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Pipeline trouble


Gurn

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My search function isn't working or I'd put this in a Kinder Morgan/trans Mountain thread. feel free to move it if possible.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/pipeline-that-spilled-oil-on-california-coast-badly-corroded/ar-BBkFkKH?ocid=AARDHP

"

LOS ANGELES — A pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 101,000 gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara last month occurred along a badly corroded section that had worn away to a fraction of an inch in thickness, federal regulators disclosed Wednesday.

The preliminary findings released by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration point to a possible cause of the May 19 spill that blackened popular beaches and created a 9-mile slick in the Pacific Ocean.

"

The agency documents said findings by metallurgists who examined the pipe wall thickness at the break site conflicted with the results of inspections conducted May 5 for operator Plains All American Pipeline. Those inspections pinpointed a 45 per cent loss of wall thickness in the area of the pipe break, meaning they concluded the pipe was in far better condition.

Government inspectors "noted general external corrosion of the pipe body during field examination of the failed pipe segment," the report said."

I wonder if all the other pipe area checked by this company will be checked as by the government inspectors? If the private firm was wrong here, what about all the other pipes they said were safe?

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My search function isn't working or I'd put this in a Kinder Morgan/trans Mountain thread. feel free to move it if possible.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/pipeline-that-spilled-oil-on-california-coast-badly-corroded/ar-BBkFkKH?ocid=AARDHP

"

LOS ANGELES — A pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 101,000 gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara last month occurred along a badly corroded section that had worn away to a fraction of an inch in thickness, federal regulators disclosed Wednesday.

The preliminary findings released by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration point to a possible cause of the May 19 spill that blackened popular beaches and created a 9-mile slick in the Pacific Ocean.

"

The agency documents said findings by metallurgists who examined the pipe wall thickness at the break site conflicted with the results of inspections conducted May 5 for operator Plains All American Pipeline. Those inspections pinpointed a 45 per cent loss of wall thickness in the area of the pipe break, meaning they concluded the pipe was in far better condition.

Government inspectors "noted general external corrosion of the pipe body during field examination of the failed pipe segment," the report said."

I wonder if all the other pipe area checked by this company will be checked as by the government inspectors? If the private firm was wrong here, what about all the other pipes they said were safe?

This is a massive problem in the industry, especially with bitumen transportation. Currently they use pigs (basically cleaning or inspection devices that travel down the pipeline like a torpedo through a tube) to monitor corrosion but the technology is imperfect. The imaging is super spotty since the pig is trying to image through oil or bitumen. Plus metallurgist reports tend to focus on the range of wall thickness lost (max, average, etc) but the shape of the wear is important too. If a pit forms in the wall, it's going to wear extremely fast compared to the slow abrasion a flatter worn surface would experience.

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It amazes me that we have advances so far in medicine,technology etc but we still need fossil fuels to move us around. How are we still relying on these? Money!

The petroleum producers have very deep pockets and lobby like crazy to try to keep the dependency on oil going. They watch the prices at the pumps closely to make sure they take as much out of people as they can but still make it cheap enough to keep us coming back for more.

And their marketing guys make us think hybrids like Prius's are sissy little womens cars. Real men drive big 4x4 gas guzzling pick ups. We are all so gullible and weak minded.

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It amazes me that we have advances so far in medicine,technology etc but we still need fossil fuels to move us around. How are we still relying on these? Money!

move us around

contain our food

make our clothes

used to provide entertainment

used for medical equipment

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

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move us around

contain our food

make our clothes

used to provide entertainment

used for medical equipment

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

etc

That is the thing. Until we have acceptable alternatives to all of these we will continue to rely on oil and petroleum by-products. That's the reality and that is where we need to live. Pipeline is the safest way, of all the ways, to move crude.

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