Fatal Gas Blast Prompts Scrutiny of Aging U.S. Fuel Pipelines

[phantom power]

More shit we could put people back to work fixing.

Four people are confirmed dead and four are missing after the Sept. 9 explosion of a 54-year-old PG&E Corp. natural-gas pipeline in the San Bruno suburb. The blast happened one day after an Enbridge Inc. crude-oil line leaked near Chicago, forcing a shutdown threatening fuel supplies in the U.S. Midwest. The Enbridge pipe, which can handle 670,000 barrels a day, started service in 1968.

The U.S. is crisscrossed with more than 2.5 million miles of fuel pipelines, or enough to circle the earth about 100 times. U.S. regulators may now step up inspections and increase the industry’s maintenance costs, said Mark Easterbrook, a pipelines analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Dallas.

“Regulators will probably look for more integrity spending on pipelines,” Easterbrook said. “We’re probably going to see incremental increases in the future, with more attention on older pipelines.”

Much of the underground infrastructure in the U.S., which also includes water and sewer pipes, has been in use for more than 50 years and needs to be evaluated and, where needed, replaced, said Blaine Leonard, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/fatal-gas-blast-prompts-scrutiny-of-aging-u-s-fuel-pipelines.html

[louis-t]

1. And as they shut down for repairs, watch for more 30 cent increases

in gas prices.