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Contra Costa Times (California): Board will consider hydrogen pipeline: Proposal for 20-mile link from Chevron to ConocoPhillips refinery

Headline: Board will consider hydrogen pipeline: Proposal for 20-mile link from Chevron to ConocoPhillips refinery on meeting agenda

John Geluardi
Published: May 23, 2007

An advisory board will consider an application tonight that would run an underground hydrogen pipeline through unincorporated Rodeo to the ConocoPhilips Refinery.

According to the application, the 20-mile pipeline would originate at the Richmond Chevron Refinery and run 20 miles to a terminus at the Shell Martinez Refinery. The Rodeo Municipal Advisory Council is considering a request to run a lateral extension from the main pipe near Highway 4 to ConocoPhilips.

Connecticut-based Praxair Inc., which is proposing the pipeline, will make a presentation at tonight’s RMAC meeting, and the panel will make a recommendation on the application to the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors. The $20 million project, which is undergoing environmental review, still faces extensive county and local scrutiny before it can receive approval.

The 12-inch carbon steel pipe would be buried a minimum of four feet underground and run through the cities of Richmond, Pinole and Martinez; unincorporated areas of San Pablo, Hercules and Rodeo; and East Bay Regional Park District open space.

Hydrogen is used in the refining process to make cleaner-burning gasoline and diesel fuels by removing sulfur from crude oil. As refineries gear up to process “dirty” crude, hydrogen has increasingly been in demand to help meet stricter government regulations. Hydrogen dissipates very quickly and is not considered a serious health risk if released into the atmosphere. However, the gas is very volatile and presents a risk of explosion.

Below cities, suburbs and rural areas lies an intricate network of pipes that carry gasoline, crude oil and natural gas. For the most part, the highly pressurized flow of these substances moves smoothly and without incident.

But when they do not, the result can be disastrous, as it was Nov. 9, 2004, in Walnut Creek. A construction crew putting in a new waterline accidentally ruptured a buried gasoline pipe, causing a massive blast and fireball that killed five people in one of the deadliest explosions of a liquid pipeline in recent history.

Reach John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or [email protected].

if you go

–WHAT: Meeting of the Rodeo Municipal Advisory Council

–WHEN: 7 p.m. today

–WHERE: Rodeo Senior Center, 189 Parker Ave.

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