India pipe story

Some in the group are following the story of the India Pipes being shipped around the nation. Our friend, Jeff Rains, discovered this and his photos are circulating around. Jeff is the president of the eastside SOAR and works very hard.

Kmov had story as did other papers. This is another

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3131429#

Source: The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.))By Dennis Grubaugh, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
Mar. 19--ROXANA -- A bunch of made-in-America steelworkers are irritated at plans to use made-in-India pipeline to route Canadian crude into the ConocoPhillips refinery expansion project.
The pipe is being shipped into the area by railroad and stored at a site near the former Army depot grounds in Granite City.
A member of United Steelworkers Local 1899 got close enough to shoot photos of markings inside the pipe, which clearly show a "Made in India" stamp and foreign language markings, said Dave Dowling, the director of District 7, Sub District 2 of the Steelworkers union.
The pipe is being used for the line needed to bring sandy crude from Alberta, Canada, down to Wood River, where the oil will flow into the refinery, which is being revamped to process the material. Billions of dollars are being spent on the plant's expansion.
The pipeline work is being done under the auspices of TransCanada, a developer of a wide range of energy infrastructure projects, which is constructing what's called the Keystone Pipeline in cooperation with ConocoPhillips.
However, the decision to use mostly Indian steel fell to TransCanada, which bid out the work almost two years ago, at a time when U.S. steelmakers were unable to do it, TransCanada spokesman Jim Prescott said.
In terms of price, quantity, quality, delivery dates to meet construction schedules and the specifications on the steel, most U.S. firms could not meet the criteria, he said.
"When the bids went out, it was clear that steel manufacturers in the United States were maxed out," Prescott said. Bids went out among U.S., Canadian and overseas makers, he said.
"The steel industry is very much a global industry today," he said.
The situation is particularly grating to steelworkers who, since late last year, have been laid off by the thousands in the Metro East because their employers have too much inventory and not enough customers.
"The irony of seeing this pipe stored literally in the shadows of the (Granite City) steel mill is pretty hard to take," Dowling said.
Steelworkers began noticing the pipe, painted a dull green, on tractor-trailers heading north on Illinois Route 3.
"Then, we started seeing it in on railroad cars. Hundreds of them are parked around the Granite City depot, waiting to be unloaded. One of our guys walked up to it, looked at it and took pictures," Dowling said.
He first heard about the situation roughly two weeks ago, and since that time has been inundated with calls from members and retirees asking questions.
So, is the pipeline the sort that American steelworkers could have made? Both Prescott and Dowling said they are not sure.
"We gave U.S. Steel dimensions of the pipe (around 50 feet long and 30 inches in diameter). We asked them if we could have produced it, by rolling it at Granite City and shipping for processing to the U.S. Steel Lone Star plant in Texas," Dowling said.
"They haven't responded yet," he said.
Melissa Erker, a spokeswoman for ConocoPhillips, said she was not in a position to comment about TransCanada's decisions.
"ConocoPhillips has a minority interest in the pipeline, but we are not the owner, operator or the builder of it," she said.
As of the third quarter of this year, ConocoPhillips will hold a 20.01 percent stake in the pipeline.
According to its Web site, Keystone Pipeline is building a 2,148-mile line that will transport crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to U.S. Midwest markets at Wood River and Patoka, Ill., and to Cushing, Okla. The Canadian portion of the project involves the conversion of approximately 537 miles of existing Canadian Mainline pipeline from natural gas to crude oil transmission service and construction of approximately 232 miles of pipeline, pump stations and terminal facilities at Hardisty.
The U.S. portion of the project includes construction of approximately 1,379 miles of pipeline and pump stations.
The Keystone Pipeline will have an initial nominal capacity of 435,000 barrels per day in late 2009 and will be expanded to a nominal capacity of 590,000 barrels per day in late 2010. Keystone has contracts with shippers totaling 495,000 barrels per day with an average term of 18 years.
TransCanada is the largest developer of oil pipelines in North America.
Dowling said the union still is trying to get information from the pipeline builder and others.
"Our international union folks in Pittsburgh are trying to get information, as we are locally," he said.
If there is any good news for American steelmakers, it is that TransCanada plans to eventually double the length of the pipeline, if it can get regulatory approval from the U.S. State Department. That would mean a new round of bidding that U.S. steelmakers could enter, Prescott said.
"At some point in the future, TransCanada will need to order another 2,000 miles in pipe, and once again, it will be competitively bid to manufacturers in the United States, Canada and globally," he said.
He also noted that the stretch of pipeline from Canada to Wood River is being built by union members.
dennis_grubaugh@thetelegraph.com
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