Given the current debate about the really big Keystone pipeline project, this latest incident is causing serious harm in a small community; and the event raises many issues that need to be faced about pipeline safety and the management of spills and accidents. See this news account.

More details will be coming from one of our readers.

What makes this incident unusual is that pipelines are the responsibility of the Dept. of Transportation. So the responsibility for managing this disaster event is with DOT.  Most of the disasters experienced recently in the U.S., and talked about in this blog,  have received disaster declarations and are the responsibility of FEMA. The major exception was the Deep Water Horizon disaster, which was a hazardous material disaster, hence was managed under the National Contingency Plan by the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA.