Trust Eroding in Oil Pipelines Close to Home

After the trouble in Alaska, some question the safety of California’s aging network. Officials are addressing the public’s fears.

The pipeline problems that shut down the largest U.S. oil field early this month brought a chilling reminder of what can go wrong with the extensive, aging maze of pipelines that carries volatile fuels across the nation.

Poor pipeline maintenance led to extensive corrosion and leaks, leading oil giant BP to turn off the spigots at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. Energy markets were roiled, but no human lives were threatened in Alaska’s North Slope wilderness.

California’s unusually large web of oil, fuel and natural gas pipelines also has been plagued with corrosion and other maintenance and safety issues. Here, however, the risk is compounded by the spread of suburbia, where houses now crowd pipelines that were built and buried in the middle of what was nowhere.

Sometimes, pipelines can be deadly neighbors.

LA Times