Guest essay by Eric Worrall
After cancelling Keystone and other pipeline projects, the Biden administration seems to have discovered that if you don’t provide a means of transporting fuel, people run out of fuel.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm Says ‘Pipe Is the Best Way’ to Transport Fuel After Admin Canceled Keystone Pipeline
JACOB BLISS 12 May 2021
Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted during a press briefing on the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack Tuesday the best way to transport fuel across parts of the country is pipelines, despite the fact that the Biden administration has revoked pipeline permits, including Keystone XL.
Amid the ongoing fuel shortage throughout the East Coast from the cyberattack, Granholm said “pipe is the best way to go” when transporting fuel, contradicting President Joe Biden’s first day in office on which he revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
“What is the feasibility of using rail cars to transport fuel into the affected areas?” a reporter asked, adding, “I know that’s being looked at.”
Granholm admitted, “pipe is the best way to go,” but “we’ll have to wait until their analysis is done” from the Department of Transportation (DOT), which is looking into other options.
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Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/12/energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm-says-pipe-is-the-best-way-to-transport-fuel-after-admin-canceled-keystone-pipeline/
Video of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm saying “Pipe is the best way”.
I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever, but you have to admit it is encouraging to see them take their first faltering baby steps towards learning by their mistakes
You never know, given time the Biden administration might even grasp the concept of “system redundancy”. But “system” and “redundancy” are big scary words, so perhaps I am reaching for an unrealistic level of optimism.
Update (EW): Joe Biden has a plan – his fast response plan to get the fuel flowing again is to invest in more education for cyber security experts. When reporters asked Biden questions at Wednesday’s briefing, he responded “You guys are bad. I’m not supposed to be answering all these questions. I’m supposed to leave. But I can’t resist your questions.”.
The Keystone XL cancellation was incredible stupidity. Raising energy costs for American consumers; while angering your closest friend, business partner and neighbor in the process.
The Alberta government, maybe Sasketchwan, but not our dear leader in the federal government.
Yes, Tom doesn’t grasp how wonderful DJ’s gift to Canada is. It helps you get off the crack pipe of selling “carbon” to the world! Tough Love. I’m sure that’s how it went with Hunter as well.
But makes a lot of money for Buffet’s trains…
With 10% for the big man.
I think pipelines are fine but perhaps someone can explain why they need to be internet enabled which was the cause of the hack a few days ago. Pipelines existed perfectly happily before the internet came along.
We are exposing to much of our infrastructure to malicious hacking
The semi-urban region I live in has sewage and water pumping stations and nodes that are internet connected. Much too much work to do all the network switching manually. I think we had some stations that were reporting 01/01/1980 as they weren’t Y2K compliant. That did not matter if they carried on pumping, and could be paused remotely when there was a “flume” event, eg heavy flow inhibits a smaller flow joining …
With all the CRT training to do, when do you think the current crop of engineers is going to learn crap like valve turning?
‘Valve Turning CE101’ … you would think it would be easy, but the professor was old school and graded on a curve. You really needed to know your stuff to get an ‘A’.
‘Valve Turning CE102’ … O & M valve operation is covered here. It is apparent that hardly anyone learns anything in this class.
I’m not sure that the the pipeline control system was directly affected, tonyb. [Understatement Warning!] The stories out there are a bit muddled.
Last I heard, it was the business systems that got hit by the ransomware, not the control software, but they shut down the control systems to make sure they weren’t compromised.
If so, that makes some sense to me. I suppose their accounting and inventory software on the business side only needs to tie in at a few points to gather info on amount and type pumped for billing and planning.
The mess, it seems, was created by the abrupt shutdown. They don’t know how much of what was where in the pipeline and they are vetting the control systems at various points piece by piece before bringing them back up. It seems they can’t just flip an ‘ON’ switch and get going.
But that’s only what I’ve gathered from all the noise and shouting about the Colonial shutdown. I could be all wrong.
