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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 16, 1995                   TAG: 9505160050
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOW OIL FLOWS FROM SOUTHWEST

The Colonial Pipeline was built from 1962-63 to provide more gasoline to a growing nation on the go. More than three feet in diameter in places, the pipeline ships about 80 million gallons of gasoline, kerosene and heating oil from Houston to New Jersey each day.

Montvale was selected as the destination for a 110-mile branch of the pipeline that splits off from the main line in Cartersville in Goochland County. Along the way it cuts through Lynchburg and bisects Bedford County.

The oil companies followed the 12-inch wide pipeline and built their tank farms in Montvale to provide gasoline to Western Virginia. The Montvale stub line now ships about 2 million gallons each day, a figure that grows each year.

Colonial hasn't been without problems. During the 1980s, Colonial's leaks in Virginia alone accounted for almost one out of every 20 gallons spilled in pipeline leaks across the nation.

Locally, a leak in the pipeline sent 420 gallons of gasoline streaming into Goose Creek in 1990. The company also found and fixed eight leaks in the Montvale stub line in 1991.

Using cutting-edge technology, Colonial is trying to improve its spill record, company spokesman Noel Griese said, adding that most spills are the result of flooding and lightning, or excavation.

About 4 percent of Colonial's pipeline accidents can be attributed to employee error or corrosion in the pipeline, Griese said. Since the 1960s, the Colonial Pipeline has been protected from rust and corrosion by a mild electrical current that travels through the pipes. The current prevents the migration of electrons, which can cause deterioration.

The entire pipeline is examined by Colonial employees more than 25 times each year as required by federal law, Griese said, and Colonial's airplanes fly the pipeline regularly looking for dead vegetation or pools of liquid, which may signal a leak.

Leading Colonial's leak-detection arsenal are tubular computerized devices made of steel and rubber. Called pigs because of the squealing sound they make as they run through the pipeline, the devices look like a jet engine and can be put to a variety of tasks. Caliper pigs, for example, find buckles and dents in the pipeline. Electromagnetic pigs can find spots of corrosion the size of a dime.

The newest of the devices, called a crack pig, is still in the developmental stage. When operational, it will pinpoint hairline fractures and small leaks. "This is pretty good stuff," Griese said of the pipeline technology. "It heads off a lot of accidents."

by CNB