Hundreds and hundreds of miles of pipes have been brought to Utah, for the country's biggest energy project in ten years.
The Kern River pipeline will be built by the same company that laid another pipeline through Utah. News Specialist John Hollenhorst has more on the project.
It's a safe bet you've never seen this much pipe in one place. There's 40 acres of it temporarily stored in Tooele. Each pipe is at least 3 feet in diameter. Laid end to end, this would all stretch 180 miles. And they plan to lay down almost five times this much.
Because Kern River company wanted everyone to see this impressive pile of pipe in Tooele, they held a ceremonial groundbreaking in a sandbox, miles from the actual route. It will follow the existing Kern River pipepline right-of-way, 771 miles from Wyoming to California. The pipe will carry natural gas through Utah's most populous areas, right down the center of the Salt Lake Valley.
ROBERT SLUDER/PRESIDENT, KERN RIVER: "THAT'S GOING TO GO DOWN THIS RIGHT-OF-WAY AND SERVE COMMUNITIES ALL THE WAY THROUGH WYOMING, UTAH, NEVADA AND INTO CALIFORNIA."
The two pipes together will carry nearly two billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. Much of it will fuel power plants in a region that had an electricity supply crisis two winters ago.
KIRK MORGAN/VICE PRESIDENT, KERN RIVER: "THE WEST REALLY CAN ILL AFFORD TO HAVE A REPEAT OF THE ENERGY PRICE VOLATILITY AND RELIABILITY THAT WE SAW 18 MONTHS AGO."
Kern River stirred controversy in some areas ten years ago. There were complaints about environmental damage. And some worried about the danger of pipeline explosions.
JOHN HOLLENHORST, REPORTING: "THE GAS IN THESE PIPES WILL BE PRESSURIZED BY ENORMOUS COMPRESSORS RUNNING AT 164,000 HORSEPOWER. BUT THE COMPANY SAYS IT HAS A HIGH COMMITMENT TO SAFETY FOR THE COMMUNITIES THE PIPELINE RUNS THROUGH."
ROBERT SLUDER/PRESIDENT, KERN RIVER: "THIS IS OUR HOME TOO. AND WE TAKE THAT VERY SERIOUSLY."
Something this big takes a lot of money. About 1.2 billion dollars. The project will employ about 5,000 people and should be completed by next May.
August 14, 2002