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You have a point, tonyb, and even if Colonial’s control system isn’t really exposed to the internet, I’d suspect there are other critical infrastructure systems at other companies that are very much tied into the internet and at high risk.
Is anyone evaluating the other systems and taking action to reduce the risk? I dunno.
They don’t. It’s probably operator error. Critical infrastructure should NOT be connected to the internet
Thanks for the various comments. If someone was determined, and had sufficient motivation, they would attack via the internet our basic infrastructure such as water, oil, sewage, electricity and gas, move on to banking and then onto transport and communications
if you cant buy food which cant be delivered or obtained at point of sale or can’t be paid for, can’t buy petrol for your car as the pumps won’t work and find your internet service and phone service is not working then society has 2 or 3 days before riots break out, assuming the problems to be widespread and not localised.
Bearing in mind the extreme dependence of a growing number of people on smartphones, probably taking them out would be sufficient to panic people.
We are making it ever more simple for those who want to destroy us to do so. Systems that ran our basic things didn’t rely on the internet in the past. Are we deliberately making ourselves hyper vulnerable for no good reason?
Are we deliberately making ourselves hyper vulnerable for no good reason?
I think Heinlein captured the concept quite well in The Roads Must Roll
Yeah, I just happened to re-read that story. Modern equivalent to Heinlein’s conveyor-roads — cellphones.
Doesn’t have to be directly connected to the Internet to be affected.
For example, if a trucking company has its dispatching system crippled by ransomware, nothing (or very little) gets shipped around. The trucks in this case aren’t affected by the malware, but things still don’t get shipped.
That is why they invented pencil and paper. Dispatch ran without internet for years. Trucks have CB radios. It would be slower but functional.
Air gap it all.
the Iranian nuclear centrifuges control systems were not connected to the internet when they were hit by the Stunex virus only takes somebody with a USB to plug into one of there systems
Same reason your refrigerator and TV set are internet enabled. It makes them “SMART” which is the latest marketing fad.
“Internet-enabled” means “we can now sell marketing data collected by our products”.
Unfortunately, you can’t get a “dumb” anything anymore. Phones, TV’s, Cars, all have to be “smart”.
There are putting Bluetooth into power tool batteries. Absolutely unnecessary. There’s already charge indicators on them. I don’t need an app to tell me.
Internet of things and digitalisation
BS with no value
dont need the fridge to start talking back have the wife for that
Internet is the “thing” of now…
CIA shut it down. There was no ‘hack’. This is intentional.
And largest trading partner
It’s not getting much attention in the US, Michigan Governor Whitmer breaking a 1977 Treaty in her attempt to shut down Enbridge 5 pipeline. Enbridge 5, a critical supplier of Jet Fuel and oil for Canada’s biggest population Center
The Biden Administration has been silent
Isn’t that “biggest population center” mostly conservative? They must be punished!
The Greater Toronto Area aka GTA has voted Liberal the last 2 elections
From what I’ve read, it would reduce supply to Ontario and Quebec by about 40%.
Not a peep from Fidel Jr. aka Trudy Zoolander.
https://www.enbridge.com/~/media/Enb/Documents/Factsheets/FS_Without_Line5_econ_impact.pdf
Granholm wanted to shut Line 5 too.
But knowing that Quebec would be effected by a line 5 shutdown I have to rethink my opposition to the shutdown.
In a democracy. when politicians come into conflict with reality, they have to adjust their beliefs and actions or an angry electorate moves against them and they disappear. Some of these tests will show whether the USA is still a democracy.
How is the forensic recount in Arizona going?
I read that the Dominion machines in Maricopa have been found with deleted databases. I just need to get a second opinion as this was Gateway pundit.
Best source of information re: the audit is http://www.Patriots.win
Republic! It’s a damn republic, if we can keep it.
A republic IS a democracy, damn it. It is a representative democracy, as opposed to a direct democracy.
That’s why there are two different words describing the same thing, because one wasn’t good enough. It’s just like black is white too.
exactamondo…
See above.
