This is how you shut down a pipeline

14 Comments on "This is how you shut down a pipeline"

paulo1 on Mon, 7th Dec 2015 5:28 pm 



Now, did they drive to the protest site? Are their tents made from hand grown cotton/canvas? I get their point, but when there is no oil to be had these folks will be begging for a little Alberta syn-crude to run their chainsaws to cut firewood to heat their herbal teas. It gets pretty freaking cold in Quebec. Just saying. Hypocrits. Just saying.

Now, pile on.

If they want to stop Alberta crude then stop burning FF in order to run your life.

dave thompson on Mon, 7th Dec 2015 6:41 pm 



Very true Paulo, I would only add, to bad all of us privileged protesters will never be ready for what is coming.

dubya on Mon, 7th Dec 2015 9:24 pm 



So, Paulo; since society tore up the tram tracks, eliminated the spur lines, built the freeway system, mandated specific building heating & cooling, offshored all industrial production – all of which have put us deeper into fossil fuel dependency – the only people who are allowed to acknowledge this structural dead end are those who have already managed to eliminate all fossil fuels from their life?

Would it not be reasonable to suggest to TPTB that perhaps a total dependency on an expendable resource is not such a bright idea?

And if this information is ignored by everyone with any power to implement change for the past 50 years or so what, precisely is the correct way to “protest”? Ignore it and pretend everything is awesome? Retreat into the granola – powered doomstead & trust that you will be the last survivor of the 6 billion die-off?

Obviously there is no point, because nothing will ever change, and I suppose, because I used 200 L of fuel farming last year I have no right to suggest electrifying the railway that runs next to my house.

paulo1 on Mon, 7th Dec 2015 10:14 pm 



Tram lines should and will be rebuilt. Vancouver is expanding SkyTrain and apparently adding more bike lanes right now. The new Federal Lib Govt., whatever you think of them, apparently has plans to finance expanded transportation/transit options and necessary infrastucture. A great deal of this will be paid for with tax revenues from oil, and from future oil based earnings. I use oil, too. I try not to waste any fuel or use it indiscriminately. Nevertheless, I am grateful it exists as it makes our life very rich in many ways.

If you want my honest opinion, instead of symbolic protests, let’s support increased taxation in the form of a real carbon tax, with all derived revenues used for promoting other sources of more benign energy, or for reduction of energy used by all of us. Improvements to transit, and home retro-fits immediately come to mind. Let’s raise road taxes higher and impose a charge based on engine displacement at the time of re-insuring and/or purchase. let’s put a huge surcharge on air travel, and use collected revenues to re-train those workers who will lose their jobs as a result.

Perhaps some of these ideas will be workable after a few major North American cities are laid waste by weather events or rising sea levels.

Regards

Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Mon, 7th Dec 2015 11:33 pm 



Don’t like FF? Get the fuck off the road and out if the grocery store! Quebecers are mostly retards.

Davy on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 4:42 am 



It is a tough argument between Dubya and Paulo. Society has created fossil fuel dependency. This dependency has become all inclusive. Even the few isolated tribes or 3rd world subsistence farms are impacted. Fossil fuel dependency is kicking the subsistence farmers into the cities. Subsistence farms are exposed to the dangers of unsupported overpopulation in the 3rd world. There is no place on this earth that can escape overconsumption through fossil fuel dependency. We must add the system itself that consumes the fossil fuel is likewise a danger. They go hand in hand. We then must go one step further and include the ecosystem and climate that is being degraded and locally destroyed.

As a global society this is irreversible if we desire the status quo. Without the status quo we have at least 3BIL too many people that can be supported. The figure is likely much worse over time as the system quickly degrades. This leaves us no choice but to consume and make it through another day. We are on this train of doom and there is no getting off. I know many of you are like me get up in the morning and wonder what happened last night. One of these days we are going to get up and something will have started or have happened that ends the status quo.

We already have the decay process in motion but for the most part the system is holding. There is a minimum operating level though and we increasingly are falling towards that point. Fossil fuels are in a compression of supply and demand with constant depletion and other destructive dynamics. Climate continues to degrade and we are now learning quicker than expected with dangers of runaway carbon and methane feedbacks. Frankly is there anything that can be termed “bright” or “positive”. I don’t see it.

We are a time value species. Our value is derived from the immediate but we often live in the future with anxiety of meeting those immediate needs. Sometimes this is a concrete future event that causes immediacy of concern. Your job is going to be outsourced in 6 months as an example. Economic collapse, fossil fuel depletion, and abrupt climate change are not yet to the point of ending the status quo but there is an immediacy of concern. Where society is in denial and wrong is believing they are problems of the status quo that can be managed and fixed through the status quo. We cannot conceive of anything else at that level. No leader will come out and say the global system is going to crash.

If they did what should be done? If the POTUS came on TV and said within a few years our way of life will be unsupportable and millions will die of exposure and hunger I can assure you people would be all over that. That scenario is likely what is going to happen by circumstance so it is useful to ponder the what if’s. I wonder if a US president acknowledged a coming collapse would he have a crisis management team set up. What would they come up with? In reality the opposition would be all over him and this would be debated away into inaction.

