Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Jessica Brown, chapter leader of Northwest Arkansas Water Guardians, leads a group of protestors up Dickson Street Saturday, Dec. 10. The organization hopes to raise awareness for and stop the Diamond Pipeline, which is set to be constructed from Cushing, Okla. through Arkansas to Memphis, Tenn. in 2017.
A crowd of more than 50 people gathered in downtown Fayetteville to protest the construction of a $900 million crude oil pipeline that will go from Cushing Okla. through Arkansas to Memphis, Tenn. Saturday, Dec. 10.
The group, Arkansas Water Guardians, are a grass roots organization that formed in opposition to the Texas-based company Plains All American LP Diamond Pipeline, which started construction in late 2016. Through outreach, awareness and direct legal action, the group aims to stop the pipeline.
Chanting phrases such as “water is life” and “shut this pipeline down”, the crowd moved up and down Dickson Street from the Walton Arts Center parking lot to the Washington County Courthouse from noon to after sundown Saturday evening.
The underground Diamond Pipeline will provide the Valero Memphis Refinery with crude oil from Cushing, Okla., in an effort to enhance the refinery’s “long-term viability for the production of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the greater Memphis and eastern Arkansas area,” according to the Plains All American website.
The Arkansas Water Guardians’ main concerns are the safety, health and environmental issues a crude oil pipeline could cause across the 13 Arkansas rivers and nine watersheds its route spans.
Courtesy Photo
This map from Plains All American shows the planned construction path for the Diamond Pipeline that will go from Cushing, Okla. to Memphis, Tenn. The official map omits Arkansas rivers. The pipeline will cross as many as five Arkansas rivers.
“It would be nice if all these big oil companies would stop enforcing fossil fuels and look at green alternatives,” said Jessica Brown, a Northwest Arkansas Water Guardian chapter leader. “(Green energy initiatives) are being suppressed by the oil companies on purpose. It’d be awesome if Arkansas invested in solar panels and windmills instead of fracking in the Natural State.”
The pipeline will bring about 1,500 jobs during construction, and once finished according to plan in 2017, an estimated 15 jobs will remain permanent. Once operational, 220,000 barrels of sweet crude oil will be transported per day from Cushing to Valero’s 195,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Memphis.
The pipeline was first announced in 2014.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers approved the plans for the pipeline to cross the five major rivers in Arkansas in August. A few weeks later, Arkansas Public Service Commission Administrative Law Judge Susan D’Auteuil approved the pipeline on Aug. 31 for having met all the statutory requirements to build across five waterways in the state.
The pipeline will cross the Arkansas River in Franklin County, the Illinois Bayou in Pope County, the White River in Prairie County, the Saint Francis River in Arkansas County, and the Mississippi River in Crittenden County.
Staff Photo Nick Brothers
A crowd of about 50 people gathered at the Walton Arts Center parking lot to hold a group prayer for the Arkansas Water Guardian cause to stop the construction of the Diamond Pipeline, Saturday, Dec. 10.
During the Public Service Commission proceedings, Diamond Pipeline company engineer Stephen Lee said the pipeline would not pose a “public safety threat” or contaminate the water supply. The pipeline will exceed the United States Department of Transportation pipeline standards and will include a number of safety elements, including 24-hour surveillance by personnel, according to Diamond Pipeline officials.
Plains All American has had 11 crude oil spills between June 2004 and September 2007 in 5 states. More than 273,000 gallons of crude oil was spilled in 3 years, according to the EPA and the US Justice Department.
Since 2006, the oil company and its subsidiaries have reported 223 accidents along their pipelines, resulting in 864,300 gallons of spilled hazardous liquids. The incidents led to 25 federal enforcement actions and $32 million in charges, according to reporting by the Associated Press.
In May 2015, Plains All American and one its employees were indicted on 46 counts for a pipeline rupture on a beach near Santa Barbara, Calif. About 3,400 gallons of oil were spilled, which caused a months-long cleanup effort by federal, state and local officials that cost millions.
Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Protesters with the Arkansas Water Guardians stand outside the Walton Arts Center while chanting “water is life” and “shut this pipeline down”.
“There is no safe pipeline,” Brown said. “(Plains All American) have a horrible track record. Their pipelines have burst in other states. The pipes they’re using are the same pipes that burst (in Santa Barbara, Calif.) two years ago on the beach, and they’re still trying to clean that up.”
A.K. Blake said he supported the cause of the Arkansas Water Guardians because he wanted to raise awareness to Arkansans about the potential issues of the pipeline and push for renewable energy resources. During the protest, he held a sign that read “We can do much better.”
“Pipelines break all the time,” he said. “It’s a bad idea. There’s a pressing inevitability of a spill, especially with frequent earthquakes happening due to fracking in Cushing. We need to get big money out of oil. There’s money to be made in other resources.”
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2015 showed there is a correlation between fracking — injecting of liquid at high-pressure into the ground for oil and gas drilling — and earthquakes. Fracking is a common in Cushing, where a 5.0 magnitude earthquake shook the town and caused structural damage to buildings in September. Fayetteville felt the edge of it and the aftershock.
Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Before heading out on the protest trail from the Walton Arts Center to the Washington County Courthouse on Dickson Street, a few Arkansas Water Guardian protesters brandish their signs calling for stopping the Diamond Pipeline.
In 2013, a crude oil pipeline ruptured near Mayflower, Ark. — about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock — releasing 3,190 barrels of oil and causing $5 million in damages from ExxonMobil. The oil company admitted no fault in the incident. Saturday’s protesters look to that incident as precedent to what could happen with the Diamond Pipeline.
To learn more about the Diamond Pipeline, visit http://www.diamondpipelinellc.com/. To learn more about the Arkansas Water Guardians, visit http://arwaterguardians.org/
