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2001 Longhorn Partners Pipeline News Article Summaries
2001 Longhorn Partners Pipeline News Article Summaries
Longhorn to test plan to guard aquifer from leaks in pipeline
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Officials of the pipeline company say the aquifer, an underground limestone formation filled with water, can be protected by sealing the walls and floor of the pipeline trench with Gunite, a special mixture of cement, sand and water sprayed into place. In theory, fuel would not enter holes and fissures in the limestone, instead remaining in the trench until it could be pumped out.
EDITORIAL: Instead of repairing faulty pipeline, start anew
By Rich Oppel, Editor
Austin American-Statesman
Sunday, August 5, 2001
Inactive since 1995, the pipeline runs within 1,250 feet of 9,200 Austin-area residents. These often are not the neighborhoods of the wealthy or influential. O.B. Harris, Longhorn's vice president, says candidly, "I wouldn't want that pipeline in my back yard either."
Central Texans wary of a hazard underfoot
Longhorn pipe being revamped - no thanks to regulators
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
"It's highly, highly combustible," said Alcala, 38, a limousine driver who has spray-painted his opinion - "no gas" - on the roof of his shed so that pilots who inspect the right of way for Longhorn can see it. "If anything were to ever go wrong, everything from this block to that block would be decimated."
The OPS allows pipelines to run under buildings. It allows decades-old pipelines to carry explosive gases and toxic liquids without periodic testing. And it allows pipelines to pass through some water supplies and other sensitive ecosystems without special precautions.
The Longhorn mitigation plan was secured not because of the Office of Pipeline Safety, but in spite of it.
Pipe owners' clout imperils land, water
Austin American-Statesman
Tuesday, July 24, 2001
WASHINGTON - A rule the petroleum industry negotiated with federal regulators will allow pipeline operators to avoid spending billions of dollars to protect certain environmentally sensitive areas and historical sites from spills.
Ordinance proposed to crimp pipelines
Austin Council is urged to pass rules that would hinder the Longhorn line
Austin American-Statesman
July 20, 2001
Two environmental groups and a former state land commissioner want the Austin City Council to adopt an ordinance intended to prevent the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline from operating. The Longhorn opponents unveiled their draft ordinance at a news conference Thursday and urged council members to enact it in the near future.
The ordinance would require City Council approval for a pipeline to pass beneath city streets or other property and school district approval to pass within 200 feet of a public school. It also would prohibit crossing the Barton Springs watershed or land acquired by the city to protect water purity.
Dallas-based Longhorn said it doubted whether such an ordinance could pass constitutional muster. "Federal regulations, not city ordinances, govern all interstate pipelines, and any city ordinance that attempts to regulate pipelines would be subject to federal pre- emption," a statement issued by the company read.
Not much was left on their to-do list Central Texas delegation to Legislature got a lot accomplished
Austin American-Statesman
May 31, 2001
Ann Kitchen lost her fight to require Longhorn Pipeline, part of which runs through South Austin, and other pipelines that are converted for use from one fuel to another, to use new pipe near schools, waterways and neighborhoods. But pipeline companies will have to notify the public when they change the fuels they transport and will have to share emergency evacuation plans with school boards.
Longhorn makes wise move
Austin American-Statesman
May 31, 2001
The pipeline was built to move crude, and the company talked up their plans to modernize the pipe and upgrade the monitoring of it. Among those joining the suit was the Lower Colorado River Authority. Officials of the river authority cited concerns about the threat the pipeline posed to area water supplies.
Last week, the company put enough mitigation measures in writing to appease the concerns of Joe Beal, general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, who announced that his agency was withdrawing from the litigation.
Included in the agreement between Longhorn and the LCRA, is replacement of six miles of pipeline near the Pedernales River and added check valves near the Colorado, Pedernales, Llano and San Saba rivers to limit the amount of gas that could spill in a leak. Longhorn also agreed to create ways to limit the amount of benzene that could go into the water supply if a leak occurred.
LCRA, Longhorn reach agreement on pipeline safety Company will take action to protect water supply; Austin, others will still pursue lawsuit
Austin American-Statesman
May 16, 2001
The LCRA will drop out of a lawsuit against the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline after winning concessions to protect Central Texas drinking water from possible contamination. Under an agreement to be announced today, Longhorn Partners Pipeline will replace six miles of pipe near the Pedernales River, which empties into Lake Travis and eventually into Lake Austin -- providing water to 750,000 Central Texans, most of them in Austin.
"We focused on the one issue: ensuring that the drinking water supplies would be protected," said Joe Beal, LCRA general manager. "We have not focused on the human safety aspect of the thing or the potential for explosion or fire."
The agreement calls for:
* steel walls three-eighths of an inch thick in areas where LCRA models show that benzene, a cancer-causing gasoline additive, could enter the Pedernales River.
* Nine additional check valves, which shut down sections of pipeline when a leak is detected, will be installed near the Colorado, Pedernales, Llano and San Saba rivers.
* If the added precautions fail and benzene reaches Lake Travis or Lake Austin in concentrations that exceed federal standards of five parts per billion, Longhorn will install filtering devices on all drinking water intakes.
