36 inch Colonial gasoline pipe across the south breaks: Spills 336,000 galloons - No fire, no gas. 22

[racookpe1978]

From AL.com, | 9-18-2016 | by Dennis Pillion
On the morning of Sept. 9, an inspector with the Alabama Surface Mining Commission was performing a routine monthly check of an old coal mine in Shelby County when he noticed "a strong odor of gasoline" as well as a sheen on the surface of one of the retention ponds.

The gasoline he was smelling came from Colonial Pipeline's Line 1, an underground pipeline three feet in diameter that normally pushes 1.3 million barrels of gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers across the Southeast and along the eastern seaboard.

That 36-inch line, built in 1963, has been estimated to supply the east coast of the United States with up to 40 percent of its gasoline supply. Colonial Pipeline initiated a shutdown of Line 1 within 20 minutes of receiving the report about a potential leak.

That section of pipeline remains closed. Eight days later, official estimates climbed to 336,000 gallons of lost gasoline. More than 700 people were working around the clock to dig up the pipe, plug the leak, clean up the old mining property south of Birmingham and restore supply.

With the flow of gasoline interrupted, the governors of six states have declared a state of emergency to allow truck drivers to work longer shifts to head off shortages at the pumps.

Gasoline is now being shipped by alternate routes throughout the southeast. Alternate pipelines are being used, and gasoline is even being shipped by tanker ship from Houston to New York.

Colonial announced Saturday the company will construct a temporary pipeline to bypass the spill site in hopes of restoring gasoline flows more quickly. No timetable was given for completing the bypass line."

 

[zdas04]

LittleInch,
Debate? For nearly 30 years I've periodically "land farmed" oil-contaminated dirt by putting a mix of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria on it and mounding it up and then periodically turning it over to exchange the aerobic spaces with anaerobic spaces, after a few months the resulting soil is in high demand by greenhouse operators to grow flowers and vegetables in. If this wasn't a real process, then the beaches off Santa Barbara would be awash in oil instead of showing an acceptable amount of tar balls. Same with all of the beaches in the world.

I like the rest of your post.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[LittleInch]

Zdas04 - I'm aware that carbon based organisms can handle hydrocarbons and it is a natural substance. I think the issue is always about the other impacts (coating birds, removing oxygen, ingestion by various creatures etc), especially with Crude Oil, and how much oil these microbes can deal with in one go.

It's great you've found a way to rehabilitate "contaminated" land / soil.



Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[BigInch]

Bacteria eats oil. No debate about that. I just rather not have it enter my food chain if it's at all possible to avoid, even though it might even be healthier than some of the other more common fertilizers that could also get thrown on top of the veggies. My job, and that of many others, was to make damn sure that it was not a pipeline that furnished the fertilizer.

Ultrasonic leak detection gives an almost immediate notice of a leak having occured. Once the leak's sound from even the smallest pinhole reaches the nearest detector and it can be distinguished from background noise that is present during normal operation, the alarm sounds. There is no threshold volume associated with the amount of volume to trigger the alarm, as there is when using volumetric based leak detection methods. Ultrasonic leak detection can give a relatively immediate indication of a very small leak as what might take weeks , or longer, when using volumetric methods. It also appears that the leak detection method that must be used when leak detection is required under the CFRs is not specified.

 

[zdas04]

I kind of feel like I've beaten this to death, but I just came across a 2013 article on why the ecological impact of BP's Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon release dissipated in months rather than decades. I found it interesting.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[LittleInch]

My understanding from ultrasonics is that they need a lot of sensors to pick up the smallest or even moderate sized leaks. Not sure how often, but when you look into it the figures seem to be in the range of hundreds or less of meters between each sensor.

Fine for a short line with highly toxic contents, but a 4,500km long system?

I note that the run inspection pigs every 5 years, but the system is 50+ years old - a few corrosion spots seem likely and how the coating is surviving after that long is a minor miracle - it might have started accelerating its disintegration and sucking in more and more amps of CP current.

I think it is a subject of many previous studies into how the infrastructure installed in the 1960s and 70's is being renewed now that it is running at or beyond its original design capacity and carries such a large percent of the energy flow from one part of the country to another.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[BigInch]

Well you only really need to place the sensors across high consequence areas, not the entire 4500km.

Everyone seems to be favoring fibreoptic sensing these days, because you usually have that cable for comms and controls anyway, but I thought you could have 25-50km between accoustic sensors, depending on desired level of accuracy. Let's ask itsmoked for comments about c/c spacing.

 

[BigInch]

Dave, Let's hear what BP has to say about that technique. Hindsight being 20/20 and all.

 

[racookpe1978]

Wednesday, 21 Sept: about noon Eastern DST Time.

Radio now reporting the pipeline has been fixed, was tested this morning satisfctorily.
(I assume that means the hydrostatic test passed and all NDE on the pipeline new sections' welds was accepted.)
Claims two-three days to fill the pipeline and get gasoline flowing again.

 

[BigInch]

zdas, I was taking your word as written, but have now gotten around to reading your 2013 link. Interestingly your link only says that the microbes are doing well. It doesn't mention anything about your supposed tons of shrimp that are eating them, probably because shrimp don't eat anerobic bacteria. I'd suppose it is because shrimp live a lot closer to the surface than the anerobic bacteria can. One of the other links in the same article you referenced doesn't dismiss damage to the environment as easily as you imply. 'Dirty blizzard' in gulf may account for missing Deepwater Horizon oil
That other link, the 'Dirty blizzard' concept, tends to agree with the more common opinions which in fact say that there were and still remain many harmful effects from the spill, and especially the tons and tons of the Conexit dispersement chemical that was used to "clean it up", or at the least says that the jury on potential long term effects of this is still out. Worthy to note that Conexit use is still banned in Canada and the EU.
BBC's documentary Profit Pollution and Deception BP and the Oil Spill
CBC's documentary
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/multimedia/bp-oil-spill-the-economic-and-environmental-cost-5-years-later-1.3037553]A recent report from the National Wildlife Federation suggests a number of species continue to endure effects from the spill. In 2014, for example, the number of dolphins found dead on the Louisiana coast was four times the historic rate.
The study suggested that Corexit EC9500A causes damage to human lungs.
BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 5 years later

I can always trust those Canadians for an unbiased opinion.
I'm afraid that your credibility gap has widened.