EXCHANGE : BORDERS
EXCHANGE : PROTOCOL
EXCHANGE : MARKETS investor:
Emergency Operations Center
Oil Control Center
state boundary relative amount of tax revenue % private land use
Satellite
21,000 fitted along Keystone XL Pipeline
Receives information via pipeline-transmitter and relays communications
Each state is in charge of its own response to the physical and fiscal reality of the pipeline. Though most of the line runs through private property, states have negotiated tax rates with TransCanada for construction. Revenues are only a small portion of the project budget.
Canada Keystone XL Pipeline
Calgary
Gillette
Fullterton, NE
Keystone XL pumping station aro un d
U. S.
split estate property
highway border
1/2 Mile Evacuation Zone
Transmitter
Keystone TransCanada inve sto rs f rom
Local
national boundary: presidential permission required allows democratic forum of opinion
[NATIONAL / STATE] The fact that the Keystone XL route crosses into the United States brings it under jurisdiction of the presidential permit review process. This has allowed time for the project to be publicly debated, and for interest groups to influence the decision through protests and lobbying.
84,299
5,866,234 people in Keyston XL affected counties
EXCHANGE : KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE
Operations Control Center
Regional
Loup River
[LANDSCAPE] The pipeline is a physical, liquid medium that will extend a subterranean presence throughout its entire course. Though it will eventually be buried, its construction is a significant interruption to the landscape of the Midwest, and its future presence will be one of potential ecological disaster. As it crosses this landscape, the pipeline also interrupts the land and minds of more than 5 million U.S. citizens living along the route. The pipeline will force its way through diverse ecologies, materials, and beliefs as it seeks the path of least resistance from Canada to the Gulf refineries.
TransCanada’s Keystone XL project aims to deliver petroleum mined from Canadian tar sands to the foreign-trade zones in Texas. This incredible infrastructure which transects the United States involves exchanges on many levels, but whether these transactions are equivalent transfers remains unclear. TransCanada has a permit for eminent domain, and has financial support from investors all over the United States and Canada. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline though, presents other questions. The pipeline crosses across territories of different geologies, political boundaries, taxation laws, regulations and climates, which makes it evident that this pipeline is not just a steel cylinder extruded underground, but a manifestation of economic incentives, responsibilities, protocols, loopholes and exemptions in exchange for oil.
Continental
TRANSACTION
268,350
INTERRUPTION
Loup River Crossing
oad Railr
Exchange [iks-cheynj] Verb. 1. to give up (something) for something else; part with for some equivalent; change for another. 2. to replace (returned merchandise) with an equivalent or something else 3. to give and receive reciprocally; interchange: to exchange blows; to exchange gifts. 4. to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; to exchange goods with foreign countries. 5. Chess. to capture (an enemy piece) in return for a capture by the opponent generally of pieces of equal value.
non split estate
river border
city proximity border
Highway 22
state line
Emergency
a
nd da na Ca
Valero Corporation
United States 500 ft construction corridor
Tortoise Investment Management HQ Royal Bank of Canada
Omaha
Hardisty
Toronto-Dominion Bank
MACRO: TransCanada Emergency Response Network MESO: Inland Pipeline Emergency Response Protocol
Calgary
CIBC World Markets Great-West Life Assurance Company McLean Budden
river-pumping station condition vulnerable to leaks spreading
Baker
CIBC Global Asset MAnagement
1830 ppl
5 miles
SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS
24 Hrs Time after Detection
Manufacturers Life Insurance Company
MICRO: Locality
First minutes
6 Hours
30 Hours
54 Hours
> 96 Hours
Intact Investment MAnagement Scotia Asset Management
2009 : before
Steele City
2010 : during construction
2013 : after
725 ppl 2 mi
Patoka
Guardian Capital
5 pumping stations
Wood River
Norges Bank Investment Management
road-city condition vulnerable to road vibration city proximity adds sensitivity
border : 27 roads border : 85 cities, sized to population
Cushing
Franklin Markets
proposed XL pipeline
Greystone Managed Investment Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec QS Investors
75 %
Houston ba ck to U.S ., Ca
Motiva Phillips 66
or 25% exp
STAGE 4
STAGE 5
border : farmland
Dectection and Notification
Initial Response
Emergency Site Management
Disposal and Remediation
Return-to-Operation, Monitoring
Employee discovers a sharp drop in pressure in a section of the pipeline through a remote monitoring system within a local mobile Oil Control Center. The System continues to alert operators and warns of an emergency. Within 12 minutes, valves are closed and an emergency response team is deployed.
