Texas groups to offer pipeline emergency course
Innovative program uses a 2,300-foot underground pipeline to simulate oil and gas leaks; course to begin 28 August 2006
As critical as pipelines are in transporting petroleum and chemical products, they are among the most vulnerable assets both to terrorism and to unintended accident. In Iraq, for instance, they remain a favored target of the insurgents, who hope to both upset the nation’s economy and divert precious security resources away from population centers. Stronger security efforts, perhaps, might mitigate the risk, but damaged pipelines must still be replaced, and the consequent fires and oil spills managed.
For those in the industry, a joint project by the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the National Association of State Fire Marshals, provides welcome assistance. As part of their new Pipeline Emergencies course being offered starting 28 August 2006, they will introduce a 2,300-foot below-ground training pipeline specially constructed to simulate emergencies such as gas and fluid leaks. As part of a forty hour course, students will study pipeline maintence, safety and repair, and then practice what they have learned.
The trainer, one of the first of its kind, is located at TEEX’s world-renowned Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, Texas, and was constructed with input from the world’s leading pipeline industry representatives.
-read more in this UPI report