No, a Republic is not necessarily a democracy. Think Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea). The former USSR had “Republic” in its name, too. Plenty of other examples of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that are republics but not democracies (or “democracies” where 98+% of the vote goes one way).
Not so. The US is a union of STATES. That is why we have an Electoral College, to give smaller population STATES disproportionate electoral power for the presidency. Constitutional amendments require a vote of the STATES, not the PEOPLE as a whole.
Read the Federalist Papers, and get a clue if you wish to discuss this Republic.
Also, the Senate was a check against pure democracy. Every state got 2 senators. This was insufficient for small-population states to rule large-population states, because House representation was population-porportional, but it was sufficient to block democratic impulses and require small states’ assent to legislation. In addition, power to approve federal office appointments, and approve treaties, was the sole provenance of senators. As well as the actual removal from office of federal executive and judicial officers through trial.
Moreover, senators were elected by state legislators who protected their states’ interests. The U.S. Constitution and many state constitutions did not require state legislative districts to have equal populations, and many did not.
Who needs a pipeline for energy when you have a BEV and a few solar panels on the roof of your abode!
The really woke in California only need a tent:
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2020/06/12/875888864/homelessness-in-los-angeles-county-rises-sharply/
Imagine how their life will improve with a solar panel. Just like the world bank are offering those living in poverty in the Congo.
I wonder after 4 years of Biden how many 80+M US citizens who voted for Biden will be willing to get out of their grave and vote to give him another term. Maybe the vote will go to Harris – which State did she represent as a Senator?
80+M US citizens who voted for Biden? I seriously doubt that 80+M votes were properly made or that all who voted were US citizens.
But the powers that be are determined that the truth will never be known.
yes, election fraud was rampant IMO (thanks to all the unprecedented unsolicited mail-in ballots)… however, proving it is another issue… just ask sydney powell and newsmax, who threw their supporters under the bus when push came to shove in court… but the rube true believer republicans still try to make excuses for them… they’re as bad as democrat apologists they make fun of and claim to hate… pathetic.
“but the rube true believer republicans still try to make excuses for them”
Shouldn’t you post this where rube Republicans can read it?
there here… u should know
“But the powers that be are determined that the truth will never be known.”
That’s true.
The Democrats are doing everything they can to prevent the audit of the 2020 presidential election vote, and the mainstream media denigrates the idea of a stolen election at every turn. That ought to tell us something.
The vote audit continues. It won’t be able to say who actually got the most votes, but it will be able to say there was massive voter fraud going on during the election in many States.
I don’t see any way of determining an actual vote count for either side, unless Mike Lindell, the My Pillow Guy, has the computer forensic evidence he claims to have where he says he can show when, where, and how much the votes were manipulated. To date, Lindell has produced no such forensic evidence.
Lindell is pumping hopium. Not that I disagree with him, mind you. But the courts have refused to even hear the cases on their merits so far. Just the fact that data was transferred to servers in Germany should have immediately been a red flag. No legitimate reason for this.
I find it totally plausible that an Alzheimer’s patient trounced the truly inspirational First Black American President by 12 million votes while beating the widely-reviled Orange Man Bad by only 6 million. FBAP and OMB both won 18 of 19 bellwether counties, as well as the previously highly predictive Ohio, Florida, Texas trifecta. Biden got 1 bellwether county, and got swept in the trifecta. FBAP and OMB both attracted massive rally crowds, while old Alzhie could barely scrape 25 attendees together, most of whom were his staff and SS-detail, and a few reporters.
But I have no trouble believing that he earned a record-shattering voter-turnout because OMB-hatred was overwhelming. At least among the tens of millions of voters who mailed in their ballots. (OMB won with the in-person-voting crowd.)
They’re not “learning from their mistakes”. They don’t see any connection between “pipe is the best way” and the canceling of Keystone XL. In their minds they are unrelated. Cognitive dissonance is a defining characteristic of illiberal progressives.
Why, I repeat why are politicians not required to take an IQ test BEFORE applying for work????
Quote ,, what’s a screwdriver for?
