On 5/21/15 2:35 PM, Califbill wrote:
Keyser Söze wrote:
...clean water?

Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe
that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and
maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.

A Times analysis of data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration shows Plains' rate of incidents per mile of pipe is more
than three times the national average. Among more than 1,700 pipeline
operators listed in a database maintained by the federal agency, only
four companies reported more infractions than Plains Pipeline.

The company, which transports and stores crude oil, is part of Plains All
American Pipeline, which owns and operates nearly 18,000 miles of pipe
networks in several states. It reported $43 billion in revenue in 2014
and $878 million in profit.

The company's infractions involved pump failure, equipment malfunction,
pipeline corrosion and operator error. None of the incidents resulted in
injuries. According to federal records, since 2006 the company's
incidents caused more than $23 million in property damage and spilled
more than 688,000 gallons of hazardous liquid.

A Plains Pipeline spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for
comment about its regulatory record.

The spill near Refugio State Beach occurred Tuesday on an 11-mile-long
pipeline that is part of a larger oil transport network centered in Kern
County. Authorities say the accident may have released as much as 105,000
gallons of crude oil.


The company said it inspected the pipeline's integrity two weeks ago. But
the results had not come back before the rupture, Darren Palmer, Plains'
district manager, said at a news conference.

Before that inspection, the last review of the line, which can pump up to
6.3 million gallons of oil per day, was in 2012, according to the company.

Workers manually shut down the pipeline Tuesday when they saw
"abnormalities" in the line, said company spokeswoman Karen M. Rugaard.
The leak was confirmed two hours later.

For mo


http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...521-story.html

Pretty low profit margin. Maybe too much money going to union pipe
workers, who are not doing a good job. What would you do if you were
running the company?



Well, BillyBoy, we know polluting the environment is not an important
issue to people like you, but perhaps...

1. We can dismiss those "low profit margins" as just another example of
corporate book cooking.

2. We can insist, somehow, that the company's execs take fewer trips to
Cabo for "meetings."

3. We can impose and enforce stiffer penalties, including criminal
prosecution, for certain environmental disasters.

Here's a hint for you, BillyBoy: if the line workers are not doing their
jobs properly, it is completely and entirely the fault of management.