State agency orders testing for Texas pipeline safety
Austin American-Statesman
April 11, 2001
Under a new Texas rule, natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines operating within Texas must be periodically tested to ensure their safety under a rule adopted unanimously Tuesday by the state Railroad Commission. "We recognize increasing sensitivities about pipelines, and perhaps more important, the aging of pipelines," said Tony Garza, one of three commission members. "This puts us, I think, way ahead of the federal regulatory scheme." Internal inspections, pressure tests or other forms of assessment must be done on a regular basis. Pipe operators have five to 10 years to complete the initial round of testing depending on pipe size, location and other factors.
The Railroad Commission's rule-making, initiated months ago, was prompted in part by a rash of fatal pipeline accidents, including a natural gas explosion near Carlsbad, N.M., that killed 12 people and a butane explosion near Abilene that killed a police officer.
The rule applies only to pipelines operating wholly within the state and thereby subject to Railroad Commission jurisdiction. Interstate pipelines -- regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety -- are subject to that agency's narrower integrity-testing requirement, which focuses on liquid pipelines in urban or environmentally sensitive areas.
Legal hurdles likely await gas pipeline restrictions
Austin American-Statesman
March 15, 2001
A bill that would create obstacles for the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline enjoys strong support from some ranchers, neighborhood activists and environmentalists. That much became clear at a legislative hearing Wednesday. But an underlying issue also has begun to emerge: The measure might not pass legal muster.
"There are constitutional questions about this bill," said Rep. Ron Lewis, D-Mauriceville, chairman of the House Committee on Energy Resources. "Even if the committee were to kick this out and it were to be passed by the Legislature, it would wind up in the courthouse."
One question is whether the measure would require the Texas Railroad Commission to undertake regulatory activities prohibited by federal law. Another is whether it would unlawfully interfere with interstate commerce.
Pipeline lessons from the farm
Austin American-Statesman
March 6, 2001
Once gasoline soaks in the ground, it ruins water supplies for a long, long time. That's one painful lesson of the tank farm in East Austin.
The local gasoline depot known as the tank farm closed down in the early 1990s. But groundwater in the area of the 52-acre site remains dangerously polluted. Another 15 years will pass before the water is safe, regulators say.
The tank farm's lessons should be recalled daily as Central Texas considers the plans of another consortium of oil companies, Longhorn Partners Pipeline.
Public health watchdogs, including the City of Austin and Lower Colorado River Authority, are opposing the plan in federal court. They say groundwater pollution poses too great a risk, despite numerous safety concessions made by the five oil company partners -- ExxonMobil among them.
Longhorn to test plan to guard aquifer from leaks in pipeline
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Officials of the pipeline company say the aquifer, an underground limestone formation filled with water, can be protected by sealing the walls and floor of the pipeline trench with Gunite, a special mixture of cement, sand and water sprayed into place. In theory, fuel would not enter holes and fissures in the limestone, instead remaining in the trench until it could be pumped out.
EDITORIAL: Instead of repairing faulty pipeline, start anew
By Rich Oppel, Editor
Austin American-Statesman
Sunday, August 5, 2001
Inactive since 1995, the pipeline runs within 1,250 feet of 9,200 Austin-area residents. These often are not the neighborhoods of the wealthy or influential. O.B. Harris, Longhorn's vice president, says candidly, "I wouldn't want that pipeline in my back yard either."
Central Texans wary of a hazard underfoot
Longhorn pipe being revamped - no thanks to regulators
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
"It's highly, highly combustible," said Alcala, 38, a limousine driver who has spray-painted his opinion - "no gas" - on the roof of his shed so that pilots who inspect the right of way for Longhorn can see it. "If anything were to ever go wrong, everything from this block to that block would be decimated."
The OPS allows pipelines to run under buildings. It allows decades-old pipelines to carry explosive gases and toxic liquids without periodic testing. And it allows pipelines to pass through some water supplies and other sensitive ecosystems without special precautions.
The Longhorn mitigation plan was secured not because of the Office of Pipeline Safety, but in spite of it.
Pipe owners' clout imperils land, water
Austin American-Statesman
Tuesday, July 24, 2001
WASHINGTON - A rule the petroleum industry negotiated with federal regulators will allow pipeline operators to avoid spending billions of dollars to protect certain environmentally sensitive areas and historical sites from spills.
Ordinance proposed to crimp pipelines
Austin Council is urged to pass rules that would hinder the Longhorn line
Austin American-Statesman
July 20, 2001
Two environmental groups and a former state land commissioner want the Austin City Council to adopt an ordinance intended to prevent the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline from operating. The Longhorn opponents unveiled their draft ordinance at a news conference Thursday and urged council members to enact it in the near future.
The ordinance would require City Council approval for a pipeline to pass beneath city streets or other property and school district approval to pass within 200 feet of a public school. It also would prohibit crossing the Barton Springs watershed or land acquired by the city to protect water purity.
Dallas-based Longhorn said it doubted whether such an ordinance could pass constitutional muster. "Federal regulations, not city ordinances, govern all interstate pipelines, and any city ordinance that attempts to regulate pipelines would be subject to federal pre- emption," a statement issued by the company read.
