
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 19, 1993                   TAG: 9304190125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HERNDON                                LENGTH: Short

PIPE PROBE SEEKS ANSWER TO FUEL SPILL

Crews will dig up a dented pipeline to help determine whether construction workers damaged another line that ruptured, causing a massive fuel spill late last month, a Colonial Pipeline spokesman said Sunday.

Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline Co. thinks heavy construction equipment used to build a parking lot in 1986 was responsible for damaging the 36-inch pipeline, which ruptured on March 28 and spilled 409,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

Environmental Protection Agency authorities, however, have said Colonial Pipeline crews might have damaged the pipeline section by dragging it during installation.

The pipeline has been repaired and operations have resumed.

Today, crews will dig up the dented 32-inch pipeline near the ruptured line, Colonial Pipeline spokesman Noel Griese said in a statement. The dents never endangered the public, he said.

Colonial wants to look at two small dents in the 32-inch line, Griese said. The company learned about the small dents when an electronic device known as a "smart pig" was run through the pipeline in 1987, he said.

"We're beginning to see a pattern of extensive damage to our pipelines caused by past construction at the accident site," Griese said. "We're hoping that examination of the second pipeline will contribute to the evidence we're assembling."

by CNB