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144-529: The Colonial Pipeline is the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the U.S. The pipeline – consisting of three tubes – is 5,500 miles (8,850 km) long and can carry 3 million barrels of fuel per day between Texas and New York. It is operated by the Colonial Pipeline Company , which is headquartered in Alpharetta , Georgia . The company was founded in 1961 and construction of

288-677: A 45-day supply for local communities. Products move through the main lines at a rate of about 3 to 5 miles per hour (4.8 to 8.0 km/h). It generally takes from 14 to 24 days for a batch to get from Houston, Texas to New York Harbor, with 18.5 days the average time. Colonial Pipeline's owners are: Eight major oil companies began discussing a Gulf Coast -to- East Coast pipeline in 1956. On June 7, 1961, Sinclair Pipeline Co., Texaco Inc., Gulf Oil Co., American Oil Co., The Pure Oil Co., Phillips Petroleum Co., The Cities Service Co. and Continental Oil Co. filed incorporation papers in Delaware to establish

432-567: A city with zoning that flooded." On May 16, 2024, a strong derecho caused widespread damage across the city and surrounding metropolitan area. Houston is 165 miles (266 km) east of Austin , 88 miles (142 km) west of the Louisiana border, and 250 miles (400 km) south of Dallas . The city has a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km ); this comprises over 599.59 square miles (1,552.9 km ) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km ) covered by water. Most of Houston

576-545: A commercial center, forming a symbiosis with its Gulf Coast port, Galveston. Landlocked farmers brought their produce to Houston, using Buffalo Bayou to gain access to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston merchants profited from selling staples to farmers and shipping the farmers' produce to Galveston. The great majority of enslaved people in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through

720-624: A day of groundwater. Houston has four major bayous passing through the city that accept water from the extensive drainage system. Buffalo Bayou runs through Downtown and the Houston Ship Channel , and has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Houston Heights community northwest of Downtown and then towards Downtown; Brays Bayou , which runs along the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou , which runs through

864-425: A depth of about 3 to 6 feet (0.91 to 1.83 m). To protect pipes from impact , abrasion , and corrosion , a variety of methods are used. These can include wood lagging (wood slats), concrete coating, rockshield, high-density polyethylene , imported sand padding, sacrificial cathodes and padding machines. Crude oil contains varying amounts of paraffin wax and in colder climates wax buildup may occur within

1008-589: A distinction is made between a "flowline" and a pipeline. The former is an intrafield pipeline, in the sense that it is used to connect subsea wellheads , manifolds and the platform within a particular development field. The latter, sometimes referred to as an "export pipeline", is used to bring the resource to shore. The construction and maintenance of marine pipelines imply logistical challenges that are different from those onland, mainly because of wave and current dynamics, along with other geohazards . In Nigeria oil pipelines get bored by thieves, in 2022, during

1152-460: A few years before. During May 1966, Colonial began phase one of an expansion project to add 18 intermediate booster stations to add horsepower to the system. This resulted in increasing product flow through the mainline between Selma, North Carolina and Greensboro, North Carolina. The Colonial pipeline board of directors approved phase 2 and 3 of its early expansion projects to increase capacity on its mainline to 1 million barrels per day. Phase two of

1296-515: A floodplain, a flowing flood-water stream termed a floodway runs through the development area, a most dangerous place to encounter during any future flooding event. Harris County , like other more rural counties, cannot direct developers where to build or not build via land use controls such as a zoning ordinance by Texas law, and instead can only impose general floodplain regulations for enforcement during subdivision approvals and building permit approvals. The 2020 U.S. census determined Houston had

1440-471: A fuel in oil fields to heat various facilities used by the oil drillers or equipment and trucks used in the oil patch. EG: Propane will convert from a gas to a liquid under light pressure, 100 psi, give or take depending on temperature, and is pumped into cars and trucks at less than 125 psi (860 kPa) at retail stations. Pipelines and rail cars use about double that pressure to pump at 250 psi (1,700 kPa). The distance to ship propane to markets

1584-515: A key element of system integrity. As a precautionary measure, on December 31, 1999, Colonial Pipeline shut down operations for a few hours before and after midnight to prevent any Y2K -related power outages. Colonial announced plans to increase pump power on the mainline, which would increase daily capacity by 144,000 barrels to 2.35 million barrels per day. On July 27, Colonial Pipeline announced that it acquired Alliance Products Pipeline and Terminal System from BP Amoco . Colonial Pipeline Company

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1728-586: A large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major city in the U.S. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, such as the Houston Museum District and the Houston Theater District . Present-day Houston sits on land that was once occupied by the Karankawa and

1872-441: A mortgage were $ 1,646, and $ 536 without a mortgage. Houston's median gross rent from 2015 to 2019 was $ 1,041. The median household income in 2019 was $ 52,338 and 20.1% of Houstonians lived at or below the poverty line . Houston is a majority-minority city. The Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, a think tank , has described Greater Houston as "one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan areas in

2016-532: A pipeline is currently being constructed from North Dakota to Illinois, commonly known as the Dakota Access Pipeline . As more North American pipelines are built, even more exports of LNG, propane, butane, and other natural gas products occur on all three US coasts. To give insight, North Dakota Bakken region's oil production has grown by 600% from 2007 to 2015. North Dakota oil companies are shipping huge amounts of oil by tanker rail car as they can direct

2160-452: A pipeline system are: Since oil and gas pipelines are an important asset of the economic development of almost any country, it has been required either by government regulations or internal policies to ensure the safety of the assets, and the population and environment where these pipelines run. Pipeline companies face government regulation, environmental constraints and social situations. Government regulations may define minimum staff to run

2304-723: A pipeline. Pipelines exist for the transport of crude and refined petroleum, fuels – such as oil, natural gas and biofuels – and other fluids including sewage , slurry , water , beer , hot water or steam for shorter distances and even pneumatic systems which allow for the generation of suction pressure for useful work and in transporting solid objects. Pipelines are useful for transporting water for drinking or irrigation over long distances when it needs to move over hills , or where canals or channels are poor choices due to considerations of evaporation , pollution , or environmental impact. Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes which are usually buried. The oil

2448-501: A pipeline. Often these pipelines are inspected and cleaned using pigging , the practice of using devices known as "pigs" to perform various maintenance operations on a pipeline. The devices are also known as "scrapers" or "Go-devils". "Smart pigs" (also known as "intelligent" or "intelligence" pigs) are used to detect anomalies in the pipe such as dents, metal loss caused by corrosion, cracking or other mechanical damage. These devices are launched from pig-launcher stations and travel through

