![Arkansas Pipeline Spill](https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Exxon-Spill-Cleanup.jpg)
A worker carries used absorbent material after attempting to pick up oil from Exxon pipeline spill near Mayflower, Arkansas.
Nearly 12,000 barrels of crude oil spilled out of Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline into a Mayflower, Arkansas neighborhood causing the evacuation of 22 homes last Friday. The pipeline originates in Patoka, Illinois, and carries crude oil to the Texas Gulf Coast from Western Canada.
President Obama and the State Department can learn an important lesson from this 12,000-barrel pipeline leak. The TransCanada Keystone pipeline is not a ticket to an energy-independent future, but rather a certain oil spill we cannot afford.
Despite what oil companies like Exxon want you to believe, oil pipelines leak. Its what they do. Whats happening in Arkansas right now could be the future for communities from North Dakota to Texas if President Obama approves the Keystone XL pipeline. Theres a reason its called dirty energy, and its time we put it behind us. Lets stop the spills and move forward with clean energy now, said Greenpeace US Executive Director Phil Radford.
We can’t afford to continue giving new oil projects the green light. Take action and sayNo to KeystoneandNo to Arctic drilling.
![Arkansas Pipeline Spill](https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Exxon-Pipeline-Spill-2.jpg)
Oil booms are visible April 1, 2013 in the water alongside a road near Interstate 40 near Mayflower, Arkansas.