They had to lose a quarter of a million gallons to know it needed repair?
A little flame and there will be a bigger problem.
I blame Bama and Auburn grads for this problem. The folks who live near Athens,Georgia would not have allowed this situation to happen.
They had to lose a quarter of a million gallons to know it needed repair?
The average daily volume of gasoline going through the Colonial Pipeline is 100,000,000 gallons - about 69,400 gallons a minute. The area where the leak is, is fairly remote and the pipeline is buried.
As soon as they see a pressure drop the pumping stations shut down.
It’s a 36”(?) diameter line, about 50 gallons per foot.
Around 20,000 gallons/minute
Not too many valves outside of the pumping stations.
I suspect, in today’s world they inflate the loss numbers to cover everything and more.