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NEW PHOTOS: Exxon pipeline oil spill in Arkansas

by Cassady Craighill

April 2, 2013

A worker carries used absorbent material after attempting to pick up oil April 1, 2013 near Mayflower, Arkansas. Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut down March 29, 2013 after a leak was discovered late in the afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower, Arkansas. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes. Exxon had no specific estimate of how much crude oil had spilled, but the company said 12,000 barrels of oil and water had been recovered. The company did not say how much of the total was oil and how much was water. Greenpeace Photo by Karen E. Segrave

©Karen E. Segrave/Greenpeace

A worker carries used absorbent material after attempting to pick up oil from Exxon pipeline spill near Mayflower, Arkansas.

Nearly 12,000 barrels of crude oil spilled out of Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline into a Mayflower, Arkansas neighborhood causing the evacuation of 22 homes last Friday. The pipeline originates in Patoka, Illinois, and carries crude oil to the Texas Gulf Coast from Western Canada.

President Obama and the State Department can learn an important lesson from this 12,000-barrel pipeline leak. The TransCanada Keystone pipeline is not a ticket to an energy-independent future, but rather a certain oil spill we cannot afford.

Despite what oil companies like Exxon want you to believe, oil pipelines leak. Its what they do. Whats happening in Arkansas right now could be the future for communities from North Dakota to Texas if President Obama approves the Keystone XL pipeline. Theres a reason its called dirty energy, and its time we put it behind us. Lets stop the spills and move forward with clean energy now, said Greenpeace US Executive Director Phil Radford.

We can’t afford to continue giving new oil projects the green light. Take action and sayNo to KeystoneandNo to Arctic drilling.

Oil booms are visible April 1, 2013 in the water alongside a road near Interstate 40 near Mayflower, Arkansas.

Take action now and sayNo to KeystoneandNo to Arctic drilling.

See more photos of Exxon oil spills.

Cassady Craighill

By Cassady Craighill

Cassady is a media officer for Greenpeace USA based on the East Coast. She covers climate change and energy, particularly how both issues relate to the Trump administration.

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