Pipeline made an impact
December 7, 2009
By Greg Wees
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
NORFOLK, Neb. — Crews who spent the summer here building part of one of the longest crude oil pipelines ever constructed have pulled up stakes.
It won’t be long before oil starts filling the 2,148-mile Keystone Pipeline.
“We expect to start to fill the line with oil this year. The fill process will take several months to complete,” said Jeff Rauh, a spokesman for pipeline owner TransCanada.
Work in Nebraska is substantially finished, he said. Farmland and fences disturbed while burying the pipeline have been restored.
Before oil starts to flow, however, the pipeline still has to pass a number of checks. One test involves filling it with water and pressure-testing to make sure there aren’t any leaks, Rauh said.
TransCanada will send information to landowners along the route and public officials to inform them about the shift to operational status when it happens next year.
The crude extracted from oil sands will enter the pipeline at Hardisty, Alberta, and flow to a refinery near St. Louis and to a terminal at Patoka, Ill., where it can move to other refineries.
The Norfolk-based workers completed the work from north of Yankton, S.D., to the Platte River near Schuyler, Neb.
The main contractor, Price Gregory, will keep equipment over the winter at the construction yard in Norfolk, Rauh said.
The local economy benefited from the several hundred workers and family members who came to Norfolk. Many stayed in motels, apartments and in a new campground southeast of town.
One of the campground operators said 66 workers stayed in recreational vehicles at the peak of construction. Most were gone by mid-November. About half had left after two months, he said.
Spending by the pipeline workers at restaurants, gas stations and stores contributed to an increase in city sales tax revenue. November sales tax receipts, reflecting September sales, were up $21,293, or 3.7 percent, over last year. The government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program figured into the increase as well.
Dennis Houston, president of the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce, said stores reported sales increases ranging from 10 percent to 15 percent.
“A lot of people can’t say that in this economy. I think that’s very positive,” he said.
The workers left behind at least one other permanent keepsake. They provided pipe that welders at Northeast Community College turned into a pair of firepits used during a recent downtown Christmas event.