I think we should take a page from the Mayans and their mesoamerican ball. Let the winning politician have a term and then introduce the new exit strategy. Only the truely committed will run.
What’s a screwdriver for?
Drinking, obviously
I’ll say you why there are no tests, we wouldn’t have any politician.
Jennifer Granholm is another stupid Canadian import like Justin Bieber. She was a crooked politician in Michigan who worked her way up the Democratic slime ladder to governor. I’m sure she doesn’t have a clue about pipelines.
There is another Justin we’re willing to export, if you’re willing to take him.
“I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever, but you have to admit it is encouraging to see them take their first faltering baby steps towards learning by their mistakes”
Oh My Gawd!
Let us check this out –
“baby steps towards learning by their mistakes”
Not At All!
“learning by their mistakes”
Not even close.
I hate to pass judgment here at WUWT, but this is coming close to the limit.
Then finally, this –
“I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever,”
An accurate summation of the situation, all is forgiven.
/sarc ? 🙂
Sarcasm or satire?
Let it be in the eye of the beholder.
To learn from a mistake, one first has to recognize their action as a mistake.
Does it seem to anyone else that the title quote may be a poor choice of words? Aren’t all references to pipe banned?
I am so confused.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is closing a major pipeline, for fear of cracks. So that seems to be a good thing. Then the Colonial Pipeline gets shut down, with no cracks at all, and that is a bad thing.
But President Biden shut down the Keystone XL pipeline before it could even develop cracks, and that was a good thing.
Yet President Biden’s son, Hunter seems to be an expert in pipe cracks, or something like that.
That is said to be a bad thing.
So crack pipes are good, or crack pipes are bad, depending.
I am so confused.
Confused? There are forces at work to ensure you stay that way.
Another mystery for you to ponder: Hunter knew nothing about gas or Ukraine but he was paid millions as the bag man for the big guy anyway. He knows the most about “pipes” and “lines” but did they put him on the project to fix the pipeline? No!
Hunter currently needs a job. Maybe he could be made an energy undersecretary responsible for researching these pipe cracks. I’m sure he won’t screw it up. He’s the smartest person Joe knows.
I think Hunter is looking to get himself appointed to the Board of Directors of some of the Mexican Criminal Gangs.
Hunter’s father, the Big Guy, is making the Mexican Crime Cartels a lot of money with his open border policy, and Hunter thinks he and the Big Guy should be getting their piece of the pie.
Maybe Hunter can do some more work for his brother’s widow?
Joe Biden still hasn’t hugged his newest granddaughter and she’s 3 years old. He still believes Hunter isn’t really the father like he testified. Then there was that DNA evidence so the court found otherwise, but DNA isn’t strong enough evidence for Joe to give a hug to his own relative.
Pipe cracks and crack pipes, are not the same…..I am sure a Biden family expert will be along to confirm that shortly
There you go that was the plan, ‘anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to be a cyber security expert, for God’s sake!’.
A twofer. Our most popular president of all time is so amazing! He just fixed the problem of unemployed former coal miners and prevented future cyberattacks on oil pipelines. He’ll use the same approach to handle unemployed refinery workers. I guess we’ll need more vulnerable pipelines though. That might not work.
Maybe we should just train half of them to break windows and the other half to install new windows.
This is the same idiot who said, while laughing about it:
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has smiled during a response at a White House media briefing – saying “if you drive an electric car” the Colonial Pipeline attack in the US “would not be affecting you”.
If even 10% of the US population switched to electric cars, the power grid would fail. There is no plan in place to build out the grid to support such a huge supply increase.
Kind of a “let them eat cake” moment – if they have no fuel, let them drive Teslas…
Sec Granholm also had a great tip for those looking to buy EV- Alot of used EVs are available at fire sale prices in the north half of Texas. Or should be.
For those interested in the meaning of the word “gaslighting”, note the smile on her when she gives this helpful suggestion (before she and Mayor Pete ride a bike built for two from the presser to the waiting squad of black SUVs around the corner).
In Jennifer Granholm, the Biden administration has finally found someone who can out-smirk Jen Psnarki.