2592-449: A population of 2,304,580. In 2017, the census-estimated population was 2,312,717, and in 2018 it was 2,325,502. An estimated 600,000 undocumented immigrants resided in the Houston area in 2017, comprising nearly 9% of the city's metropolitan population. At the 2010 United States census , Houston had a population of 2,100,263 residents, up from the city's 2,396 at the 1850 census . Per

2736-574: A population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston is the fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and the sixth-most populous city in North America . Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle . Comprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km ), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in

2880-495: A presently rated 250,000 barrels equivalent per day pipeline, it will be expanded to between 1.0 and 1.3 million barrels per day. It will bring western oil to refineries in Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Quebec and New York by early 2014. New Brunswick will also refine some of this western Canadian crude and export some crude and refined oil to Europe from its deep water oil ULCC loading port. Although pipelines can be built under

3024-449: A problem for pipeline companies. In this case, the detection levels should be under two percent of maximum flow, with a high expectation for location accuracy. Various technologies and strategies have been implemented for monitoring pipelines, from physically walking the lines to satellite surveillance. The most common technology to protect pipelines from occasional leaks is Computational Pipeline Monitoring or CPM. CPM takes information from

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3168-485: A record volume for the company. Colonial Pipeline Company relocated its corporate headquarters in Atlanta from Lenox Towers to Resurgens Plaza. Colonial's annual throughput attained 676.2 million barrels. Colonial completed 4,000 miles of pipeline inspections with caliper pigs and corrosion inspections on 3,000 miles of pipe with magnetic pigs. Colonial introduced elastic-wave pigs to inspect and detect microscopic cracks in

3312-458: A set of screens or Human Machine Interface , showing the operational conditions of the pipeline. The operator can monitor the hydraulic conditions of the line, as well as send operational commands (open/close valves, turn on/off compressors or pumps, change setpoints, etc.) through the SCADA system to the field. To optimize and secure the operation of these assets, some pipeline companies are using what

3456-476: A shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans, who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina . One month later, about 2.5 million Houston-area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast , leaving little damage to the Houston area. This was the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States. In May 2015, seven people died after 12 inches of rain fell in 10 hours during what

3600-453: A throughput of 636,553 barrels of refined product a day in 1965, its first full year of operation. Fred Steingraber was elected president of Colonial Pipeline Company on July 26, 1965, taking control in October. By February 1966, Colonial was averaging a daily throughput of 776,883 barrels of refined product each day, surpassing the 600,000 barrel per day estimated when construction began just

3744-435: A timely manner to prevent substantial intermingling of different products. Electric motors required 3 minutes to close the massive gates; this allowed 2,400 barrels of product to intermix, rendering the product unusable. To reduce this intermixing, Colonial engineers designed a hydraulic system which reduced the intermixing (and loss) to 120 barrels as changes were made in products shipped. The first "linefill" of Colonial began

3888-631: Is a 525-kilometre (326 mi) slurry pipeline which is planned to transport iron ore from the Minas-Rio mine (producing 26.5 million tonnes per year) to the Port of Açu in Brazil. An existing example is the 85-kilometre (53 mi) Savage River Slurry pipeline in Tasmania , Australia, possibly the world's first when it was built in 1967. It includes a 366-metre (1,201 ft) bridge span at 167 metres (548 ft) above

4032-629: Is a TransCanada natural gas line going north across the Niagara region bridges. This gas line carries Marcellus shale gas from Pennsylvania and other tied in methane or natural gas sources into the Canadian province of Ontario. It began operations in the fall of 2012, supplying 16 percent of all the natural gas used in Ontario. This new US-supplied natural gas displaces the natural gas formerly shipped to Ontario from western Canada in Alberta and Manitoba, thus dropping

4176-593: Is also home to buildings designed by noted architects I. M. Pei , César Pelli , and Philip Johnson. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a mini-boom of midrise and highrise residential tower construction occurred, with several over 30 stories tall. Since 2000 over 30 skyscrapers have been developed in Houston; all told, 72 high-rises tower over the city, which adds up to about 8,300 units. In 2002, Uptown had more than 23 million square feet (2,100,000 m ) of office space with 16 million square feet (1,500,000 m ) of class A office space . Houston's climate

4320-467: Is called "Advanced Pipeline Applications", which are software tools installed on top of the SCADA system, that provide extended functionality to perform leak detection, leak location, batch tracking (liquid lines), pig tracking, composition tracking, predictive modeling, look ahead modeling, and operator training. Pipeline networks are composed of several pieces of equipment that operate together to move products from location to location. The main elements of

4464-607: Is classified as humid subtropical ( Cfa in the Köppen climate classification system ), typical of the Southern United States . While not in Tornado Alley , like much of Northern Texas , spring supercell thunderstorms sometimes bring tornadoes to the area. Prevailing winds are from the south and southeast during most of the year, which bring heat and tropical moisture from the nearby Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. During

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4608-556: Is known as the Memorial Day Flood. Eight people died in April 2016 during a storm that dropped 17 inches of rain. The worst came in late August 2017, when Hurricane Harvey stalled over southeastern Texas, much like Tropical Storm Allison did sixteen years earlier, causing severe flooding in the Houston area, with some areas receiving over 50 inches (1,300 mm) of rain. The rainfall exceeded 50 inches in several areas locally, breaking

4752-499: Is less efficient to produce and transport due to greater heat losses. Heat transfer oils are generally not used for economic and ecological reasons. The typical annual loss of thermal energy through distribution is around 10%, as seen in Norway's district heating network. District heating pipelines are normally installed underground, with some exceptions. Within the system, heat storage may be installed to even out peak load demands. Heat

4896-445: Is moved through the pipelines by pump stations along the pipeline. Natural gas (and similar gaseous fuels) are pressurized into liquids known as natural gas liquids (NGLs). Natural gas pipelines are constructed of carbon steel . Hydrogen pipeline transport is the transportation of hydrogen through a pipe. Pipelines are one of the safest ways of transporting materials as compared to road or rail, and hence in war, pipelines are often

