84,000 gallons of Canadian crude Oil spills near Arkansas lake Due to Exxon Pipeline break

On Friday, the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline, which brings Canadian crude oil from Illinois to Texas, ruptured, leaking at least 80,000 gallons of oil into the Central Arkansas town of Mayflower.

Lisa Song at Inside Climate News reports on the size of the spill:

The size of the spill remains unclear. Dodson said the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the spill at 84,000 gallons. The EPA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management did not return calls for comment.

(Image from KARK 4 News)

An image taken in a Suburban neighborhood shows the destruction.

Arkansas’ KARK reports that the spill has so far been prevented from reaching the lake. Luckily major destruction has been avoided if the spill occurred on either Lake Maumelle or the Maumelle River. Which has 13 miles of Pipeline and crosses over these locations at 3 places.

Exxon said in a statement about the break:

“The air quality does not likely present a human health risk, with the exception of the high pooling areas, where clean-up crews are working with safety equipment.”  They also said, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency categorized the rupture as a “major spill,” 22 homes were evacuated following the incident.

The Huffington Post Reported:

The U.S. Department of Transportation earlier this week proposed a fine of 1.7 million for Exxon over pipeline safety violations relating to a 2011 oil spill in the Yellowstone River. Exxon’s Silvertip pipeline, which carries 40,000 barrels per day of crude in Montana, leaked about 1,500 barrels of oil into the river in July 2011 after heavy flooding in the area.

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound off Alaska and spilled 250,000 barrels of crude oil.

Jordan is the Spiritual editor for Before its News, Follow him on Twitter: @B4INSpirit and Facebook Like Before it’s News Spirit on Facebook