hear that whistle blowing, transCanada?

breaking! breaking!

evan vokes, a whistle blower, who was also an engineer at transCanada, has the National Energy Board of canada up transCanada's arse!

vokes tried every approach he could through the company's chain of command, using transCanada protocol. he climbed all the way up the ladder wagging his precautionary tail, all the way to ceo russ girling's office, and after having his concerns for safety in regards to his company's pipelines being brushed off by the company he worked for, and being severly distressed at their ambivalence, he went on "stress" leave in november of 2011. vokes took his leave for health related issues in regards to his concern for what he had witnessed first hand on the job. by the end of march, he finally met with canada's National Energy Board, to discuss the list of infractions and concerns, he had in regards to transCanada's practices on their pipelines, and on may 1st, voke's filed the official papework as a complainant with the NEB. on may 8th, vokes was relieved of his position as an engineer for transCanada, when he was summarily fired. this and worse is often the fate of those who have the strength to step forward into the role of truthsayer. 

vokes stressed to the NEB that the welding and inspection practices on transCanada's pipeline projects were not up to NEB standards, and he felt that the issue of public safety was critical enough to warrant taking his complaint to them. the NEB started an investigation of transCanada. in June, they met with transcanada and recieved internal audit papers surrounding the allegations. NEB released a public letter to transCanada on October 11th. in the letter, they came to the conclusion "many of the allegations of regulatory non-compliance identified by the complainant {evan vokes] were verified by transCanada’s internal audit." they also stated, that, while the public was not in immediate danger, they were "concerned with transCanada's non-compliance with NEB regulations, as well as its own internal management systems and procedures."

in an email to CBC news (who broke this story with evan vokes on the 17th) transCanada, stated, "we are confident that any remaining concerns the regulator has about compliance and pipeline safety will be unwarranted." however, within 24 hours, transCanda shut down its 2,100-mile keystone pipeline that pumps 500,000 barrels of crude daily through the u.s. according to jeannie layson of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which oversees pipelines in the u.s., this shut down was due to "possible problems located on the stretch of pipeline that runs through missouri and illinois," she offered, "transCanada reported they have shut down their existing Keystone system pipeline to make repairs in areas where required integrity tests identified possible safety issues," but was unaware of what those issues might be. a federal PHMSA inspector has been deployed to oversee the situation.

while transCanada officials are playing the shutdown off as a 'precautionary' measure, they have stated the pipeline will be shut down until saturday. grady semmens, spokesman for calgary-based transCanada stated they had "found a small anomaly on the outside of the pipe after analyzing the data from an in-line inspection tool," and they "will be doing excavation work to expose the pipeline" so they can "investigate the feature that was identified by the in-line inspection." i'm not an engineer, but it seems strange to me that semmens and transCanada can be talking about finding a "small anomoly" on the outside of a pipe through an in-line test before that pipe is uncovered for visual inspection ... i can only wonder if this shut down event is not directly related to transCanadaian jitters in relation to the ongoing NEB investigation of their company.

regardless, the whole bruhaha is a boon in the effort to thwart the completion of the XL pipeline here in the united states.  transcanada divided the project into two parts, in a gambit to be able to push their beloved project through. supposedly, the southern portion is a much-needed upgrade, to alleviate some bottle-necking of crude that already rolls through the established keystone pipelines which is currently in complete shut down mode, two short years after going into operation in the u.s. this recent development is a boon for resistance to the XL pipeline, because the EPA trumps the army corps of engineers, and it can, or could, still throw a monkey wrench at the pipeline ... especially if further investiagtion by the NEB proves a warranted distrust of transCanada's practices. the department of state still has its final say on the project's go-ahead sometime during the first quarter of 2013 -once they are done "assessing the environmental impact" of transCanada's revised (second applicationl) which, ironically enough, was put forward to the state department three short days after vokes filed his grievance against the company's shoddy practice in canada.

the time for public hearings is long since past in the united states, as usual, the public was not aware of the deep environmental and public health issues surrounding the XL project during the period for open comments from citizens at the department of state. well, the nebraskans were on top of it, the agricultural heartland loves their land and water, and needs it to be healthy in order to raise healthy meat and vegetables for the rest of the nation. they managed to force transCanada back to the drawing table with very little professional organizing, to hammer out their second application. they deserve kudos for their motivation in protecting their farmlands. transCanada has also met with a concerted resistance by the landowners, and activisits who have joined them, at the staging ground of the project in winnsboro, texas. transCanada began construction on this southern portion after recieving the final necessary permit from the u.s. army corps of engineers. we have all heard "united we stand, divided we fall"? perhaps transCanada's gambit to divide the project so they could plow ahead, laying their pipeline in the south while sewing up the bureaucratic process on the northern leg will backfire? 

it is a matter of the public standing in support of resistance, and joining in the dissent. if we care more about the future and our children's future, and the health of the enviroment and the quality of our own lives, we can make enough noise to fight back public apathy. the support on file at transCanada for the project is chock full of the numbing refrain, "more jobs! more money!" and the old rhetoric, of jobs, economic growth, independence from foreign oil, etc., etc. is transCanada's propaganda, erm, excuse me, public awareness campaign as well.  the truth, in fact, is the tar sand crude, piped all the way from canada to the gulf coast will be shipped off shore, while we in the united states are left holding a bag of dirty tricks that transcanada sold us during an economically depressed time,  the enbridge disaster which dumped a million gallons of a tar sand crude into the kalamazoo river two years ago, is still in deep disrepair ... and the gulf is still weeping oil from the BP disaster, and the health of the communities there might never recover.  so the possible price of our bill of sale is just not worth these desperate extraction processes.  if the general public can be made aware of the environmental and health risks we as are taking as a nation in order to bring this highly toxic slurry of chemicals and tar sand crude through thousands of miles of pipe, along a swath that cuts from our northern border to the gulf of mexico, to refine and then ship to china for a canadian corporation, we just might be able to end the debacle ... with transCanada's house of cards in shambles.