From a friend in Vancouver Canada, thanks for all your good work joann and Dave.

I enjoyed the interview you had with Greg and spent time searching for more of his investigative journalism.

I am now retired and have had direct experience with pipeline inspection, specifically what is called "pipeline integrity".

Greg spoke of pipeline "pigs" that are inserted inside of a 'live' pipeline (product flowing inside) to detect discontinuities which may include cracks and/or corrosion etc.  The "pig" is not sensitive enough to determine the discontinuity.  The pig records information along its path and if it detects a discontinuity it records the position or location of the possible defect.

The areas in which the pig has detected a discontinuity is dug up and inspection crews report on the specfics of what they discover.

That information is communicated to the inspection company's client and it is the client to determine whether or not the discontinuity requires attention, such as replacement of a section of the pipeline.

The pig may indeed by programmed to distinguish between what the pipeline company determines are non-relevant discontinuities.

When I was working on existing pipeline inspections the client's engineers would have sections of a pipe that had some external corrosion (that we had quantified in terms of depth of the corrosion and remaining pipe wall thickness) removed and delivered to their lab where they conducted "burst tests".  These tests are actually hydrostatic tests which produce high pressures in the pipe until the pipe bursts.  From this information a pipeline company determines whether or not a discontinuity is relevant or not. 

I would imagine that if the pig that Greg Palast was talking about in Alaska was indeed programmed to exclude discontinuities that pipeline engineers had determined through testing were non-relevant.  As Greg pointed out, this practice does appear to be suspicious and probably he has a case in terms of how the pig's program can be tampered with.

Almost all of the pipeline leaks lately are due to pipelines that were fabricated and buried 30-50 years ago when knowledge of coatings, metals and soil science (cathodic anodic interactions) were not fully understood.

I am not sure if governing bodies have required pipeline companies to conduct their pig inspections on a more frequent basis.  I do know that one can send a pig down a line and 6 months later a spill can occur.  This may be due to rapid corrosion caused by a multiple of causes.  Once coating fails on the external surface of a buried pipeline, moisture, soil chemicals and inherent electrical currents can accellerate corrosion causing a failure even in areas of the pipe that had no relevant discontinuities.

In Canada, and I believe in the US, our governments have slashed the direct public oversight component of regulation relying on "corporate responsibility".  Most public oversight consists of reviewing corporate paperwork.  The review usually does not consist of a full reading of that paperwork.  If the public is to be assured of pipeline safety it must ask for more inspections and more government inspectors who oversee some of the "digs" to determine severity of pipeline discontinuities.

Again, thanks for your hard work!

Phil

I’m a newer fan to KBOO. I listen every morning now and Voices From the Edge (VFE) is definitely one of my favorite morning program. I’m usually quite a fan but today I was really disappointed by Joann and the President of NAACP. A man called up and asked “Why aren’t all black men supporting Obama?” He was trying to be controversial and disruptive. He tossed a lure of disconcert to the radio hosts and what did they do . . . they bit. Joann dominated the conversation, provided a flippant/emotional/short rebuttal and pushed the guy off the air. Worse yet, the President of the NAACP said NOTHING! What on earth is a leader of the NAACP supposed to do but say something in these situations? That was the caller that VFE/NAACP should pray for, wish for, hell invite. HE WAS THE PERSON YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH AND YOU PUSHED HIM AWAY INSTEAD OF INVITING THE CONVERSATION AND PROMOTING GROWTH. We don’t make progress if those who disagree don’t discuss and debate. VFE too often discusses topics with people that share the same liberal view and all you are doing is reinforcing existing beliefs. It’s pointless if you want to effect change. You missed a tremendous opportunity today to change this guy and affect all those who share the same beliefs. He actually made a few valid points—Why wouldn’t black men support Obama? It would do wonders for equality. What has Obama ever done?—but with limited scope. You had a chance to discuss, inform, and enlighten those who wondered the same things. You said nothing constructive and you let ignorance prevail. Joann you should be more prepared the next time. The President of the NAACP should be mad as hell at herself. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” -MLKjr