The US has many existing Pipelines - says not enough

[Bob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEIerHQ9IAw


Animated map shows all the major oil and gas pipelines in the U.S.

As of May 18, 2016

The United States is the world's largest consumer of oil, using more than 19.4 million barrels a day in 2015. This high level of consumption wouldn't be possible without the 2.5 million mile network of pipeline used to transport the fuel from its source to the market.

For instance, when a PipeLine comes to the surface, often it has a structure similar to the below,

http://aemstatic-ww2.azureedge.net/content/dam/Pennenergy/online-articles/2015/August/cushing.JPG.scale.LARGE.JPG

with a valve to be able to shut down a section.

Shutting down a valve without the pumping station being turned off first, though where there is high pressure oil flowing in the line can create a "surge", and that surge can induce a pipeline break.

Ever hear a "water hammer" in an old plumbing system without air surge suppressors? A water hammer can literally break apart the pipes and fittings..

Monkey wrenching, is insane really; it doesn't "stop the flow" it can induce a disaster with a broken flowline..!!


https://www.democracynow.org/images/story/55/33355/full_hd/S4_Pipeline_Shutdown.jpg

[Bob]

What lurks underneath the Great Lakes? Pipelines, old ones at that..


http://www.trbimg.com/img-56855e36/turbine/chi-enbridge-1231-wre0033239804-20151231/950/950x534

( diver for the National Wildlife Federation inspects the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in 2013. Each day, some 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids roar through en route from the shale oil wells of Alberta to refineries in Detroit and Sarnia, Ontario. (Courtesy of the National Wildlife Federation)

"Two 62-year-old oil pipelines running parallel to the bridge for 4.5 miles across the Straits of Mackinac, the aquatic, turbulent seam where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. Each day, some 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids roar through en route from the shale oil wells of Alberta to refineries in Detroit and Sarnia, Ontario.

"The pipes, known as Line 5, are 20 inches in diameter, with one-inch-thick walls. On that line, they have never had a spill, a rupture or, to hear its Calgary, Alberta-based owner Enbridge tell it, even a repair. It also wasn't a secret: The state of Michigan granted the underwater easement in 1953, and a few old-timers here even remember helping build and install it.

"Nonetheless, Line 5's existence was all but forgotten until another Enbridge pipe, Line 6B, burst open in July 2010 and over 18 hours spewed as much as 1.1 million gallons of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River near the central Michigan town of Marshall. "


40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Also, the currents in the Straits are unusually complex, with water at the surface often moving in a different direction than that down below — and both at speeds that rival that of water going over Niagara Falls, according to Eric Anderson, a physical scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Distribution models show any oil spill from Line 5 would spread at shocking speed throughout the lakes even if cleanup were as prompt and thorough as Enbridge says it would be.

"As far as how bad things could be, you have an area that can disperse something very rapidly in multiple directions, making it very hard to not only respond but also predict exactly how that's going to play out," said Anderson, who would advise the Coast Guard in the event of a spill.

The Coast Guard, Enbridge and others have run major cleanup drills in recent years, and the company has impressed Coast Guard incident management adviser Jerry Popiel. "They've done a lot of work on the preparedness side, they're not the same company they were in 2010," said Popiel, who oversees response for an eight-state Midwest region but listed Line 5 as his top concern. "They bring their A game. They hire excellent contractors who know what they're doing. They're writing plans to identify environmentally sensitive areas. In response mode, they've shown us they've gotten a lot better at this."

Yet "response" implies a spill has occurred, and many stakeholders don't want to allow for the chance of that. The National Wildlife Federation in October filed suit against the Transportation Department for not forcing Enbridge to halt oil movement, saying the government is not enforcing a law passed after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill requiring "worst-case" disaster plans to be on file. Manshum said Enbridge, which is not a party in the suit, has disaster plans that it has provided to government agencies.

40 million people at risk... A tribe in the Dakota's worries about their drinking water trying to shut down the DAPL pipeline.. Meanwhile a potential disaster sits practically in plain sight right near a bridge, in a location nobody these days would dare put a pipeline..

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/oilandwaterdontmix/pages/179/attachments/original/1439698146/Straits-of-Mackinac-image.jpg


Two 62-year-old oil pipelines running parallel to the bridge for 4.5 miles across the Straits of Mackinac, the aquatic, turbulent seam where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. Each day, some 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids roar through en route from the shale oil wells of Alberta to refineries in Detroit and Sarnia, Ontario.

ref: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-great-lakes-oil-pipeline-20151231-story.html


http://media.mlive.com/news_impact/photo/Bent%20Enbridge%20Line%205.jpg

What would a large anchor do across the pipeline?


http://research.noaa.gov/sites/oar/EasyGalleryImages/12/241/GLERL_straits.jpg

Pipelines should be buried when underwater, not left exposed.

[avid]

OMG, absolutely important subject, that folks don't 'see', and the ramifications of even a small failure could be absolutely catastrophic. We 'trust' our service providers because we pay them is a travesty, we need to monitor each and every system for breaking those trusts. They must be accountable, and FoI available at every level.

[Axman]

Been there many times over the years beautiful place.
But what you say about a anchor would be about right because that bridge is under constant repairs its made to move 24 foot in the wind and they close it a lot because the weather turns in the blink of a eye up there.


The Axman