Wheres can I sign a petition for her impeachment?
“I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever, but you have to admit it is encouraging to see them take their first faltering baby steps towards learning by their mistakes”…. Eric, when they uncancel the Keystone XL pipeline, then you may have a point. Until then, it’s just words and it’s not encouraging. They have not and will likely never admit they screwed up and made a mistake. Inflation, illegal crossings, border security, war, continued masquerading, jobs, gas prices…. Please identify ONE thing in the last 100 days that is better now than when the previous clown was president.
I would take that previous clown any day over the dangerous fool we have running this country now.
you mean the same clown that just endorsed elise Stefanie (for GOP leadership) with a 46% conservative score and put down chip Roy with 96% conservative score? that clown? and you say you’re not a rube? you’re his lap dog… you’re pathetic…. even though you’re 100% right about taking the clown over dimensia anyday… but that’s not enough to not make you a republican rube.
I can think of two. The prestige of drunken sailors has improved immensely and profit on drug and human trafficking has exploded.
Iran and Hamas seem to be quite happy with the changes.
sizzor and mark… I like the sarcasm… but I meant whats better for the USA
I got $1400 from the Trump Administration as an economic stimulus, but no letter telling me how great it was. I got $21 from the Biden Administration as an economic stimulus and a letter from Joe telling me how great it was. I can do the math.
I paid $2.90 for a gallon of gas under the Trump Administration. I now pay $4.01 for a gallon of gas under the Biden administration. I can do the math.
I get nothing as an economic stimulus under Gavin Newsom’s plan to distribute federally funded dollars to its citizens. Three million Foreign nationals here illegally get $300 each as an economic stimulus under Gavin Newsom’s plan to distribute federally funded dollars to its citizens. I can do the math.
I could go on, but why bother.
that was the point if my post… nothing good from presodent dimentia
These people have no shame.
I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for NPR to report that pipelines are the best way to transport fuels.
What we are witnessing is a variant of the “Green New Deal” VIRUS … https://newtube.app/user/RAOB/4KnbHKO
“You guys are bad. I’m not supposed to be answering all these questions. I’m supposed to leave. But I can’t resist your questions.”
No pudding for DJ until he learns to resist
Quick follow up question:
“JOE, Mr President, JOE (to get his attn). Who is it that tells you that you are not supposed to talk with us … which specific individual has told you not answer questions?”
“Mr. President! Have you considered that the people that are trying to handle you, and are directing you not to talk to us, are actually the ones that are Bad?”
Mr President says, “What? Give me a cute little girl, and I guarantee I’M the one that’ll be doing the handling!”
Biden administration also said they were “immediately” sending an envoy to the region as part of an effort to deescalate tensions. Biden says he has people talking to them.
“Mr Biden, given his experience, have you considered sending John Kerry to the area to ease the tensions?”
.
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When Democrats have the Whitehouse, they seem to be fond of appointing ‘Czars’ for this and that.
I think we’ll soon see a “Stumbles Onto The Bleedin’ Obvious” Czar appointed fairly soon. They need one, ASAP.
Their function will be to stumble onto whatever everyone else in the U.S. has known for months or years and announce the ‘Discovery’.
Words are cheap. Judge a leader by policy actions and the results.
If words and good intentions solved problems, the West Coast’s surging homeless crisis-tent cities wouldn’t still exist. Instead they continue to worsen with each passing month.
Eugene & Springfield (of the Simpsons). A tale of two cities (with a twist). The historically affluent shitbags of Eugene have created a haven for more homeless than any other city. The less affluent City across the river has very few.
One city embraces policies that draw ’em in and allow them to stay in any form or place. One city does not.
“I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever, but you have to admit it is encouraging to see them take their first faltering baby steps towards learning by their mistakes”
Hanlon’s razor does not apply here, unfortunately. The people in the Biden Regime are not stupid, they know what they are doing.
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” – Ian Flemming
We’re past coincidence.
Shortly after, Jennifer Granholm was directed to immediately report for climate re-education, optics division.