First TransCanada emergency response team verify emergency exists. Personal protective measures are taken before securing the site. Local emergency agencies are contacted. The Oil Control Center is notified and all possible sources of ignition in the vicinity of the spill are eliminated. Source of leakage/spill are determined and team begins to isolate/ minimize loss of product. Access to spill site restricted except for emergency services. All other notifications are performed. Regional Emergency operation center activates response contractors as situation requires.
Pipeline is shut down. Close upsteam and downstream block valves. Continuing efforts are coordinated by the Incident Commander. Combined effort between company personnel, local emergency agencies and response contractors focus on mitigating discharge. Efforts conducted with land-based strategies such as Earthen berms and ditching and also water-based strategies by using booms and spreading sorbent over the spill. Environmentally sensitive areas are identified & protective actions are taken.
Vacuum truck arrives to begin draining,. Response contractors called in to take air samples. Actions taken to begin recovery of environmentally sensitive areas.
All necessary repairs are made to restore the pipeline to operation. A complete follow-up and written report is made.
VULNERABILITY
INTRUSION [PERSONALPROPERTY] The pipeline’s most contentious and perhaps most intrusive border is the one it has with each landowner in its path. All points and lines of intersection exist in real space, and must interrupt someone’s land. For farmers, this can mean loss of crops during construction and potentially in the future. In this property north of the Steele City pumping station, which has a portion of the existing Keystone pipeline underneath it, effects of the pipeline on the land can still be seen 3 years after construction. Many farmers have no way to prevent this, since in many cases the mineral rights below their land are owned by federal
1910
STAGE 3
ted
LyondellBasell
1900
STAGE 2
border : Sand Hills
Total
refinery companies
STAGE 1
Port Arthur Valero
nada
border : 21 rivers
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
governments. This split estate creates another border, one that results in the most visible physical effects. Here, the pipline is not a simple point intersection, or a 36” wide trench. It extends along the length of some farmers’ properties, and because of construction requires several feet of initial destruction. The overall exchange at this scale of the pipeline border is use of land for at most, a one-time easement payment to the property owner. Its debate encompasses a wide range of opinions from across the nation, but its actual border would have a real physical impact on the entire landscape and population it touches.
1970
[COUNTY - NEBRASKA] The Keystone XL has been hotly debated in recent weeks since the publishing of the FEIS that stated the pipeline poses no dangerous threat to the U.S. Though it has become a national issue, the center of debate has been in Nebraska where 115 farmers are resisting the easements that TransCanada has asked for. The farmers are being offered generous sums up front in exchange for what is an unclear future. For them the pipeline is a tangible future, crossing the roads, rivers, and property lines they have known for years.
In Nebraska alone, the pipeline crosses 21 rivers and streams, several roads and highways, and a few dozen cities. The border of the pipeline with the land around it at this scale shows the detail of how it will exist as a physical entity throughout the U.S. It will have to go under hundreds of rivers and streams, each one an extremely sensitive site if the pipeline should spill. Each road intersection will cause delays due to construction. While it is under construction, the cities will get an influx of commerce and revenue from the workers of the project.
The pipeline intersects with 12 counties in Nebraska, and will affect their 84,299 people most directly. A majority of the route goes through private farmland, and a portion of it runs very close to the unique land form of the Sand Hills.
The pipeline will only remain visible at the five pumping stations along its route in Nebraska. What happens when this border is all closed up?
