Ruptured Pipeline in KY

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CNN headline news is running a little blurb at the bottom of the screen claiming a ruptured pipeline. It was something like "up to 23,000 gallons flows from ruptured pipeline in KY". I didn't catch more but it sounded like it was still flowing.

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), January 28, 2000

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-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), January 28, 2000.

23,000 gallons of what? water?

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 28, 2000.

Oil spills into creek outside Winchester Pipeline ruptures; 30 work cleanup ASSOCIATED PRESS

WINCHESTER A 24-inch crude oil pipeline ruptured in a rural part of Clark County yesterday, spilling an unknown amount of oil into Two Mile Creek.

State officials advised people living next to or near the creek to extinguish any indoor or outdoor fires, to keep people and animals away from the creek, and to avoid using spring or well water in the area.

Logan Weiler, a regional manager for the state Division of Emergency Management, said last night that the pipeline had been shut down for maintenance shortly after the rupture occurred.

He said officials did not know when the pipeline broke, or how much oil spilled from it before it was shut down. He said Clark County fire officials learned of the spill from area residents who called about 3:15 p.m.

The pipeline carries oil from Owensboro to a refinery in Catlettsburg. It is owned by Marathon Ashland Petroleum, a joint venture of Marathon Oil and Ashland Inc.

MAP spokesman Chuck Rice said yesterday evening that the company had dispatched teams from Louisville and its headquarters of Findlay, Ohio, to assess damage and help with cleanup.

The spill occurred about two miles southwest of Winchester, near the South Wind Golf Course's fifth green. Weiler said oil flowed from there about a mile down Two Mile Creek, a tributary of the Kentucky River that meanders through lightly populated farmland.

He said about 30 people were on the scene, including state and local officials and cleanup contractors who used vacuum trucks to suck up the spilled oil and put it into tanker trucks. He said officials dammed the creek to keep the oil from continuing downstream.

Although the creek was not frozen, single-digit temperatures made it slower-moving than normal, Weiler said.

He said officials were focused more on cleanup than on figuring out what happened.

``We didn't even mess with the pipeline,'' he said. ``Stop the flow, get it contained. We'll look at it (the pipeline) tomorrow to see why it happened and where it happened.''

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-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 28, 2000.


Those pipeline companies have been getting away with poor upkeep and maintenance of their systems for too many years now and it is starting to show. JUst like the Olympic pipeline here in Washington, profit goes before common sense repair. This "problem" is going to end up being a lot more dangerous than Y2K could have been on a bad day.

Once again, these pipelines were put in during the 1950's and their locations were kept secret due to the cold war.

Urban growth has creeped up and over their locations, a lot of times without the knowledge of those who live and work upon them.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 28, 2000.


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