Ohio's underground pipelines: vital, unseen and aging

 

Written by

Mark Wert

Aug 8, 2011|

 

All across Ohio, valuable goods are being

transported daily. But the goods -- crude

oil, gasoline, natural gas and other

potentially hazardous substances -- are

shipped out of sight, through transmission

pipelines under the land and waters of the

region.

 

There are enough miles of transmission

pipelines buried beneath Ohio to stretch

from Columbus to Beijing and back. The

prevalence of pipeline in Ohio may be one

reason for Ohio's low natural gas prices.

Through the first three months of 2011,

Ohioans were typically paying about 40

cents less per unit of natural gas than the

average U.S. residential consumer,

according to the U.S. Department of

Energy.

 

Pipeline safety made national news this

summer when an oil pipeline leaked under

the Yellowstone River in Montana. Congress

is considering several pieces of legislation

to improve the safety and security of the

pipeline transportation system.

 

Read more at: http://www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20110808/NEWS01/108080305/Ohio-s-underground-pipelines-vital-unseen-aging?odyssey=mod|newswell|text||p

I don't think Congress really wants to improve pipeline safety if it costs the pipeline companies money.  The new Rockies Express natural gasline was planted in the ground about 18 months ago, across the entire state of Ohio. Since it goes thru a field next to my house, I attended a number of public meetings.  At the meetings several people argued that the land thru which the pipeline was snaked thru in my area of the state, while technically classified as 'rural', was none-the-less right up against commercial and residential land, and the land where the pipeline was going is slated for developement over the next 10 years.  Therefore, the arguement was, givent the proximity to current industry and houses, and the 95+ % chance of the land around the pipeline being developed in the near future, the pipeline should have to follow the tougher standards for non-rural land.  (tougher standards means a thicker pipe and burried a little deeper in the ground.

 

But the Federal agencies holding the meetings and overseeing the construction would have nothing to do with the arguement.

 

I was just looking at a map of Ohio pipelines the other day. There are a lot of them allright.

 

Hey KJP, do you ever fret about pipelines taking traffic away from railroads?

Nope