Arkansas March 31, 2013.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jacob Slaton)

Exxon Mobil is busy cleaning up a Mayflower, Ark., neighborhood where thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude oil spilled last week, forcing the evacuation of 22 homes. Exxon officials are still trying to figure out what caused the leak from the 40-year-old Pegasus pipeline, which is buried two feet underground and can transport more than 90,000 barrels of oil per day from Patoka, Ill., to Nederland, Texas.

Environmentalists, however, aren't waiting for the final report to call the accident proof that it would be dangerous for President Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would be able to carry 800,000 barrels per day from Canada's tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.