5040-552: Is much shorter, as thousands of natural-gas processing plants are located in or near oil fields. Many Bakken Basin oil companies in North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba and Saskatchewan gas fields separate the NGLs in the field, allowing the drillers to sell propane directly to small wholesalers, eliminating the large refinery control of product and prices for propane or butane. The most recent major pipeline to start operating in North America

5184-603: Is odorless unless mixed with a mercaptan odorant where required by a regulating authority. A major ammonia pipeline is the Ukrainian Transammiak line connecting the TogliattiAzot facility in Russia to the exporting Black Sea -port of Odesa . Pipelines have been used for transportation of ethanol in Brazil, and there are several ethanol pipeline projects in Brazil and the United States. The main problems related to

5328-501: Is on the gulf coastal plain , and its vegetation is classified as Western Gulf coastal grasslands while further north, it transitions into a subtropical jungle, the Big Thicket . Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, or swamps, and all are still visible in surrounding areas. Flat terrain and extensive greenfield development have combined to worsen flooding. Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level, and

5472-431: Is over 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) long, and is connected to wells tapping an aquifer over 500 metres (1,600 ft) underground. District heating or teleheating systems consist of a network of insulated feed and return pipes which transport heated water, pressurized hot water , or sometimes steam to the customer. While steam is hottest and may be used in industrial processes due to its higher temperature, it

5616-602: Is still in operation. As of 2004 , there are 900 miles (1,400 km) of low pressure hydrogen pipelines in the US and 930 miles (1,500 km) in Europe. Two millennia ago, the ancient Romans made use of large aqueducts to transport water from higher elevations by building the aqueducts in graduated segments that allowed gravity to push the water along until it reached its destination. Hundreds of these were built throughout Europe and elsewhere, and along with flour mills were considered

5760-588: Is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States . Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico , it is the seat of Harris County ; as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth . With

5904-522: Is the 64-floor, 901-foot (275 m)-tall, Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time of construction, it was believed to be the world's tallest skyscraper outside a central business district. The new 20-story Skanska building and BBVA Compass Plaza are the newest office buildings built in Uptown after 30 years. The Uptown District

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6048-488: Is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations, it has developed similarly to other Sun Belt cities because the city's land use regulations and legal covenants have played a similar role. Regulations include mandatory lot size for single-family houses and requirements that parking be available to tenants and customers. In 1998, Houston relaxed its mandatory lot sizes from 5,000 square feet to 3,500 square feet, which spurred housing construction in

6192-405: Is the most desirable option, but ethanol's affinity for water and solvent properties require the use of a dedicated pipeline, or significant cleanup of existing pipelines. Slurry pipelines are sometimes used to transport coal or ore from mines. The material to be transported is closely mixed with water before being introduced to the pipeline; at the far end, the material must be dried. One example

6336-631: Is the only metropolitan area with less than ten million citizens where such a CO 2 dome can be detected by satellites. Because of Houston's wet season and proximity to the Gulf Coast , the city is prone to flooding from heavy rains; the most notable flooding events include Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, along with most recent Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 and Tropical Storm Beta in 2020. In response to Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston initiated plans to require developers to build homes that will be less susceptible to flooding by raising them two feet above

6480-418: Is the tallest structure in Texas, 19th tallest building in the United States, and was previously 85th-tallest skyscraper in the world, based on highest architectural feature. In 1983, the 71-floor, 992-foot (302 m)-tall Wells Fargo Plaza (formerly Allied Bank Plaza) was completed, becoming the second-tallest building in Houston and Texas. Based on highest architectural feature, it is the 21st-tallest in

6624-590: Is transferred into the central heating of the dwellings through heat exchangers at heat substations , without mixing of the fluids in either system. Bars in the Veltins-Arena , a major football ground in Gelsenkirchen , Germany, are interconnected by a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) long beer pipeline. In Randers city in Denmark, the so-called Thor Beer pipeline was operated. Originally, copper pipes ran directly from

6768-515: Is ubiquitous in Houston; in 1981, annual spending on electricity for interior cooling exceeded $ 600 million (equivalent to $ 2.01 billion in 2023), and by the late 1990s, approximately 90% of Houston homes featured air conditioning systems. The record highest temperature recorded in Houston is 109 °F (43 °C) at Bush Intercontinental Airport, on four occasions: September 4, 2000; August 27, 2011; and August 24 and August 27, 2023. Houston has mild winters, with occasional cold spells. In January,

6912-514: Is usually known as the "Main Control Room". In this center, all the data related to field measurement is consolidated in one central database. The data is received from multiple RTUs along the pipeline. It is common to find RTUs installed at every station along the pipeline. The SCADA system at the Main Control Room receives all the field data and presents it to the pipeline operator through

7056-405: The 500-year floodplain . Hurricane Harvey damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and dumped trillions of gallons of water into the city. In places this led to feet of standing water that blocked streets and flooded homes. The Houston City Council passed this regulation in 2018 with a vote of 9–7. Had these floodplain development rules had been in place all along, it is estimated that 84% of homes in

7200-468: The American Lung Association rating the metropolitan area's ozone level twelfth on the "Most Polluted Cities by Ozone" in 2017, after major cities such as Los Angeles , Phoenix , New York City , and Denver . The industries along the ship channel are a major cause of the city's air pollution. The rankings are in terms of peak-based standards, focusing strictly on the worst days of the year;

7344-696: The Atakapa indigenous peoples for at least 2,000 years before the first known settlers arrived. These tribes are almost nonexistent today; this was most likely caused by foreign disease, and competition with various settler groups in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the land then remained largely uninhabited from the late 1700s until settlement in the 1830s. The Allen brothers— Augustus Chapman and John Kirby —explored town sites on Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay . According to historian David McComb, "[T]he brothers, on August 26, 1836, bought from Elizabeth E. Parrott, wife of T.F.L. Parrott and widow of John Austin,

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7488-536: The Battle of Galveston . After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between Downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas. In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane , efforts to make Houston into a viable deep-water port were accelerated. The following year,

7632-549: The Clean Water Act . It alleged gross negligence specifically in three cases noted above: 1996 Reedy River, 1997 Bear Creek, and 1999 Goose Creek/Tennessee River. The parties reached a settlement with Colonial Pipeline that was announced on April 1, 2003. Colonial was required to pay a civil penalty of $ 34 million, the "largest a company has paid in EPA history." "Under the consent decree , Colonial will upgrade environmental protection on

