Columbia is likely to continue various assessments and some removal activities that are to take place at active and even former compressor stations; other locations are also to be considered along its pipeline when it comes to several states too. Columbia has provided the official EPA with a special Work Scope List; this list actually identifies all the areas of this pipeline system, the special ones where removal activities are likely to be required across the entire rex pipeline. Actually, it has been estimated that the vast majority of this removal work is likely to be performed only under this Order that is be completed at the end of the current year. Several sites that are considered to have contaminated the existing groundwater may require longer periods of time in order to be completed. The columbia gas transmission is headquartered in the American city of Charleston, in West Virginia. Columbia has operated different gas pipeline systems that are currently to be found in the northeastern area of the state. Columbia currently operates almost 19,000 miles of these pipelines; there are approximately 243 active and even retired compressor stations that are to be found across the entire territory of several states. Columbia's pipeline is likely to be interconnected with different other gas transmission pipelines and it is also likely to have been used in other cases too, namely in the past when it came to transporting the natural gas that were owned by different other companies. The rex pipeline includes the existing natural gas pipeline together with the compressor stations that are likely to be including different compressed air systems; the liquid removal points are likely to come along this natural gas pipeline system and actually, all these locations where the pipeline liquids are removed are likely to be included in this system too.
Mercury metering stations together with the storage wells are also to be found along this columbia gas transmission; even the related operations together with the natural gas flare sites, are taken into consideration when it comes to studying the entire existing structure of this gas transmission. Drum storage areas, maintenance facilities, vent stacks and even the lubricating oil that is to be found in the storage tanks are likely to be designed in order to satisfy the demands of the initial project that was admitted in the beginning. Loading and even unloading areas that are filled with the well known natural gas scrubbers, are likely to be found along the electrical equipment that is used in order to be filled with oil; the already existing roads and even the fence lines are to be improved especially if they were often sprayed with special oil for dust or weed control. One should also consider the improvement of different other locations that have not been described above.
All the natural compressors are likely to be used, along this rex pipeline, in order to increase the required pressure that is to be found within the entire pipeline in order to facilitate the proper transportation of this natural gas that has to reach the homes of the Columbia's customers. Lubricating oil is also likely to be used in these natural gas compressors that are to be found along the Columbia's pipeline. During the entire course of this ordinary operation that takes place in the pipeline, the lubricating oil is likely to have migrated into this Columbia's pipeline. Prior to this decade, the polychlorinated biphenyls were quite widely used by the energy industry in order to lubricate these oils for the existing electrical equipment; even the hydraulic systems were likely to have been lubricated in this manner because of their difficult and exceptional heat transfer characteristics. Portions of the columbia gas transmission, including the natural gas compressors are likely to have become contaminated with these chemical substances that are not safe to use anymore.
Columbia maintains the fact that these contaminants have actually been introduced into this pipeline system as a sort of direct result of various interconnections with the existing gas transmission pipelines that belong to other companies that were used to lubricating their oil in this chemical manner. Actually, the company states the fact that it has not used these chemical contaminants in order to lubricate the existing oils that are to be found in the natural gas compressors. As a direct result of this normal pressure or temperature changes within this rex pipeline, all the constituents that are actually contained in this natural gas can and will condense into a sort of liquid form that will remain within the pipeline. This liquid or you can call it “condensate” is likely to contain benzene and toluene.
The condensate might additionally contain these PCB-contaminated lubricants; these lubricants are likely to have entered the pipeline but the existing condensates are to be removed in order to avoid different damages when it comes to the gas compressors. Therefore, this condensate is actually removed from the pipeline through various liquid removal points that area to be found at various locations all along the entire pipeline system. The rex pipeline is designed in order to avoid the possible contamination with different chemicals that are not considered as being safe enough and the entire columbia gas transmission is to be regarded as a quite safe system that is likely to meet the actual demands.
