(ConocoPhilips pipe) Leaking oil spreads stench over Concord

[alp227]

Source: SF Chronicle

A crude-oil leak sent heavy-diesel and sulfur fumes over a Concord neighborhood, and authorities say the smell could linger through the day.

The leak from a 7-mile-long ConocoPhillips pipeline that runs under the former Concord Naval Weapons Station began Monday, and the smell is still hanging over the area of Holly Drive, Creek Place and Myrtle Drive, said Steve Morioka, assistant director of Contra Costa County Health Services' hazardous materials program.

The agency received reports of "a heavy refinery odor" Monday morning, Morioka said. ConocoPhillips employees found the leak in the 16-inch pipe at the south end of the old naval weapons station at about 4:30 p.m. But in the process of finding the leak, employees kicked up contaminated soil and made the odor worse.

The oil that leaked is called sour crude oil because it contains sulfur compounds, which smell like rotten eggs. The odor was at its strongest Monday night before ConocoPhillips employees covered the contaminated soil and vacuumed up most of the spilled oil, Morioka said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/08/BA1C1LS2F3.DTL

[KansDem]

1. Yeah! Yeah! Now let's get ready for the Keystone XL oil pipeline!

Yeah! What could possibly go wrong!...:silly:

[No Elephants]

4. Nothing like this could possibly happen with a pipeline that stretches from Canada to Texas.

At least, that is what we will be told soon. And they will list the many ways they have protected us against every possible contingency.

And then, the landlocked equivalent of the BP disaster or the Exxon spill will happen anyway.

Whodda thunk disasters due to a combination of greed, negligence and human error would ever occur in the oil business?

[midnight]

2. K&R

[glinda]

3. Just like a dog purposely leaving a scent. On purpose IMHO.