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Proposed Pipeline Project Concerns Some Residents In Clarksville

CLARKSVILLE (KFSM) — The company Plains All American is planning to build a crude oil pipeline through part of Oklahoma and all of Arkansas. “This pipelin...

CLARKSVILLE (KFSM) -- The company Plains All American is planning to build a crude oil pipeline through part of Oklahoma and all of Arkansas.

“This pipeline will be located in Johnson County from the southwest corner coming across on the northwest side of Clarksville and then north across the community,” John Lester, general manager of Clarksville Light and Water said.

Danna Schneider organized a meeting in Clarksville Monday night (Jan. 25) to educate other residents about the Diamond Pipeline Project.

“Basically our big concern is that this pipeline is being built through the watershed of Clarksville Light and Water,” Schneider said

Clarksville’s water treatment plant serves approximately 28,000 people.

“We're also in the energy business, so we understand how important developing domestic resources are,” Lester said. “Our preference would be for it to be on the other side of the river past Johnson County so it doesn't go through our water shed.”

He said the way the project is planned right now, the pipeline would go under two of the area’s water sources—Spadra Creek and Piney Bay.

Schneider and Lester said they're just afraid of the possibility of a rupture like the one in the town of Mayflower in 2013.

“If it must go through this area, I want to make sure that it is done in a way that's absolutely safe as we can possibly make it,” Lester said.

As of now, there’s no word on when construction of the Diamond Pipeline will begin, but in Fort Smith in the Fort Chaffee area, construction on the Magellan Pipeline has been underway for about three weeks.

Magellan Midstream Partners are using an existing 160 mile pipeline and adding 50 miles of newly constructed 12-inch pipeline to accommodate additional volumes of petroleum.

A spokesman for the company says once that extension is done, it will cut down on the number of petroleum trucks on I-40 heading east and west across Arkansas. That pipeline is scheduled to be complete by summer 2016.

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