Emergency Response & Clean Up Challenges
Cleaning up a tar sand spill poses special challenges since Dilbit is heavier than water. The heavier components of Dilbit, due to the raw bitumen, will sink.
Therefore, a spill may require more dredging than a conventional oil spill.[1]
Sunlight causes the bitumen crude to form a dense, sticky tar substance which is hard to remove.[2]
In the State Department’s analysis of the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Keystone XL, the agency admitted that it cannot fully analyze the chemical transported since the Dilbit make-up is considered to be proprietary information. As a result, the EPA has stated that it cannot fully determine the full spill impacts that tar sand crude would have on groundwater.
1.^The Northern Great Plains at Risk: Oil Spill Planning Deficiencies in Keystone Pipeline System, Plains Justice, 2010, p. 7, http://plainsjustice.org/files/Keystone_XL/Keystone%20Pipeline%20Oil%20Spill%20Response%20Planning%20Report%202010-11-23%20FINAL.pdf
2.^Understanding Oil Spills and Oil Spill Response, Environmental Protection Agency, 2009, Chapter 2: Mechanical Containment and Recovery of Oil Following a Spill, http://www.epa.gov/oem/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap2.pdf
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