"Arkansas AG: Oil Spill Shows Need for Inspections"

"MAYFLOWER, Ark. -- An ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in central Arkansas last week highlights the need for pipeline maintenance, inspections and safety standards, the state's attorney general said Wednesday."



"A day after announcing an investigation into spill, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel visited the small city of Mayflower where the Pegasus pipeline ruptured Friday, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. The pipeline that runs from Patoka, Ill., to the Texas Gulf Coast was built in 1947 and 1948, according to federal pipeline safety officials.

'I've been told repeatedly that Exxon was up-to-date on their inspections and their inspections showed no cause for concern,' McDaniel told reporters. 'But we have a pipeline that's 65 years old that ruptured in someone's yard, so either the inspections were not adequate or there was something that was completely beyond the ability to identify with an inspection, which I find very unlikely.'"

Jeannie Nuss reports for the Associated Press April 3, 2013.

SEE ALSO:

"Pipeline Spills Stir New Criticism of Keystone Plan" (New York Times)

"Exxon Replacing Oiled Arkansas Lawns, Ruptured Pipeline Still Shut" (Reuters)

Source: AP, 04/04/2013