Pipeline Leakages All Too Common
Pipelines that leak some toxic effluent into our waterways are such frequent occurrences that they barely make the news. In that respect, they’re rather like car accidents, cancer diagnoses, house fires or mass shootings: they’re tragic, but so common we hardly notice if they’re not happening directly to us.
However, like the incident (pictured above) in Indiana, in which 42K gallons of diesel spilled from a Marathon Petroleum Corporation pipeline into Big Creek, each one should remind us that solar panels and wind farms don’t leak.
Craig,
Good heavens ! Who knew ? Old pipelines can leak, what a sensational discovery. Next ting you’ll be telling us old cars can break down.
With over 2,500,000 miles of pipelines in the US delivering trillions of gallons of oil, gas and other liquids each year the safety record for pipelines is remarkable.
This is especially true when you consider many pipelines are over 100 years old and carried many different types of products.
Pipeline technology is undergoing a revolution in technology. New methods of design, construction, materials and installation are dramatically reducing environmental impact and improving safety while making pipelines more leak proof.
Comparing the products to wind and solar is absurd, since pipelines deliver the not just energy, but the raw materials for more than 350,000 products without which modern existence would not be possible.
As a spin-of from work carried out by the Canadian Space Agency to develop an instrument that measured carbon monoxide and methane from orbiting space craft, a number of companies have developed early warning ‘finger print’ detection of leaks. Other technologies monitor pipeline structural integrity seeking out and mapping “weak spots” needing repair before failing.
Inner Carbon fibre with graphene infused linings can eliminate weak points can rejuvenate old pipelines and ensure the process of laying pipeline more economical and more environmental during construction.
Rail and road transport has an appalling record when it comes to a loss of human life and environmental damage. Both road and rail contribute to air pollution while transporting oil and gas.
It’s the availability of the US pipeline infrastructure that has allowed natural gas to economically replace many ageing Coal fired electricity plants.