Pipeline News Round-Up 5/29/13

Here are a few of the interesting pipeline stories that were floating around the interwebs this week: 

• Here is an interesting article titled 5 reasons we don't need more oil pipelines.  I would have to give this article a grade of 20%; as personally, I only agree with 1 of the 5 points.  For brevity sake, I will only address 3 of the points. 
• The author states that the pipeline will only create "35 full-time, permanent jobs."  Is any job every truly permanent??  Even in her own conservative estimate (siting a study) she says the Keystone pipeline will "create between 2,500 and 4,650 temporary jobs to build the pipeline, each of which will last approximately two years."  Is that something to scoff at??  4000 people who are currently unemployed would love the opportunity to work for the next two years!!
• The author states that "there will be spills..."  She has even found a study performed by a PHD in which he estimates that the Keystone Pipeline will result in "91 major spills over the 50 year life of the pipeline."  This seems crazy to me.  Let me apply that same logic to highways in Texas.  There are ~300,000 miles of road in Texas (source) and in 2010 there were 3028 traffic fatalities (source).  This means there was a traffic fatality for every 99 miles of road.  So, using the logic presented here; a proposed new 495 mile road will result in 250 deaths over the course of the 50 years of that road's proposed life; so we shouldn't build it.  Doesn't it make more sense to consider evaluating auto safety levels; speed limits; law enforcement; DWI awareness; etc to try and stop the deaths.  In the same vein, wouldn't it make more sense to evaluate Pipeline Integrity Standards and Pipeline Construction Quality as the means of reducing pipeline failures?
• Lastly, I would like to comment on her point that a Canadian company is (allegedly) attempting to abuse Eminent Domain by taking the land of Midwest farmers.  This is a significant problem - and in all honesty I would love to see some journalists focused exclusively on this issue.

• NACE International has released a free mobile app with tools available to members and non members alike.  Read more info here. 

• Alabama officials to meet about a proposed 3 billion dollar; 465 mile natural gas pipeline through the southeast USA.   Read more here.

• Get used to reading about Bridge corrosion in the news.  Though this has been an often talked about concern for decades, it will certainly be a high profile issue for months ahead.  Apparently, corrosion on the Bay Bridge was ignored for 9 years before the most recent March incident.  Read more here.

• Are Vietnamese Steel Manufacturers Dumping Steel Into the US Market?  Read more info here. 

As a side note:  Joint Specialists has developed a few new websites in an effort to better educate the public about our products:

Two Part Epoxies for Pipeline Coatings (www.2partepoxies.com)
A very general overview of Field Joint Coatings (www.field jointcoatings.com)
A site dedicated to Raychems WCSM tubing (www.wcsmtubing.com)
A general overview of Pipeline Coating Supply (www.pipelinecoatingsupply.com)
A general overview of Pipe Coating Supply (www.pipecoatingsupply.com)
A page committed to Raychem Heat Shrink (www.raychemheatshrink.com)
A page committed to Raychem Pipe Coatings (www.raychempipecoatings.com)
A page committed to Raychem Shrink Sleeves (www.raychemshrinksleeves.com)
A Page committed to Raychem Distributors (www.raychemdistributor.com)