While the Plains All American Pipeline is shut down for repair and spill cleanup, there seem to be many other repairs to the plumbing going on in the pix below. But first I’ll share this pic of Gaviota that I really like.
4577 Gaviota Beautiful
The wind and oil on the water add such texture & depth, if this were a Spring pic with green grasses and maybe wildflowers…
As for the plumbing, on the hill to the left of the pic above is this new dirt road with several pipe projects showing.
4574 Hill Pipe
At the bottom is a barrier fence to stop rocks that roll down from the dig you can just make out above. Just at the edge of the green there’s a blue water trailer you’ll see in another pic, and between these two features is a new looking pipe head sticking up that you can’t make out in this wide pic. First here’s a closer look at the dig just above this end of the road.
4570 Downhill Dig
Guess it was a weak spot in the pipe they dug up and repaired, and working on that steep slope must have made it fairly interesting. Here’s that pipe head I mentioned.
4556 Pipe Head
Someone on Edhat said there’s been lots of equipment and activity on this hill since well before the spill, so maybe this is a bypass line or they’ve shut down the whole pipeline occasionally to work on sections. Speaking of sections, next to that blue water trailer there’s this long section of pipe. Is it waiting to be installed, to be used as a bypass to a section in the ground, or maybe an old section they’ve pulled out and replaced already?
4551 Long Section
The smaller white pipe along the top of the road is apparently for water to the blue trailer tank, and it runs from another blue trailer at the bottom of the hill near the coast clear to the bottom barrier at the northern end. Along the coast East toward Santa Barbara there are two digs on the main pipeline next to Hwy.101. This one’s a little over half way from Gaviota to Refugio.
4545 Halfway Dig
Then about a mile toward Gaviota from Refugio there’s this one not far from the spill site.
4525 Pipe Repair
This one looks very much like a pipe repair, with the sun shade frame still there from when they were working on it. Maybe it’s awaiting pressure testing or inspection before they bury it again. Further along the coast below the refinery at Las Flores next to Hwy.101 this section of pipe is dug up.
4665 Las Flores Dig
This one’s perpendicular to the highway and the main pipeline. Maybe the refinery folks are adding or upgrading this pipe while everything’s shut down. It’s interesting to see all the work, especially since there’s been so little reporting on all this. I’m impressed with how organized and careful everything looks, in contrast with the apparent lack of attention and prevention that led to the spill and inadequate initial cleanup. What I’ve seen and read indicates that if the oil had been contained and removed from the water immediately, the strong winds wouldn’t have spread it across the Channel.
John & Anne Wiley 
You must be logged in to post a comment.