7776-663: The FERC and others, reviews proposed pipeline projects in order to comply with the Clean Water Act , the National Environmental Policy Act , other laws and, in some cases, municipal laws. The Biden administration has sought to permit the respective states and tribal groups to appraise and potentially block the proposed projects. Field devices are instrumentation, data gathering units and communication systems. The field instrumentation includes flow, pressure, and temperature gauges/transmitters, and other devices to measure

7920-550: The Houston Dynamo soccer team was formed. In 2017 , the Houston Astros won their first World Series . Flooding has been a recurring problem in the Houston area. In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain on parts of Houston, causing what was then the worst flooding in the city's history and billions of dollars in damage, and killed 20 people in Texas. In August 2005, Houston became

8064-703: The Houston Ship Channel , and the Texas oil boom . In the mid-20th century, Houston's economy diversified, as it became home to the Texas Medical Center —the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA 's Johnson Space Center , home to the Mission Control Center . Since the late 19th century, Houston's economy has had a broad industrial base in energy , manufacturing , aeronautics, and transportation . Leading in healthcare sectors and building oilfield equipment, Houston has

8208-525: The Interstate 610 loop . The "Inner Loop" encompasses a 97-square-mile (250 km ) area which includes Downtown, pre–World War II residential neighborhoods and streetcar suburbs , and newer high-density apartment and townhouse developments. Outside the loop, the city's typology is more suburban , though many major business districts—such as Uptown , Westchase , and the Energy Corridor —lie well outside

8352-501: The South and Eastern United States . The main lines are 40 inches (1,000 mm) and 36 inches (910 mm) in (inner) diameter, with one devoted primarily to gasoline and the other carrying distillate products such as jet fuel , diesel fuel , and home heating oil . The pipeline connects directly to major airports along the system. Fifteen associated oil terminals store more than 1.2 × 10 US gallons (4.5 × 10 L) of fuel and provide

8496-475: The capital of the Texas Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century. The 20th century brought a convergence of economic factors that fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas's primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane , the subsequent construction of

8640-596: The 100-year and 500-year floodplains would have been spared damage. In a recent case testing these regulations, near the Brickhouse Gulley, an old golf course that long served as a floodplain and reservoir for floodwaters, announced a change of heart toward intensifying development. A nationwide developer, Meritage Homes , bought the land and planned to develop the 500-year floodplain into 900 new residential homes. Their plan would bring in $ 360 million in revenue and boost city population and tax revenue. In order to meet

8784-498: The 1960s, Downtown Houston consisted of a collection of mid-rise office structures. Downtown was on the threshold of an energy industry–led boom in 1970. A succession of skyscrapers was built throughout the 1970s—many by real estate developer Gerald D. Hines —culminating with Houston's tallest skyscraper, the 75-floor, 1,002-foot (305 m)-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), completed in 1982. It

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8928-447: The 2019 American Community Survey , Houston's age distribution was 482,402 under 15; 144,196 aged 15 to 19; 594,477 aged 20 to 34; 591,561 aged 35 to 54; 402,804 aged 55 to 74; and 101,357 aged 75 and older. The median age of the city was 33.4. At the 2014-2018 census estimates, Houston's age distribution was 486,083 under 15; 147,710 aged 15 to 19; 603,586 aged 20 to 34; 726,877 aged 35 to 59; and 357,834 aged 60 and older. The median age

9072-671: The 21st century. In 2000, the Houston Astros opened their new baseball stadium, Daikin Park , in downtown adjacent to the old Union Station . The Houston Texans were formed in 2002 as an NFL expansion team, replacing the Houston Oilers , which had left the city in 1996. NRG Stadium opened the same year. In 2003, the Toyota Center opened as the home for the Houston Rockets . In 2005,

9216-410: The Houston area. In 2001, Enron Corporation , a Houston company with $ 100 billion in revenue, became engulfed in an accounting scandal which bankrupted the company in 2001. Healthcare has emerged as a major industry in Houston. The Texas Medical Center is now the largest medical complex in the world and employs over 120,000 people. Three new sports stadiums opened downtown in the first decade of

9360-499: The North ; this resulted in an economic boom and produced a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector. The increased production of the expanded shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth, as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973). This was the stimulus for the development of

9504-463: The Russian-Ukrainian war, the submarine natural gas pipelines Nord Stream I and II got blasted. In general, pipelines can be classified in three categories depending on purpose: When a pipeline is built, the construction project not only covers the civil engineering work to lay the pipeline and build the pump/compressor stations, it also has to cover all the work related to the installation of

9648-592: The Savage River. Hydrogen pipeline transport is a transportation of hydrogen through a pipe as part of the hydrogen infrastructure . Hydrogen pipeline transport is used to connect the point of hydrogen production or delivery of hydrogen with the point of demand, with transport costs similar to CNG , the technology is proven. Most hydrogen is produced at the place of demand with every 50 to 100 miles (160 km) an industrial production facility. The 1938 Rhine-Ruhr 240-kilometre (150 mi) hydrogen pipeline

9792-534: The Suwannee Pipe Line Company "for the purpose of building a 22-inch line from Houston to the Baltimore-Washington area , capable of delivering 300,000 barrels of refined products a day." Construction of Colonial Pipeline's original system started in 1961. During February 1962, the board of the Suwannee Pipe Line Company met to rename the company. It chose Colonial Pipeline Company to represent

9936-528: The US. The distance from the biggest oil patch in North Dakota, in Williston, North Dakota , is only about 85 miles or 137 kilometers to the Canada–US border and Manitoba . Mutual funds and joint ventures are the largest investors in new oil and gas pipelines. In the fall of 2012, the US began exporting propane to Europe, known as LPG, as wholesale prices there are much higher than in North America. Additionally,

10080-468: The United States (including consolidated city-counties ). It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands . Houston

10224-554: The United States, 70% of crude oil and petroleum products are shipped by pipeline. (23% are by ship, 4% by truck, and 3% by rail) In Canada for natural gas and petroleum products, 97% are shipped by pipeline. Natural gas (and similar gaseous fuels) are lightly pressurized into liquids known as Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs). Small NGL processing facilities can be located in oil fields so the butane and propane liquid under light pressure of 125 pounds per square inch (860 kPa), can be shipped by rail, truck or pipeline. Propane can be used as

10368-401: The United States. The majority of rainfall occurs between April and October (the wet season of Southeast Texas), when the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico evaporates extensively over the city. Houston has excessive ozone levels and is routinely ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. Ground-level ozone, or smog, is Houston's predominant air pollution problem, with

