Cumberland diver saved oil pipeline as Katrina closed in

Cumberland Times News ^ | Jeff Alderton

[AmericanMade1776]

As a commercial diver for the past 15 years, Mark Atkinson said he has worked numerous times in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic Ocean.

But his recent work about 100 miles out in the gulf off Caillou oil field along the Louisiana coast might well become his most memorable project since he helped to secure a 24-inch pipeline that pumps 175,000 barrels of oil daily.

Contracted by Hilcorp Energy Service for Shell Oil Co. pipelines and facilities, Atkinson and three other divers from DiveCon LLC, of Harvey, La., began a pipeline installation project Aug. 21 as Hurricane Katrina developed as a threat.

After flying from BWI Airport to New Orleans, the 37-year-old Atkinson led his four-man crew through six days of the project before Katrina developed from a tropical storm to a hurricane.

"We were installing a 10-inch saltline under the 24-inch oil distribution line and had to expose 40 feet of the line to do the installation. "When the hurricane announcement came, the line had to be secured so it wouldn't break the oil line, which the company said would be a major catastrophe. That's what they told me.

[AmericanMade1776]

Thanks....Mark Atkinson ...

[numberonepal]

You da man, Mark!

[mtbopfuyn]

Very cool.

[AmericanMade1776]

The seas were too rough to do the work but I made the call myself to make the dive after talking with company officials," said the 1985 Allegany High School graduate.

Atkinson then secured the pipeline with sandbags and a 300 pounds-per-square-inch handjet to fill the hole and bury the saltline safely beneath the oil line as a team of company personnel, including a stand-by diver and radio man, stood by on a work barge.

With the seas raging with 10- to 12-foot waves, Atkinson worked alone in 40-foot deep water, completing the job in about an hour and 40 minutes.

"Katrina was 75 miles south and coming straight for us," said Atkinson.

After securing the pipelines, the DiveCon employees arrived on shore Saturday evening as Katrina drew closer, although at that point it was still classified as a category 3 hurricane.

[AmericanMade1776]

I am glad he was spared the waiting it out at the Superdome...Kudos to Jeremy York from Indiana, remembering his buddy and taking him out of New Orleans.

[SunnySide]

Divers ROCK!

[csvset]

I was in the motel Sunday morning and they knocked on the door and said we had to get out. Katrina had become a cat 5. I was just going to get my things and go to the Superdome and wait it out there since I had no transportation.

That probably would have been a fatal mistake.

But another diver, Jeremy York from Indiana, that I worked with remembered I was there at the motel and he came back and got me. We drove out to Meridian, Mississippi, and he took me all the way to Virginia and then I got another ride to make it home.

Thank goodness for Jeremy's actions.

[Piquaboy]

Teddy K could do a lot better. He as a lot of underwater time.

[DUMBGRUNT]

"We were installing a 10-inch saltline under the 24-inch oil distribution line"

What is a saltline?

[VadeRetro]

Serving Western Maryland and the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia

"Local paper I don't subscribe to but often buy off the rack" BUMP!

[AmericanMade1776]

not an engineer..and do not know the answer to your question.

[Plumberman27]

What people are going through there is much more serious but if the pipeline had broken it would have been even worse," said Atkinson, who is a member of Divers and Pile Drivers Union Local 2311 in Washington, D.C.

Hmmm, No comments about this guy being just another UNION thug.................

[snowsislander]

"But I made the decision to dive. I was the more experienced diver and I did what I had to do. I'm thankful that I could assist securing the line.

Well done, Mr. Atkinson.

[zeugma]

I'm not sure if this is what is being referred to by "saltline", but many oil rigs pump salt water into the hole to force the oil out.

[AmericanMade1776]

Sounds reasonable.

[jwpjr]

This guy is like those that headed off to Kuwait to douse the oil well fire left behind by the fleeing Iraqi soldiers! Unheralded and unnoticed they go about doing a very dangerous and difficult job every day of their working lives. There are people like this all across America. You'll find the same breed around the world as part the US military. When the chips are down they are the ones you call on to get the job done.

[swampfox98]

Just an example of someone who thinks outside the politically correct box the idiot liberals have put us in, and averts a disaster.

The mayor and governor of NO and Louisiana could take a lesson here.

[FBD]

Oil comes up with a lot of seawater and sand mixed in it.
I understand some wells actually pump up more seawater then oil.
The saltwater and sand is separated in tanks, then pumped to shore in the saltlines, where it is cleaned up, before being pumped back into the ocean.

[painter]

With the seas raging with 10- to 12-foot waves, Atkinson worked alone in 40-foot deep water, completing the job in about an hour and 40 minutes.

I'm a diver with 11yrs experience and dealing with 10 to 12 waves would be a Bitch plus potentially dangerous. Like getting Slammed up against the work boat. 40ft is not at all deep and 10 to 12 ft surf was probably causing surging water to push him back and forth while working on the pipeline. Commercial diving is very lucrative ($200plus per hr), but can be very dangerous business.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Thanks