DRUMRIGHT - While TransCanada's Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is a key point in the debate on climate change and fossil fuels, a 36-inch pipeline delivering essentially the same type of heavy Canadian crude will be making its way through Oklahoma without a presidential stamp.
The 600-mile Flanagan South pipeline built by Enbridge Energy Co. does not technically cross an international border, but the 36-inch domestic line stretching from terminals near Chicago to the Cushing oil hub will bring sweet crude from connections in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana, and the heavier oil sands crude from western Canada.
Though Flanagan South hasn't attracted as many headlines and hoopla as the XL, it hasn't gone entirely unnoticed by environmental groups or the other land owners in Osage, Pawnee and Payne counties who may already be dealing with ongoing maintenance issues associated with having multiple pipelines buried on their rural properties.
On Monday night, Enbridge invited the public to an open house at Central Tech Pipeline & Safety Center in Drumright where the Calgary, Alberta-based company laid out its plans from right of way purchase and assembly to completion. Drumright is about 40 miles west of Tulsa and 10 miles east of Cushing.
While Enbridge points to the positive outcomes of the pipeline - increased energy independence, meeting the market demand for petroleum products and employing hundreds of local workers - others have concerns about the intrusiveness of the pipelines on their properties and the potential for environmental disaster should the pipeline ever rupture.
Enbridge is still in the process of cleaning up an oil sands spill in Marshall, Mich., on the Kalamazoo River after a side seam ruptured three years ago.
Flanagan South will bore under the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers and numerous other waterways in Oklahoma.
Oil sands crude "is so toxic. It's the dirtiest oil there is from the earth," said Gwen Ingram of Drumright, a member of the Sierra Club and Clean Energy Future. "Human error happens and technology fails. It's been proven over and over."
Enbridge maintains that spillage incidents are not common.
"There's a lot of bad information about the oil sands," said Lorraine Little, senior manager of liquids operations and projects.
She points to a report by the National Academy of Science earlier this year that concluded that diluted bitumen, which is the mixture of oil sands crude and diluent used so that it will flow, is no more corrosive to steel pipelines than other lighter crudes.
Heavier grade oils extracted from dirt and sand are used in asphalt for roads and roofing and are used to make numerous products including fertilizers, plastics, fuels, heating oil and lubricants. Lighter grades are refined into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. "We transport what our customers demand," Little said.
Flanagan South will run mostly adjacent to the company's existing 22- to 24-inch Spearhead Pipeline, built in the 1950s. Together, the two pipelines will run a 100-foot wide swath through the area and have the capacity to transport 775,000 barrels of oil a day.
U.S. Pipeline and Westwood Survey were awarded the construction contract that includes Oklahoma and Kansas.
Luke Kesner, Enbridge director of project controls, said that project should start sometime after October and be done by April for the 300-mile section from Marshall, Mo., to Cushing.
Kesner said about 106 people have been hired through a training program offered by the Osage Nation in conjunction with the U.S. Pipeline union, and at least another 30 to 40 people will be hired to work as apprentices to welders and equipment operators.
The workforce will be 25 percent through the tribe, 30 percent from U.S. Pipeline and about 45 percent from local unions throughout the state.
The six- to eight-month project will employ a total of 1,200 people working 10-hour days, six days a week, Kesner said.
Little said 96 percent of the right of ways have been acquired and that the vast majority had accepted Enbridge's offers.
"We make sure it's fair," said Enbridge project manager Donna Fritts. "We know the pipelines will be here a lot longer than we are."
Ralph Matlock owns 60 acres on the Cimarron River about five miles south of Yale in Payne County. Flanagan South will be the third Enbridge pipeline to run across his property which means that more of Matlock's trees will be removed.
While he doesn't quibble over the compensation he received from Enbridge for the pipeline easement, he does have a few beefs with the company over ongoing maintenance issues when repairs were made to existing lines.
"I haven't been treated very well," he said. "They say, 'We'll take care of it.' But they haven't."
Hoss Seitz, Enbridge senior field engineer, said the landowners are compensated for tree removal and lost crop space.
The pipelines are buried about 4 feet deep on normal terrain. Under river beds, the depth can be 30 to 40 feet, Seitz said.
Officials said that 24-hour monitoring of the pipeline is done from a control center in Canada. Right of ways are monitored by aircraft and on foot.
In-line inspection tools or "smart pigs" go through the lines to check their integrity. The company said that it goes beyond federal regulations by inspecting every weld which is coated with an anti-corrosive material.
Properly monitored and maintained, Little said the steel pipelines can last indefinitely.
Several members of environmental groups attended including the Sierra Club, Local Environmental Action Demanded or "LEAD," Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, and other representatives from the Teamsters, Labor Management Cooperative Trust, Osage Nation, several businesses and the offices of U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and state Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing.
Another open house was held Tuesday night in Pawhuska.
Susan Hylton 918-581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Enbridge set to construct pipeline to Cushing hub
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