10512-491: The United States. In 2007, Downtown had over 43 million square feet (4,000,000 m ) of office space. Centered on Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road, the Uptown District boomed during the 1970s and early 1980s when a collection of midrise office buildings, hotels, and retail developments appeared along I-610 West. Uptown became one of the most prominent instances of an edge city . The tallest building in Uptown

10656-441: The average ozone levels in Houston are lower than what is seen in most other areas of the country, as dominant winds ensure clean, marine air from the Gulf. Excessive man-made emissions in the Houston area led to a persistent increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the city. Such an increase, often regarded as "CO 2 urban dome", is driven by a combination of strong emissions and stagnant atmospheric conditions. Moreover, Houston

10800-578: The brewery, but when the brewery moved out of the city in the 1990s, Thor Beer replaced it with a giant tank. A three-kilometer beer pipeline was completed in Bruges , Belgium in September 2016 to reduce truck traffic on the city streets. The village of Hallstatt in Austria, which is known for its long history of salt mining , claims to contain "the oldest industrial pipeline in the world", dating back to 1595. It

10944-403: The city dramatically. Such restrictions have had mixed results. Though some have blamed the city's low density, urban sprawl , and lack of pedestrian-friendliness on these policies, others have credited the city's land use patterns with providing significant affordable housing, sparing Houston the worst effects of the 2008 real estate crisis . The city issued 42,697 building permits in 2008 and

11088-435: The city have a high risk of localized flooding due to flat topography, ubiquitous low- permeability clay-silt prairie soils, and inadequate infrastructure. During the mid-2010s, Greater Houston experienced consecutive major flood events in 2015 ( "Memorial Day" ), 2016 ( "Tax Day" ), and 2017 ( Hurricane Harvey ). Overall, there have been more casualties and property loss from floods in Houston than in any other locality in

11232-601: The city in addition to Downtown , which include Uptown, the Texas Medical Center , Midtown , Greenway Plaza , Memorial City , the Energy Corridor, Westchase , and Greenspoint . Houston had the fifth-tallest skyline in North America (after New York City, Chicago , Toronto and Miami ) and 36th-tallest in the world in 2015. A seven-mile (11 km) system of tunnels and skywalks links Downtown buildings containing shops and restaurants, enabling pedestrians to avoid summer heat and rain while walking between buildings. In

11376-571: The city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome , nicknamed the " Eighth Wonder of the World ", opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium. During the late 1970s, Houston had a population boom as people from the Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers. The new residents came for numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab oil embargo . With

11520-419: The city. Land in some areas southeast of Houston is sinking because water has been pumped out of the ground for many years. It may be associated with slip along the faults; however, the slippage is slow and not considered an earthquake, where stationary faults must slip suddenly enough to create seismic waves. These faults also tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed " fault creep ", which further reduces

11664-440: The coastal states of Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama , Georgia , South Carolina , North Carolina , Virginia , Maryland , Delaware , Pennsylvania , and New Jersey . Branches from the main pipeline also reach Tennessee . It delivers a daily average of 1 × 10 US gallons (3.8 × 10 L) of gasoline , home heating oil , aviation fuel and other refined petroleum products to communities and businesses throughout

11808-423: The construction of a 40-inch loop line from Atlanta, Georgia to Greensboro, North Carolina, and a 16-inch lateral loop between Greensboro, North Carolina and Selma, North Carolina. These improvements were estimated to increase system capacity by nearly 20 percent to two million barrels per day. On November 3, 1978, the new 40-inch line from Atlanta, Georgia to Greensboro, North Carolina began service. Colonial became

11952-538: The discovery of oil at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development of the Texas petroleum industry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $ 1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910, the city's population had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before. African Americans formed a large part of the city's population, numbering 23,929 people, which

12096-570: The domestic slave trade. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but slave dealers were in Houston. Thousands of enslaved black people lived near the city before the American Civil War . Many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. In 1840, the community established a chamber of commerce, in part to promote shipping and navigation at

12240-609: The economic downturn in 2008. After faltering in 2009, demand for pipeline expansion and updating increased the following year as energy production grew. By 2012, almost 32,000 miles (51500 km) of North American pipeline were being planned or under construction. When pipelines are constrained, additional pipeline product transportation options may include the use of drag reducing agents, or by transporting product via truck or rail. Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes with inner diameter typically from 4 to 48 inches (100 to 1,220 mm). Most pipelines are typically buried at

12384-530: The erosion of the Rocky Mountains . These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic marine matter, that over time, transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath the layers of sediment is a water-deposited layer of halite , a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into salt dome formations, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from

12528-901: The expansion was completed in November 1967, adding additional pump units and a new stubline from Mitchell, Virginia to Roanoke, Virginia. "Looping", or adding a second line parallel to the first, began in 1971. This construction continued through 1980, essentially doubling the capacity of the pipeline system. The second line was staffed by 593 employees. Colonial's average throughput increased to an average of 1,584,000 barrels per day. Colonial's ownership increased to 10 shareholders including Atlantic Richfield Company; BP Oil Company; Cities Service Company; Continental Pipe Line Company; Mobil Pipe Line Company; Phillips Investment Company; Texaco, Inc.; The American Oil Company; The Toronto Pipe Line Company and Union Oil Company. Colonial Pipeline Company named Tom Chilton as president and CEO. Colonial Pipeline announced

12672-415: The fact that the proposed pipeline would traverse several states that were former colonies. Mobil joined the other eight companies in 1962. On March 6, 1962, Colonial Pipeline Company formally announced its plans. A press release stated that the nine companies "launched the largest single, privately financed construction project in the history of the United States." The initial investment by the nine companies

12816-503: The field devices that will support remote operation. The pipeline is routed along what is known as a "right of way". Pipelines are generally developed and built using the following stages: Russia has "Pipeline Troops" as part of the Rear Services , who are trained to build and repair pipelines. Russia is the only country to have Pipeline Troops. The U.S. government, mainly through the EPA ,

12960-550: The field related to pressures, flows, and temperatures to estimate the hydraulic behavior of the product being transported. Once the estimation is completed, the results are compared to other field references to detect the presence of an anomaly or unexpected situation, which may be related to a leak. The American Petroleum Institute has published several articles related to the performance of CPM in liquids pipelines. The API Publications are: Houston Houston ( / ˈ h juː s t ən / HEW -stən )