Not much was left on their to-do list Central Texas delegation to Legislature got a lot accomplished
Austin American-Statesman
May 31, 2001
Ann Kitchen lost her fight to require Longhorn Pipeline, part of which runs through South Austin, and other pipelines that are converted for use from one fuel to another, to use new pipe near schools, waterways and neighborhoods. But pipeline companies will have to notify the public when they change the fuels they transport and will have to share emergency evacuation plans with school boards.
Longhorn makes wise move
Austin American-Statesman
May 31, 2001
The pipeline was built to move crude, and the company talked up their plans to modernize the pipe and upgrade the monitoring of it. Among those joining the suit was the Lower Colorado River Authority. Officials of the river authority cited concerns about the threat the pipeline posed to area water supplies.
Last week, the company put enough mitigation measures in writing to appease the concerns of Joe Beal, general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, who announced that his agency was withdrawing from the litigation.
Included in the agreement between Longhorn and the LCRA, is replacement of six miles of pipeline near the Pedernales River and added check valves near the Colorado, Pedernales, Llano and San Saba rivers to limit the amount of gas that could spill in a leak. Longhorn also agreed to create ways to limit the amount of benzene that could go into the water supply if a leak occurred.
LCRA, Longhorn reach agreement on pipeline safety Company will take action to protect water supply; Austin, others will still pursue lawsuit
Austin American-Statesman
May 16, 2001
The LCRA will drop out of a lawsuit against the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline after winning concessions to protect Central Texas drinking water from possible contamination. Under an agreement to be announced today, Longhorn Partners Pipeline will replace six miles of pipe near the Pedernales River, which empties into Lake Travis and eventually into Lake Austin -- providing water to 750,000 Central Texans, most of them in Austin.
"We focused on the one issue: ensuring that the drinking water supplies would be protected," said Joe Beal, LCRA general manager. "We have not focused on the human safety aspect of the thing or the potential for explosion or fire."
The agreement calls for:
* steel walls three-eighths of an inch thick in areas where LCRA models show that benzene, a cancer-causing gasoline additive, could enter the Pedernales River.
* Nine additional check valves, which shut down sections of pipeline when a leak is detected, will be installed near the Colorado, Pedernales, Llano and San Saba rivers.
* If the added precautions fail and benzene reaches Lake Travis or Lake Austin in concentrations that exceed federal standards of five parts per billion, Longhorn will install filtering devices on all drinking water intakes.
State agency orders testing for Texas pipeline safety
Austin American-Statesman
April 11, 2001
Under a new Texas rule, natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines operating within Texas must be periodically tested to ensure their safety under a rule adopted unanimously Tuesday by the state Railroad Commission. "We recognize increasing sensitivities about pipelines, and perhaps more important, the aging of pipelines," said Tony Garza, one of three commission members. "This puts us, I think, way ahead of the federal regulatory scheme." Internal inspections, pressure tests or other forms of assessment must be done on a regular basis. Pipe operators have five to 10 years to complete the initial round of testing depending on pipe size, location and other factors.
The Railroad Commission's rule-making, initiated months ago, was prompted in part by a rash of fatal pipeline accidents, including a natural gas explosion near Carlsbad, N.M., that killed 12 people and a butane explosion near Abilene that killed a police officer.
The rule applies only to pipelines operating wholly within the state and thereby subject to Railroad Commission jurisdiction. Interstate pipelines -- regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety -- are subject to that agency's narrower integrity-testing requirement, which focuses on liquid pipelines in urban or environmentally sensitive areas.
Legal hurdles likely await gas pipeline restrictions
Austin American-Statesman
March 15, 2001
A bill that would create obstacles for the proposed Longhorn gasoline pipeline enjoys strong support from some ranchers, neighborhood activists and environmentalists. That much became clear at a legislative hearing Wednesday. But an underlying issue also has begun to emerge: The measure might not pass legal muster.
"There are constitutional questions about this bill," said Rep. Ron Lewis, D-Mauriceville, chairman of the House Committee on Energy Resources. "Even if the committee were to kick this out and it were to be passed by the Legislature, it would wind up in the courthouse."
One question is whether the measure would require the Texas Railroad Commission to undertake regulatory activities prohibited by federal law. Another is whether it would unlawfully interfere with interstate commerce.
Pipeline lessons from the farm
Austin American-Statesman
March 6, 2001
Once gasoline soaks in the ground, it ruins water supplies for a long, long time. That's one painful lesson of the tank farm in East Austin.
The local gasoline depot known as the tank farm closed down in the early 1990s. But groundwater in the area of the 52-acre site remains dangerously polluted. Another 15 years will pass before the water is safe, regulators say.
The tank farm's lessons should be recalled daily as Central Texas considers the plans of another consortium of oil companies, Longhorn Partners Pipeline.
Public health watchdogs, including the City of Austin and Lower Colorado River Authority, are opposing the plan in federal court. They say groundwater pollution poses too great a risk, despite numerous safety concessions made by the five oil company partners -- ExxonMobil among them.
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