Can anyone say "Keystone Pipeline"?

As the Koch brothers continue to bribe, excuse me, "lobby" congress into the approval of their massive pipeline that will carry their crude oil from Canada to Texas, another oil spill has occurred off the coast of California. This pristine piece of prime coastal real estate is known as the "California Gold Coast" and it represents a lot to the area along the Santa Barbara coastline.

The pipeline that is owned by the "Plains All American Oil Company", burst and spilled an estimated 105,000 gallons and counting, of crude oil along a 4 mile stretch of Refugio State Beach. Plains All American has been repeatedly fined by the EPA for previous mishaps and inadequate care of their pipelines along the California coast.

Plains All American has been fined by the EPA for 10 crude oil spills between June 2003 and September 2007 in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas as well as California which resulted in a $3.25 million dollar civil penalty in 2010. In 2010, Plains All American had agreed to spend $ 41 million dollars to upgrade 10,420 miles of its pipeline which would resolve its Clean Water Act violations.

Since 2006, Plains All American has been slapped with 170 violations of safety and maintenance codes. When analyzed, these code violations rate of incident per mile of pipe is three times the national average, yet because of Americans addiction to oil, they are allowed to continue their destruction of the environment which really equates to a slap on the wrist when compared to the revenue generated by these pipelines.

Refugio Beach, which is off the coast of Santa Barbara just north of Los Angeles is the home to rare seabirds, sea lions, whales, dolphins, and other sea mammals. It is also home to two state Marine Protected Areas that safeguard sea life. This spill has resulted in an oil slick that covers 9 square miles of water near the shore and affects every plant and animal that resides in the area.

Plains All American will possibly be fined $ 500,000 to $ 2 million dollars for this spill and based on the amount of money that this company makes from the shipment of crude oil through its pipeline, this is a drop in the bucket.

As Americans, we all know and experience everyday, the importance of oil as one of the propellants  in our economy but what amazes Mad Man, is that these oil companies continue to pinch pennies when it comes to using top quality materials and practice crucial maintenance procedures in the construction and care of their pipelines.

As the Koch brothers continue to push for their Keystone pipeline that will travel across America, with the promise of jobs, that will not materialize, and support from the GOP majority in government, let's hope that the EPA will have a strong position as to how this pipeline is built and maintained. Oh, Mad Man forgets, due to budget cuts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a mere shell of what it used to be and cannot force these oil companies to do anything until after they screw up the environment just like they did in Louisiana and now Santa Barbara, California.

Mad Man