13104-742: The first batch of refined product was delivered to the Roanoke, Virginia area. On June 2, 1964, Colonial made its first delivery to the Baltimore, Maryland – Washington, D.C., area. On December 1, 1964, mainline construction of the Colonial Pipeline was completed, and the Linden Junction Tank Farm and Delivery Facility in New Jersey was activated. The Colonial Pipeline system was fully operational on December 18, 1964. The Colonial system averaged

13248-540: The first company to equip gasoline storage tanks with geodesic domes. Colonial updated its Atlanta control center with a new generation of its computerized SCADA system. An expansion project totaling $ 670 million neared completion. The Colonial Pipeline system capacity was 83 percent more than when the system first opened in 1964. Colonial began deliveries to Department of Defense, Defense Fuel Supply Command (DFSC). Colonial began using caliper and magnetic pigs to detect anomalies in its pipeline system. Donald Brinkley

13392-494: The first time that May. The Republic of Texas granted Houston incorporation on June 5, 1837, as James S. Holman became its first mayor. In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County). In 1839, the Republic of Texas relocated its capital to Austin . The town suffered another setback that year when a yellow fever epidemic claimed about one life for every eight residents, yet it persisted as

13536-582: The government regulated pipeline shipping charges because of the significantly shorter distance from gas source to consumer. To avoid delays and US government regulation, many small, medium and large oil producers in North Dakota have decided to run an oil pipeline north to Canada to meet up with a Canadian oil pipeline shipping oil from west to east. This allows the Bakken Basin and Three Forks oil producers to get higher negotiated prices for their oil because they will not be restricted to just one wholesale market in

13680-436: The highest point in far northwest Houston is about 150 feet (46 m) in elevation. The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston , Lake Conroe , and Lake Livingston . The city owns surface water rights for 1.20 billion U.S. gallons (4.5 Gl) of water a day in addition to 150 million U.S. gallons (570 Ml)

13824-616: The increase in professional jobs, Houston has become a destination for many college-educated persons, most recently including African Americans in a reverse Great Migration from northern areas. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor. Houston has continued to grow into the 21st century, with the population increasing 15.7% from 2000 to 2022. Oil and gas have continued to fuel Houston's economic growth, with major oil companies including Phillips 66 , ConocoPhillips , Occidental Petroleum , Halliburton , and ExxonMobil having their headquarters in

13968-460: The lifeline of the Roman Empire. The ancient Chinese also made use of channels and pipe systems for public works. The famous Han dynasty court eunuch Zhang Rang (d. 189 AD) once ordered the engineer Bi Lan to construct a series of square-pallet chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang . These chain pumps serviced the imperial palaces and living quarters of the capital city as

14112-416: The mainland. In 1994, the pipeline was abandoned. In places, a pipeline may have to cross water expanses, such as small seas, straits and rivers. In many instances, they lie entirely on the seabed. These pipelines are referred to as "marine" pipelines (also, "submarine" or "offshore" pipelines). They are used primarily to carry oil or gas, but transportation of water is also important. In offshore projects,

14256-570: The metro area, and an event on December 7, 2017, which precipitated 0.7 inches (2 cm) of snowfall. Snowfalls of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) on both December 10, 2008, and December 4, 2009, marked the first time measurable snowfall had occurred in two consecutive years in the city's recorded history. Overall, Houston has seen measurable snowfall 38 times between 1895 and 2018. On February 14 and 15, 1895, Houston received 20 inches (51 cm) of snow, its largest snowfall from one storm on record. The coldest temperature officially recorded in Houston

14400-506: The morning of September 16, 1963, in Houston. It was shut down that day, because of forecasts of a developing major storm. Two days later Hurricane Cindy struck the Gulf Coast. Product reached Greensboro, North Carolina for the first time in November 1963. During the next several months, product was delivered to markets farther north in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. On April 27, 1964,

14544-413: The most economical way to transport large quantities of oil, refined oil products or natural gas over land. For example, in 2014, pipeline transport of crude oil cost about $ 5 per barrel, while rail transport cost about $ 10 to $ 15 per barrel. Trucking has even higher costs due to the additional labor required; employment on completed pipelines represents only "1% of that of the trucking industry.". In

14688-611: The national record for rainfall. The damage for the Houston area was estimated at up to $ 125 billion U.S. dollars , and was considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States , with the death toll exceeding 70 people. Houston's lack of zoning laws allowed unregulated building of residential homes and other structures in flood-prone areas. However, it also resulted in more concentrated development in already urban areas than in wetlands and suburbs. Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted of Hurricane Harvey that "zoning wouldn't have changed anything. We would have been

14832-461: The new floodplain regulations, the developers needed to elevate the lowest floors two feet above the 500-year floodplain, equivalent to five or six feet above the 100-year base flood elevation, and build a channel to direct stormwater runoff toward detention basins. Before Hurricane Harvey, the city had bought $ 10.7 million in houses in this area specifically to take them out of danger. In addition to developing new streets and single-family housing within

14976-483: The newly created port on Buffalo Bayou. By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont . During the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for Confederate Major General John B. Magruder , who used the city as an organization point for

15120-423: The normal mean temperature at George Bush Intercontinental Airport is 53 °F (12 °C), with an average of 13 days per year with a low at or below 32 °F (0 °C), occurring on average between December 3 and February 20, allowing for a growing season of 286 days. Twenty-first century snow events in Houston include a storm on December 24, 2004 , which saw 1 inch (3 cm) of snow accumulate in parts of

15264-532: The notional town in honor of Sam Houston, who would become President later that year. They successfully lobbied the Republic of Texas Congress to designate Houston as the temporary capital, agreeing to provide the new government with a state capitol building. About a dozen persons resided in the town at the beginning of 1837, but that number grew to about 1,500 by the time the Texas Congress convened in Houston for

15408-522: The oil to the market that gives the best price, and rail cars can be used to avoid a congested oil pipeline to get the oil to a different pipeline in order to get the oil to market faster or to a different less busy oil refinery. However, pipelines provide a cheaper means to transport by volume. Enbridge in Canada is applying to reverse an oil pipeline going from east-to-west (Line 9) and expanding it and using it to ship western Canadian bitumen oil eastward. From

