Heavy bitumen crude oil from Canada poses an extra environmental risk, study finds

Heavy Canadian crude oil shipped through northern Minnesota pipelines poses a special risk when spilled into waterways because it soon turns into a thick, hard-to-recover residue that doesn’t degrade and whose toxic effects are poorly understood, the National Academies of Sciences said in a research report Tuesday.

The report for the U.S. Transportation Department recommended regulatory changes to speed cleanups of spilled heavy crude oil, to require disclosure of what oil pipelines carry and to conduct more research of human and ecological risks and other knowledge gaps.

http://www.startribune.com/heavy-bitumen-crude-oil-from-canada-poses-an-extra-environmental-risk-study-finds/361156411/