1980
1990
PRIVATE GOLF LAND OCCUPIED BY OIL INDUSTRY
EXCHANGE : LAND USE
Temporary right-of-way markers
LARGE SCALE OF MAN CAMP IN NORTH DAKOTA
Williston
Pipelines markers
TRANSCANADA OWNED RESPONSE EQUIPMENT 18.5 ft Response Boat x1 34 ft Equipment x1 River Boom (6”x6’) x1 Portable Dam 50 ft x1 500, 2000, 10000 gallon Portable Tank x1 ea. Bird Hazing Kit x1 Sorbent pads x5
2000
2010
In Case of Fire All Employees shall call 911. Pipeline right-of-ways are used by Firefighters as a fire break to isolate fires and prevent them from growing in size. Surrounding area is to be cleared to prevent fire leaping from tree to tree.
2020
2030
2040
2050
OIL SPILL DISASTER
ENERGY USE IN FUTURE Parlermo
Tioga
High way across ND
Street Construction Fencing
Workforce Camp
Major drilling wells in ND
EXTRALEGAL FRAME Pipeline Right-of-Way A strip of land over and around natural gas pipelines where some of the property owner’s legal rights have been granted to a pipeline operator. A right-of-way agreement between the pipeline company and the property owner is also called an easement and is usually filed in the county Register & Recorders Office with property deeds. Rights-of-ways and easements provide a permanent, limited interest in the land that enables the pipeline company to install, operate, test, inspect, repair, maintain, replace, and protect one or more pipelines within the designated easement. The agreement may vary the rights and widths of the right-of-way, but generally, the pipeline company’s rights-of-way extend 25 feet from each side of a pipeline unless special conditions exist.
County or city area
THE STATE OF EMERGENCY 1944
1953
1989
2002
2013
Golf course
New golf course
Oil industry land
TRANSIENT NON-COMMUNITY
City land use
Ray
In calculating costs for the pipeline, one usually assumes a monetary expense is being calculated, however the construction of the pipeline infrastructure involves more than just steel, it also involves the systems of emergency protocols and agencies that would respond in the (likely) event of a pipeline emergency. TransCanada has already set up an existing set of emergency protocols for the existing keystone infrastructure, which respond to a fairly comprehensive list of possible emergencies including volcanic eruptions, bomb threats and even tornadoes. With pipelines criss-crossing across the North American continent, the vast expanse of geography and pipline infrastructure poses a huge logistic challenges in detecting malfunctions, maintaining pipeline pressure and responding to different climates, state laws and geological changes. Firstly, TransCanada divides the pipeline into a hiearchy of agencies designed to monitor the pipeline at the international, state/provincial and local municipal level. The head office has a state-of-the-art operations control center in Calgary which is also where the head office is located. Along the pipeline are 21,000 data transmitters that monitor the pipeline pressure and operating conditions. A secure satellite trasmits the updated data from the pipeline to control centers every five seconds. The regional offices handle the coordination of response contractors such as a Spill Management Team, Spill Reponse Contractor and the National Response Corporation. The Oil Control Center often coordinates the first personnel to respond to the emergency and form the first initial response. Regional offices are often located in large cities, hours away from the pipeline, which means the Oil Control Centers are relied upon to respond first. TransCanada is also required to contact local, state and federal agencies of the spill if the emergency exceeds a certain level, particularly if the spill or discharge occurs near a body of water. Immediate emergency evacuation of a 1/2 mile radius around the site may occur should the situation be deemed severe enough.
Ross
Stanley
The North Dakota winter is relentless. Yet that’s easy to forget that here, inside a network of steel mobile homes opened in 2011 in the state’s northwestern corner. This is Tioga Lodge, the sprawling barracks that are home to men at the heart of the North American oil fracking boom. The compounds are known as “crew-camps”, or more often, as “mancamps.” The negative influences in the man camps include sex trafficking, sexual assaults and prostitution and increased drug use.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BPoperated Macondo Prospect. It claimed eleven lives and is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. Numerous investigations explored the causes of the explosion and record-setting spill. Although the government takes action on emergency issues, there is still a long way to find sustainable and safe energy use.