15552-447: The operation, operator training requirements, pipeline facilities, technology and applications required to ensure operational safety. For example, in the State of Washington it is mandatory for pipeline operators to be able to detect and locate leaks of 8 percent of maximum flow within fifteen minutes or less. Social factors also affect the operation of pipelines. Product theft is sometimes also

15696-520: The pipeline at an estimated cost of at least $ 30 million." Pipeline transport Pipeline and Gas Journal' s worldwide survey figures indicate that 118,623 miles (190,905 km) of pipelines are planned and under construction. Of these, 88,976 miles (143,193 km) represent projects in the planning and design phase; 29,647 miles (47,712 km) reflect pipelines in various stages of construction. Liquids and gases are transported in pipelines, and any chemically stable substance can be sent through

15840-566: The pipeline began in 1962. In May 2021, the pipeline was the subject of a ransomware cyberattack that caused a shutdown of their operations for five days, which resulted in a temporary fuel shortage along the East Coast . Colonial consists of more than 5,500 mi (8,850 km) of pipeline , originating in Houston , Texas , on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and terminating at the Port of New York and New Jersey . The pipeline travels through

15984-422: The pipeline to be received at any other station down-stream, either cleaning wax deposits and material that may have accumulated inside the line or inspecting and recording the condition of the line. For natural gas, pipelines are constructed of carbon steel and vary in size from 2 to 60 inches (51 to 1,524 mm) in diameter, depending on the type of pipeline. The gas is pressurized by compressor stations and

16128-544: The pipeline walls. On March 26, 1997, Colonial Pipeline Company was one of ten companies recognized for quality service by the Department of Defense, Military Traffic Management Command. Colonial president and CEO Donald Brinkley retires, David Lemmon named president and CEO. Colonial replaced Pipeline Instruction and Proficiency Examination with a computer-based training program for operations and environmental field staff. Colonial expands crack-pig internal inspection program,

16272-405: The pipeline. Shipments are mainly fungible: fungible shipments are products commingled with other quantities of the same product specifications. However, segregated shipments are possible and occur regularly: segregated batches preserve a fuel property not allowed in the fungible specifications. All products delivered by Colonial must pass a rigorous test program to assure quality. Colonial protects

16416-485: The port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however, the war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products by the defense industry during the war. Ellington Field , initially built during World War I , was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators. The Brown Shipbuilding Company

16560-448: The postwar years. In 1945, the M.D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center . After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. In 1948, the city annexed several unincorporated areas, more than doubling its size. Houston proper began to spread across the region. In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston, where wages were lower than those in

16704-523: The quality of the products it carries to the point of excluding certain products. For example, bio-Diesel fuel contains fatty-acid methyl esters (FAME), which cannot be allowed to mix into jet fuels moving in the same pipeline. As a result of seven different spills on Colonial Pipeline in four years in the 1990s, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a complaint in 2000 against Colonial for violations of

16848-584: The relevant data required. These instruments are installed along the pipeline on some specific locations, such as injection or delivery stations, pump stations (liquid pipelines) or compressor stations (gas pipelines), and block valve stations. The information measured by these field instruments is then gathered in local remote terminal units (RTU) that transfer the field data to a central location in real time using communication systems, such as satellite channels, microwave links, or cellular phone connections. Pipelines are controlled and operated remotely, from what

16992-505: The risk of an earthquake. The city of Houston was incorporated in 1837 and adopted a ward system of representation shortly afterward, in 1840. The six original wards of Houston are the progenitors of the 11 modern-day geographically oriented Houston City Council districts, though the city abandoned the ward system in 1905 in favor of a commission government , and, later, the existing mayor–council government . Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside

17136-485: The road. Construction started on August 1, 1962, in Mississippi. In December 1962, Ben "Tex" Leuty was named president of Colonial Pipeline Company. He had earlier served as vice president and general manager overseeing construction of the pipeline. Engineers needed to solve many problems to construct the pipeline. Chief among these was designing and constructing valves capable of opening and closing 2-ton steel gates in

17280-445: The sea, that process is economically and technically demanding, so the majority of oil at sea is transported by tanker ships . Similarly, it is often more economically feasible to transport natural gas in the form of LNG, however the break-even point between LNG and pipelines would depend on the volume of natural gas and the distance it travels. The market size for oil and gas pipeline construction experienced tremendous growth prior to

17424-481: The second-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. municipality within its city limits. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. Nicknamed the "Bayou City", "Space City", "H-Town", and "the 713 ", Houston has become a global city , with strengths in culture, medicine, and research. The city's population comprises various ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as

17568-625: The shutdown. Operations were restored on May 13, 2021. Melanie Little named President and CEO Colonial Pipeline's field operations are divided into three districts: Colonial connects directly to several major airports, including Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham, Dulles, Baltimore-Washington, and beginning October 2022, Philadelphia International Airport . It serves New York metropolitan area airports via connections with Buckeye Pipeline. Colonial's approved product list includes more than 86 different products. Approximately 15 to 20 of these products move with great regularity on

17712-506: The south half of the lower league [2,214-acre (896 ha) tract] granted to her by her late husband. They paid $ 5,000 total, but only $ 1,000 of this in cash; notes made up the remainder." This was financed by assets inherited by Augustus's wife, Charlotte Baldwin Allen . The Allen brothers ran their first advertisement for Houston just four days later in the Telegraph and Texas Register , naming

17856-475: The south of Houston and Downtown Houston. The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the Gulf of Mexico. Houston is a flat, marshy area where an extensive drainage system has been built. The adjoining prairie land drains into the city, which is prone to flooding. Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from river deposits formed from

18000-540: The southeastern United States. Joe Blount is named CEO. An estimated two million gallons of gasoline leaked into the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville, North Carolina . This was the largest onshore oil spill in American history. On May 7, 2021, Colonial was the subject of a ransomware cyberattack that resulted in a shutdown of their operations. Approximately 12,000 gas stations were affected directly by

18144-421: The summer, temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) an average of 106.5 days per year, including a majority of days from June to September. Additionally, an average of 4.6 days per year reach or exceed 100 °F (37.8 °C). Houston's characteristic subtropical humidity often results in a higher apparent temperature , and summer mornings average over 90% relative humidity . Air conditioning

18288-466: The surrounding porous sands. The thick, rich, sometimes black, surface soil is suitable for rice farming in suburban outskirts where the city continues to grow. The Houston area has over 150 active faults (estimated to be 300 active faults ) with an aggregate length of up to 310 miles (500 km), including the Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system which runs through the center of