I have been researching this now since 2000 when I began to see immediacy to peak oil, climate change, and economic inconsistencies. There are a few actions we can take to change the immediacy of collapse. These actions once taken would end the status quo. These actions would surely end unnecessary economic activity. Would crisis mode allow Disney World? This would end economies of scale as a consequence. It would introduce economic abandonment that can only be partially controlled. Decent with random decay will cause dysfunctions. Services will not work properly and products will not be available.

The likely other actions would be emergency management activities. We would have to manage crisis. People would likely be in need or in protest. This part of the equation sounds like a potential for martial law. Food, shelter, and security would somehow need to be managed against failures in these systems. I see no other choice than for the military to be on the streets at some point. Remember in the beginning of this process there would be status quo but once crisis management begins the status quo would decay. This decay will disenfranchise people in large numbers. People do not willingly die and lose their life.

I would say in this respect you would be wise to prepare yourself for just such a day because it is coming either by choice or forced on us. The timing is debatable. Crisis management by choice would likely allow for a long emergency which is critical in lowering pain and suffering. A forced crisis will be a crisis without adequate planning and preparation. Either way status quo is over. You can see yourself through the very beginning of a crisis allowing for some better choices. If a critical mass do this a community is stronger. You can prepare your attitude for what is ahead.

There is little any of us can do including the leadership for a significant amount of hardship and tragedy that comes with overshoot. Look to current failed states to get a taste of the worst. Not everywhere has to be so bad but many places will. Many places will have failed state issues nearby in place or potential. We are close to this let us at least discuss the academics of it.

Davy on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 5:28 am 



Here is a great article on economic decay and how populations cope. Greece is a good place to watch for innovative coping mechanism. Greece is decaying within a system that is stable. I say stable but you know what I mean. The EU is functioning at a much higher level than Greece. We may not be so lucky. Greece is suffering and coping. They may be gaining valuable time in crisis to adapt where other areas will be thrust into crisis with no time to cope. We should all be living a Greek experience.

We need more than just economic mechanisms to cope with decay. We are going to need food localization efforts. We can grow more food easily just by making this a priority activity. Instead of the usual leisure grow food it is as simple as that. In those areas that are in the crosshairs of climate change we need similar efforts regarding climate dangers. Coastal communities need to end poor development practices. Our shelters and work places could be made more resilient. The problem is without a crisis like Greece is in these actions will not occure.

“Weimar Greece – The Effects of a Currency Collapse”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/weimar-greece-the-effects-of-a-currency-collapse

“Several alternate systems for payment of goods and services have cropped up in Greece since 2010. One is TEM, which allows people to gain monetary credit on an internet site, which may then be used to pay others. Another system is the Athens Time Bank, which logs time units, allowing individuals to pay each other with their time. The services provided can be anything from language lessons to medical consultation. Other systems are popping up, as Greeks seek out any method of payment other than the euro, since they’re closed off from their own savings at the banks. As can be expected, barter is becoming more commonplace.”

rockman on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 6:07 am 



FYI – Shutting down one valve on a pipeline can lead to an explosion. Not at the site of the valve but further up or down the line at a control point. Pipelines are a complex system of pressure regulation. No way for me to tell what could or couldn’t happen in this case. But in my 40 years I’ve seen improperly shut valves on a pipeline cause two ruptures resulting in injuries, one near death and one death of a hand who hand an ice plug blown thru his chest. FYI: don’t ever stand in front of an open pig trap when a line is being tested. LOL. And that was done by folks who should have known how to do it properly.

And as far as I can tell nothing serious happened. Maybe it made them feel good. But I’m pretty sure most folks know about the oil sands, climate change, etc. so they didn’t add much to the conversation. And given how NG is probably managed in the process I doubt it reduced production 1 bbl.

But no one got hurt and nothing has changed so in the end it was really a non-event IMHO.

Revi on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 7:15 am 



Tar sands oil has a tendency to sink to the bottom of the water it gets into, unlike other kinds of oil that float on top. This makes for nasty cleanup problems. Hopefully it will become economically unviable due to the price. Why burn a bunch of natural gas to make it when that natgas could be used as fuel instead? I say leave that tar in the ground.

Revi on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 7:17 am 



I don’t think they should have blocked the pipeline, but I think this stuff has to go.

rockman on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 8:39 am 



Revi – Fair enough. But given that about 15% of the oil derived products you use (assuming you live in the USA) come from imported Canadian oil would you be willing to give up using that much of your daily consumption? And that also includes giving up 15% of all the goods you buy at the grocery store and elsewhere given that they are delivered by ICE vehicles. If so that’s great. Now all you have to do is convince the other 300+ million of your fellow citizens to do likewise.

Mike616 on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 12:17 pm 



So, Paulo, there’s no alternatives to the dirtiest least energy content oil fuel on the planet? Is that what you’re saying? You have no idea about any alternatives, that are now cheaper then regular oil, and 2X cheaper than tar sand oil.

you can’t think of anything?
You think we’ll be stuck on oil, for transportation forever?

Really?

Nothing comes to mind?

Mike616 on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 12:19 pm 



I’ll be “giving” up oil for transport for 3 vehicles, in 3 years. My family, with 3 cars, will never use oil again.

How? Must be Magic.

makati1 on Tue, 8th Dec 2015 8:34 pm 



Mike,”… there’s no alternatives to the dirtiest least energy content oil fuel on the planet…”

Bikes and feet. Horses cost too much to house and feed. Anything else will disappear with oil. And bikes will also as they wear out and cannot be repaired. Feet are forever.