It's 7 a.m. on a foggy Northwest morning and Joe Karney has a date with a very smart pig. Karney, a
NW Natural pipeline integrity engineer, is managing a project to detect any possible weak spots in a 20-inch diameter pipe that runs beneath Portland. This October morning he is supervising the placement of a High Resolution MFL Inline Inspection Tool, known in the pipeline vernacular as a "smart pig."
The high-tech device will travel about seven miles inside the pipe, scanning for any anomalies that could spell trouble down the road. High-resolution smart pigs can accurately detect, locate and document any corrosion, dents, scratches and other irregularities in pipelines. Once a problem is identified, the information can be used to develop a repair or replacement program, determine if reinspection is necessary and evaluate effectiveness of a corrosion inhibitor program.
This is just one of more than a dozen projects undertaken during 2006 to ensure the safety and integrity of NW Natural's pipeline system. Overall, the company spent $11 million on similar projects in 2006 as part of a program that will maintain and extend the life of more than 13,500 miles of pipeline. This pipeline work is essential to the current and long-term viability of the transmission system.
About 60 miles west of Portland in the Oregon Coast Range, our pipeline work was more visible. There along the Nehalem River, one of the region's premier salmon and steelhead streams, NW Natural moved 850 feet of 24-inch diameter pipe and 660 feet of 16-inch diameter pipe. The pipes, which allow natural gas to flow from NW Natural's Mist underground gas storage facility nearby, were moved to a new location beneath Battle Creek, a tributary of the Nehalem. The reason for the move was simple: the highway department planned on realigning the road in the area to straighten out a curve and replace a bridge. NW Natural took the opportunity to move the pipeline into a safer location, away from the road and the new bridge.
The company used special boring equipment to relocate the pipe well beneath the creek bed. This commonly used technology causes the least disruption to streamside habitat.
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