18432-593: The target of military attacks. It is well documented when the first crude oil pipeline was built. Credit for the development of pipeline transport belongs indisputably to the Oil Transport Association, which first constructed a 2-inch (51 mm) wrought iron pipeline over a 6-mile (9.7 km) track from an oil field in Pennsylvania to a railroad station in Oil Creek , in the 1860s. Pipelines are generally

18576-462: The transport of ethanol by pipeline are its corrosive nature and tendency to absorb water and impurities in pipelines, which are not problems with oil and natural gas. Insufficient volumes and cost-effectiveness are other considerations limiting construction of ethanol pipelines. In the US minimal amounts of ethanol are transported by pipeline. Most ethanol is shipped by rail, the main alternatives being truck and barge. Delivering ethanol by pipeline

18720-586: The urban core. In addition to Interstate 610, two additional loop highways encircle the city: Beltway 8 , with a radius of approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown, and State Highway 99 (the Grand Parkway), with a radius of 25 miles (40 km). Approximately 470,000 people lived within the Interstate 610 loop, while 1.65 million lived between Interstate 610 and Beltway 8 and 2.25 million lived within Harris County outside Beltway 8 in 2015. Though Houston

18864-549: The water lifted by the chain pumps was brought in by a stoneware pipe system. Pipelines are useful for transporting water for drinking or irrigation over long distances when it needs to move over hills , or where canals or channels are poor choices due to considerations of evaporation , pollution , or environmental impact. The 530 km (330 miles) Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in Western Australia using 750 mm (30 inch) pipe and completed in 1903

19008-481: Was 33.1, up from 32.9 in 2017 and down from 33.5 in 2014; the city's youthfulness has been attributed to an influx of an African American New Great Migration , Hispanic and Latino American, and Asian immigrants into Texas. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. There were 987,158 housing units in 2019 and 876,504 households. An estimated 42.3% of Houstonians owned housing units, with an average of 2.65 people per household. The median monthly owner costs with

19152-484: Was 5 °F (−15 °C) on January 18, 1930. The last time Houston saw single digit temperatures was on December 23, 1989. The temperature dropped to 7 °F (−14 °C) at Bush Airport, marking the coldest temperature ever recorded there. 1.7 inches of snow fell at George Bush Intercontinental Airport the previous day. Houston generally receives ample rainfall, averaging about 49.8 in (1,260 mm) annually based on records between 1981 and 2010. Many parts of

19296-440: Was almost $ 370 million. R.J. Andress was named president of the newly formed company. Constructing the Colonial Pipeline required 600,000 tons of steel; and trenching 16.7 million cubic yards of earth to bury the pipeline. It initially included 27 pumping stations to move refined product between Houston and Linden, New Jersey . A ceremonial ground-breaking near Atlanta , the pipeline's eventual headquarters, on June 20, 1962,

19440-472: Was attended by U.S. Commerce Secretary Luther Hodges and company, city and state officials. On July 2, 1962, Colonial Pipeline Company solicited bids from contractors to build 15 segments of the pipeline's mainline. Each segment averaged 100 miles and 200–300 workers. Work progressed at roughly one mile per day for each of the segments. The first lengths of pipe were delivered by rail, barge, and on specially constructed trailers to handle 80-foot double joints on

19584-499: Was constructed from 13,000 hollowed-out tree trunks to transport brine 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Hallstatt to Ebensee . Between 1978 and 1994, a 15 km milk pipeline ran between the Dutch island of Ameland and Holwerd on the mainland, of which 8 km was beneath the Wadden Sea . Every day, 30,000 litres of milk produced on the island were transported to be processed on

19728-446: Was founded by land investors on August 30, 1836, at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing ) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city is named after former General Sam Houston , who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas's independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. After briefly serving as

19872-582: Was founded in 1942 to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to the boom in defense jobs, thousands of new workers migrated to the city, both black, and white people competing for the higher-paying jobs. President Roosevelt had established a policy of nondiscrimination for defense contractors, and black people gained some opportunities, especially in shipbuilding, although not without resistance from white people and increasing social tensions that erupted into occasional violence. Economic gains of black people who entered defense industries continued in

20016-466: Was later recognized by the Federal Government as a model for the pipeline industry. Colonial Pipeline marked a record year with an annual throughput of 2.3 million barrels per day. After the passage of Hurricane Ike in September 2008, the pipeline was operated at a severely reduced capacity due to a lack of supply from refineries in the Gulf Coast that had closed, causing gasoline shortages across

20160-468: Was named president and CEO of Colonial Pipeline Company. Colonial Pipeline Company celebrated its 25th anniversary, serving 79 shipper companies and 67 suppliers. Colonial's annual throughput attained 635.6 million barrels. During September 1988, Colonial replaced 7,700 feet of mainline pipe across the Delaware River at a cost of $ 10 million. Colonial's annual throughput attained 667.8 million barrels,

20304-400: Was nearly one-third of Houston's residents. President Woodrow Wilson opened the deep-water Port of Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas's most populous city and Harris County the most populous county. In 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Houston's population as 77.5% White and 22.4% black. When World War II started, tonnage levels at

20448-417: Was ranked first in the list of healthiest housing markets for 2009. In 2019, home sales reached a new record of $ 30 billion. In referendums in 1948, 1962, and 1993, voters rejected efforts to establish separate residential and commercial land-use districts. Consequently, rather than a single central business district as the center of the city's employment, multiple districts and skylines have grown throughout

20592-427: Was recognized by API for its safety and environmental record, receiving the first "Distinguished Environmental and Safety Award". During September 2001, Colonial Pipeline Company relocated its headquarters from Atlanta to suburban Alpharetta, Georgia . After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Colonial increased security at each of its facilities and created a comprehensive security plan. This

20736-952: Was the largest water supply scheme of its time. Examples of significant water pipelines in South Australia are the Morgan-Whyalla pipeline (completed 1944) and Mannum-Adelaide pipeline (completed 1955) pipelines, both part of the larger Snowy Mountains scheme . There are two Los Angeles, California aqueducts, the Owens Valley aqueduct (completed 1913) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct (completed 1970) which also include extensive use of pipelines. The Great Manmade River of Libya supplies 3,680,000 cubic metres (4,810,000 cu yd) of water each day to Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte, and several other cities in Libya. The pipeline

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