Podcast: lessons of the Colonial Pipeline disaster

In Episode 75 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines distorted reportage on the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline by Russian hackers. The disaster illustrates the urgent need for a crash conversion from fossil fuels—but also from digital technology. Signs of hope are seen in the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, the recent indigenous-led protests against the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota, and the gas bill strike launched by Brooklyn residents to oppose the North Brooklyn Pipeline that would cut through their neighborhoods. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Colonial Pipeline leak underestimated: report

An August 2020 rupture on the Colonial Pipeline at Oehler Nature Preserve in Noth Carolina, is now believed to have spilled more than 1.2 million gallons of gasoline—an amount at least 18 times greater than what Colonial Pipeline Co. had originally reported. (Fractracker)

Colonial Pipeline facilities also saw a leak in Alabama in 2016 and a fire in North Carolina in 2010, both releasing hydrocarbons into the water and air, respectively.