Scott Adams on Twitter: “BREAKING: No court has found ANY evidence the Colonial pipeline was hacked. Therefore it wasn’t.”
“Now just a minute this is a press conference! The last thing I want to do is answer a lot of questions!”
Unfortunately, this type of lesson will not carry over to overloaded grids. It’s going to be one learning lesson at a time.
From the article: “I know some of you think the Biden administration is the dumbest ever, but you have to admit it is encouraging to see them take their first faltering baby steps towards learning by their mistakes”
I don’t think this is a change in thinking in the Biden administration. This little bit of truth just accidentally slipped out of Granholm’s mouth. It doesn’t mean they are reconsidering implementing more pipelines. Canada says relations will be harmed if Biden does not ok their pipeline, but Biden seems unmoved.
In the 1950s Illinois switched to natural gas by a pipeline from Texas that has been in uninterrupted operation since the 1950s. Then it was called the Texas pipeline.
Now there are oil and gas pipelines over most of the US and Much of Europe with no real problems compared to the one Biden created.
NERC has already defined standards that are applied to electric power generation systems that could be adapted for gas and oil (although I find it hard to believe it’s not already been done).
https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Pages/Default.aspx
And the 2021 DUH! award goes to…Jennifer Granholm for suddenly realizing that “pipe is the best way to go”. She needs to tell her successor as governor of Michigan of her new revelation, after Wretched Gretchen shut down a pipeline in Michigan last week. Then tell her new boss Hidin’ Biden to restart construction of the Keystone XL pipeline–you never know when you might need one.
The Keystone XL pipeline was slated to carry 830,000 barrels/day of crude oil from Alberta to southeastern Nebraska, where it would connect up with another (existing) pipeline to carry crude to refineries along the Gulf Coast and in Missouri and Illinois. It could have also carried light, sweet crude from the Bakken fields in North Dakota and eastern Montana to refineries, which is much easier to refine than heavy, high-sulfur crude from Alberta tar sands.
Some people claim that the Keystone XL pipeline could have resulted in oil spills into an aquifer in northeastern Nebraska, but in the absence of the pipeline, crude oil is sent by railcars. An average tank car can carry about 500 barrels (21,000 gallons) of oil, meaning that over 1,600 tank cars a day would have to make the round trip from Alberta to Nebraska and back, meaning that half the time these railcars would be empty on their way north, but diesel locomotives would still be needed to pull the empty cars (a huge waste of fossil fuels).
The Keystone XL pipeline would have been 1,179 miles long. Railcars traveling over the same route would have to make a 2,400-mile round trip, which would take about 60 hours at an average speed of 40 mph. Adding in time to load the railcars in Alberta and unload them in Nebraska means that the average railcar spends about 3 days on a round trip, so that 4,800 railcars (and about 50 locomotives) would be constantly devoted to transporting the same flow of oil as the Keystone XL pipeline.
So for those worried about oil spills from the pipeline, what are the odds that one or more of 2,400 railcars full of crude oil circulating at any time over 1,200 miles of track might derail (due to a switch malfunction, a weak spot in the rails, subsidence of terrain, snow or ice on the rails, or human error) over a given year and spill its contents onto the ground, possibly causing a fire? Wouldn’t those odds be greater than that of a spill from a single pipeline, most of which is underground?
I don’t know that they are learning, it may just be they are trying to avoid blame.
Pipe only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and no pipe on the other days. Let others figure out how to plan around that.
biden learning by mistakes ha ha
Afghanistan oops
Mexico border with refuges double oops
Israeli Palestine triple oops
wearing a face mask on his climate change VC and Putin calling him out – best entertainment couldn’t stop laughing but so sad for America
Looks like the democrats have struck out in baseball terms and there best defence is to shut up and keep their traps shut and hide in the dugout until the ref calls the game
good luck America
you have stuck out
Context matters. This pipeline was already in existence and being used. So yes, getting this pipeline back on line is the way to go instead of trying to pull together rail or tanker resources.