HIDDEN POWER | Gas pipeline safety issues resurface after California tragedy by Diane Dietz, The Register-Guard, appeared in print: Sunday, Sep 26, 2010
..."Most U.S. transmission lines are old. The average age of pipes in the national system — including those carrying gases and liquid gasoline — is 50 years, Weimer said. “But what matters more is how well the pipeline has been maintained, operated and inspected,” he said.
“We’ve seen brand new pipelines that go to failure in just a few years because they weren’t maintained and operated well. In other places we’ve looked there’s 70-year-old pipelines and they’re still in good shape,” he said.
Mike Haberkorn, who oversees the 66-year-old pipeline that serves Western Oregon from Vancouver to Grants Pass, said pipelines are basically ageless. “If they’re operated and maintained property, they virtually last forever,” he said.
