Investigative reporter Greg Palast. (photo: Greg Palast's Website)
The Pig That Burst the Keystone Pipeline
By Greg Palast, Greg Palast's Website
19 November 17
Yesterday, the Keystone pipeline cracked and dumped 210,000 gallons of oil
onto the South Dakota prairie.
Here's the reason the pipeline burst: the PIG didn't squeal. The PIG, the
Pipeline Inspection Gauge, is sent through the Keystone to check for
evidence of any leak, failure, or corrosion that will cause it to burst. But
the PIG didn't squeal a warning. Why not?
Because, as disclosed in my investigation for Britain's investigative TV
series Dispatches in 2010, the PIG has been silenced, its software jacked
and hacked by a company that provides PIGS. The software is deliberately set
to reduce the warning signals and thereby cut costs of replacement and
repair by billions of dollars on the Keystone and other pipes.
We warned you. In the Dispatches report, in our print reports, and in the
"The Pig in the Pipeline", a chapter in Vultures Picnic.
No oil or gas pipeline should ever leak, burst or explode if the PIG is
working as it should. Absent of sabotage, pipelines don't just suddenly
crack and break. The signs of thinning of the walls, small warning leaks,
corrosion, failing gauges, should all provoke the PIG to squeal.
(Technically, the issue is the software that analyzes the billions of data
points transmitted by the PIG, which looks like.well, a pig. as it travels
through the pipe.)
We have obtained independent confirmation from three software engineers who
designed the PIG "warning" system.
e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
