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Sources: TransCanada Digging up Two More Sections of Keystone Pipeline South of April Leak

Two more Hutchinson County landowners may be getting uninvited guests from Canada… TransCanada.

According to two sources, TransCanada plans to begin excavating two more sections of of its Keystone pipeline in Hutchinson County south of the site of the Menno/Freeman leak that a local landowner discovered on April 2. No new leaks have been reported, but my sources say TransCanada has contacted South Dakota One Call, flagged two sites, and plans to start excavating today* in the general vicinity of Keystone Pipeline mile markers 414 and 418. The property owners affected are Lee Herrboldt and Munkvoldt Land and Cattle. According to sources, TransCanada officials have told Herrboldt not to plant in the area, since they are coming to dig.

Two sources say that TransCanada is digging up two more sections of its Keystone Pipeline in Hutchinson County today.
Two sources say that TransCanada is digging up two more sections of its Keystone Pipeline in Hutchinson County today.

My sources say TransCanada has not given landowners information on why these digs are taking place. My sources are working to gather more information.

Maybe our legislators should be directing their transphobia at TransCanada, not transgender kids.

*Update 09:06 CDT: an intrepid DFP stringer has heard that digging will actually commence tomorrow. I await photographic evidence from the Keystone route south of the Menno leak.

16 Comments

  1. Good Sense 2016-05-09 07:44

    Just wondering why the sources were not named. Do they want to keep it a secret that they are leaking information?

    If this is happening near Freeman, I would think the whistle-blowers would be right up front telling everyone about it.

  2. mike from iowa 2016-05-09 08:00

    Transgender kids don’t put campaign cash in Transphobics pockets like TransCan can. Still no official word, I presume, from de guvnah?

  3. Paul Seamans 2016-05-09 08:17

    During last summers PUC hearing for certifying the Keystone XL permit whistleblower Evan Vokes warned of poor workmanship by TransCanada. The PUC commissioners didn’t pay Evan much heed. Evan has been vindicated. The PUC commission made a bad decision by certifying the Keystone XL permit.

  4. mike from iowa 2016-05-09 08:49

    Too bad South Dakota libs don’t have a Siberia to ship malcontents(gubmint officials) to, But then you’d need an entirely new gubmint,wouldn’t you? Well shucky darn!

  5. Good Sense 2016-05-09 08:53

    “””Transgender kids don’t put campaign cash in Transphobics pockets like TransCan can.”””

    Mike, are you saying (accusing) government peeps of receiving bribes/payouts/kickbacks/whatever from TransCanada?

  6. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-05-09 09:05

    Irony: a pseudonymous commenter questions confidential sources.

  7. mike from iowa 2016-05-09 10:02

    Campaign contributions are bribery-legalized as free speech by an activist Scotus. Pols don’t receive millions in contributions because of their looks,do they?

  8. Good Sense 2016-05-09 10:51

    Kinda like grudznick and bearcreekbat? If they didn’t want their names revealed, the standard
    “sources who wish to remain anonymous” would suffice.

    Anyway, my little posts in this forum don’t effect anything in the real world, while these ‘unnamed sources’ could cause significant damage to companies and/or individuals no matter what side of the issue they support.

  9. Good Sense 2016-05-09 10:53

    Hey mike, if Angelina Jolie were running for office, I might contribute just because of her looks. LOL

  10. Lorri May 2016-05-09 11:17

    Now who on Earth (or at least South Dakota) could have guessed that there’d be leaks in the pipeline? *insert 8th grade eye roll here, since they know how to do it the best!*

    BTW, mike from iowa, I don’t always agree with your posts, but I sure enjoy reading them!

    And Cory, the irony does hit the fan, doesn’t it? That’s why I use my real name. “They” may not agree, but at least “they” know with whom “they’re” disagreeing!

  11. Paul Seamans 2016-05-09 11:23

    Good sense, PHMSA has ordered TransCanada to come up with a plan in the next four months about how they will go about checking transition welds, similar to the welds that caused the Freeman spill, between the Freeman pump station and the Hartington NE station to the south. Probably a distance of 50 miles. I would tend to believe Cory’s sources.

    You need not worry about these reports damaging TransCanada’s reputation any further. TransCanada is quite adept at putting whatever spin they need on this story. They will claim that this will help them in their goal to build the safest pipelines in the world.

  12. Douglas Wiken 2016-05-09 11:39

    There must be sensors which can detect the smell of solvents or chemical signature and tar around the pipeline if it leaks at a weld. Every weld should have a sensor or sensors wired into the monitoring system sending location and type of leak.

  13. mike from iowa 2016-05-09 11:42

    “sources who wish to remain anonymous” would suffice. Kinda answered your own query,huh? Always suspected anon sources stayed anon to prevent retaliation. Whistle-blowers aren’t the most popular people around and protections for them aren’t always adequate.

    We really should be grateful for the “Deepthroats” of the world. Having said that there are always anon sources who wish to impugn reputations with scurrilous chatter they know is untrue. Caution is the word of the day.

  14. mike from iowa 2016-05-09 11:52

    Just figured this out-Transcan, at the behest of DC wingnuts Gowdy and Issa, are digging up places that may contain HRC’s flip-flop votes on Keystone. The election is closing in and we know who is feeling the desperation of another 8 years of a Dem in the WH. More wasted taxpayers dollars. BTW- Hil defines Drumpf as the presumptious candidate.(thanks to Deb G for that tidbit)

  15. leslie 2016-05-11 01:05

    let’s make sure we have a strong technical democratic candidate for PUC. It pays $100K.

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