Halt fossil fuel pipelines

Thank you for the article by Bill Knight (December 2016) about fossil fuel pipelines and their presence in Illinois. I need to stress that I am speaking as an independent activist in the story, not a representative of Illinois People’s Action. Currently, I am supporting efforts of Save Our Illinois Land (SOIL) to stop a northern Illinois pipeline. I have also written about Mississippi Stand in Iowa and organized donations for the water protectors at Standing Rock, N.D. All of these groups have Facebook pages where interested readers can get involved in these efforts.

Recently, the Army Corps of Engineers denied Energy Transfer Partners the right to drill under the Missouri River for its Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The encampment of 10,000 water protectors remain unconvinced their people and the water are out of danger. They continue to camp in 40-below-zero weather to make sure DAPL doesn’t resume its work. They are especially wary about what may unfold once Mr. Trump is sworn in.

Some reports dispute that the pipeline work in Illinois is complete and contend the river crossing under the Kaskaskia is still incomplete. This is good news.

Some people insist that working to prevent fossil fuel pipelines will cause suffering. This is a debatable conclusion. If we have the determination to figure out how to create just transitions from fossil fuels, strategies that do not ask workers in fossil fuel industries to absorb all the negatives of the transition, we have the creativity and heart to make the transitions possible.

My husband and I lived through the Grand Forks 500-year flood. Much of Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn., were destroyed by this very early climate change event. My husband and I participated with Grand Forks residents to tear out what was destroyed and rebuild.

It is time to transition with justice and kindness from a fossil fuel world

Sandra Lindberg, Bloomington

Additional Pipeline Updates

There have been 26 pipelines accidents in 15 states this year, according to news-media reports, killing four, injuring 28 and causing mass evacuations and untold amounts of property and environmental damage to areas including Will County and Wabash County in Illinois.

Since Community Word’s story was written last month, three other significant pipeline mishaps occurred:

• Nov. 29: A pipeline exploded in Platte County, Mo., burning an ethane/propane mixture. No injuries reported.
• Dec. 2: An equipment failure in a source-water pipeline led to a leak of more than 80,000 gallons of source water into Skull Creek in Bowman County, N.D.
• Dec. 5: More than 175,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into Ash Coulee Creek in Billings County, N.D., when a 6-inch pipeline leaked – the 10th such leak since 2011.

The Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit public-interest advocacy group promoting pipeline safety through education, recommends the following list of DON’Ts in case of a pipeline accident:

DO NOT

• Touch, breathe or make contact with leaking liquids;
• Start an engine of any kind;
• Strike matches or create a flame of any kind;
• Use a telephone or cell phone (these can ignite airborne gases);
• Turn on or off any electrical switches (these also can ignite airborne gases);
• Drive into a leak or vapor cloud area.