Gas shortage on East Coast?

[laughingbeetle]

http://wlos.com/news/local/breaking-...r-gas-shortage

Which reminds me I need to "filler-up". I am seeing reports of Tennessee and Alabama being affected as well. Anyone here noticing anything yet?

[hunter63]

Filled up yesterday....both trucks...one gas, one Diesel.....didn't notice exactly how much prices are up....but it was a bit.

[DSJohnson]

Based on reports from the Pipeline operator, the spill is stopped and contained. If you double the reported size of the spill the total spill comes in around 56 tractor trailer loads of gasoline. (250,000 gallons X 2 = 500,000 gallons divided by 9,000 = 55.5) In comparison the smaller (80,000 bpd charge rate) refinery that I worked at loaded 130 to 150 trucks per day every day of the year. Big issue is 1. Damage/condition to the pipeline and 2. repair time. The pipeline being impaired is the big deal. That is why the Governors of several states are "relaxing" the DOT limits on time behind the wheel and rest periods.

I promise that the pipeline operator will have a ton of folks working 24/7 to get the pipeline back to capacity as fast as they can. A lot of the spilled product will be recovered.
As far as the response goes, remediation and repair work are both very sensitive to weather, topography, geography and physical access. Looking at the photos it looks pretty rural.

Hopefully there will be no riots or lines at the pumps.

[LowKey]

Let that be a lesson in just how fragile the infrastructure of the US is.
A single pipe line down affects 6 states.
And with new pipeline construction under environmental attack at every turn, expect more of the aging infrastructure to fail before new lines can be built to replace or enhance the delivery.

It really seems nuts to me that environmentalists would rather this stuff be delivered over our aging roads and bridges using diesel tractor trailers or trains, rather than through a pipeline underground out of sight. Though it is really too bad that today you cannot trust a contractor to build anything (pipe, bridge, tunnel, structure or roadway) that isn't going to fail within 5-10 years. Sad really.

[DSJohnson]

LowKey,
Sadly you make some very valid points...

[Pennsylvania Mike]

My wife is in Tennessee this weekend, she says that gas is in short supply there too.

[Phaedrus]

And no wonder they're "under environmental attacks"! When these pipelines leak they often pump out astronomical amounts of 'product'. Depending on the size and location of the leak it can go undetected for a surprising amount of time (barring a total breach). These geniuses are planning to run pipelines under/through reservoirs that people rely on for drinking water.

You would expect a site dedicated to wilderness survival to have some concern about the actual wilderness! And by extension all of the land used for living, working and recreation. There's a good reason real estate is expensive- they ain't making any more of it.

[Rick]

Actually, when a leak occurs they know immediately. That's why they put gauges on stuff. Slow leak, not so quick. 336,000 gallons, yeah, pretty quick. Try looking up "pipeline maps" for the U.S. if you want convulsions. You'll be surprised as to where they actually are and how few of them have any type of problem unless, someone decides to tap into one or mow with a backhoe.

When you find yourself sitting at home with no petrol to actually go to the wilderness (or the grocery store) you might be rethinking that condemnation. In life it's called "balance".

[LowKey]

Like Rick said, Pipelines have been in operation for decades, there are a lot of them out there, all of them are monitored.

On the other hand, I've posted here numerous times about the cutting down of acres and acres of trees to put up solar farms to run the air-conditioners and electric cars out there, and no one here seems to care about that either. Private property. Whatever.

I saw an electric car the other day that had a "Save the Trees" bumper sticker on it. I'd love to send them a picture of the latest forest cut down here in the central part my small state of MA to make way for yet another solar farm. About 20 acres. This isn't the same one as a year ago. This is the third since then. Used to be a good hunting area for turkey and deer. Now it will be fenced, graded, paved with pea-stone and covered in metal and black glass. Yay.