Case studies of runaway and undetected leaks are common due to the current lack of accurate and effective leak detection and containment systems on the market. Most pipeline fluid releases are smaller in nature, whereas larger blowout style pipeline releases are less common. What is indicative of the vast majority of pipeline fluid releases in North America, is that fluid may go undetected for extended periods of time. This is because many pipeline operators may be unable to detect small leaks of between 1-4% of the total volume flow. In some cases, due to operator error or technological limitations, larger blow out leaks have also gone undetected for lengthy periods of time.

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The 2010 spill of 840,000 gallons of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River and the 2013 pipeline rupture discovered by a farmer harvesting his wheat fields in North Dakota are just a couple examples of this.  

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The context for this presently available technology is one of urgency, as oil spills continue to regularly occur from both brand new as well as existing and deteriorating pipeline infrastructure. These are evidenced by the 2015 northern Alberta spill which leaked for several weeks, contaminating the environment with 5 million liters of emulsion.  Another example of this is the January 2017 Stoughton Saskatchewan leak, where 200 000 liters of oil spilled in a large pipeline breach. As these examples have shown, pipeline operators have had obvious difficulty detecting addressing spills in which vast amounts of oil have been released into the environment.

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Adding to this current urgency is the fact that the US Federal Government has signed executive actions to move forward on both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. Simultaneously the Canadian government has also approved the Kinder Morgan and Line 3 pipelines, creating a North American context where the importance of discussing oil spill prevention technologies is unequivocal and of interest to everyone.

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Installing more of the same ineffective monitoring and analysis equipment is not the answer. With just over half of U.S. pipelines having been installed prior to 1970, the question is not whether or not pipelines will rupture or leak. It is a question of when they will leak, and what the magnitude of the consequences will be. Podium Energy focuses on how we can effectively prevent those leaks from occurring in the first place, so that they are never exposed to the environment.

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The Earthsafe Pipeline technology is the only commercially available technology which can prevent such oil spills from occurring in the first place. As Podium’s technology is a spill prevention system, had it been used in conjunction with conventional pipeline technology, none of the previous environmental disasters would have occurred.