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This is a gasoline pipeline serving Tucson and Phoenix from refineries in Texas.

The special blends mandated by the EPA for use in Phoenix are now being trucked from Tucson to Phoenix instead of being piped and stored in tanks in S/W Phoenix.

The special blends mandated by the EPA for use in Phoenix are now being trucked from Tucson to Phoenix instead of being piped and stored in tanks in S/W Phoenix.

Phoenix will be all but shut-down if there is a pileup on I-10 of any consequence.

This just in...

EPA grants Arizona request to allow dirtier gas to ease crunch

ANABELLE GARAY and BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press Writers Wednesday, August 20, 2003

(08-20) 11:20 PDT PHOENIX (AP) --

A gasoline pipeline that was shut down for safety reasons failed one of two tests needed to reopen it, the company that owns the line said Wednesday.

The closure of the pipeline, which provides a third of the metropolitan area's gas, has sparked days of shortages and long lines at gas stations.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners said a test on the first segment of the pipeline was going well and should be completed Wednesday afternoon, but a test on a second 4-mile segment failed near Tucson.

The failed section was near an area where the pipeline burst on July 30, said Kinder Morgan spokesman Rick Rainey.

The section that failed during testing was being repaired, and a new test will needed, company officials said.

The pipeline is still expected to be running back at full capacity by the weekend, Rainey said.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency granted Gov. Janet Napolitano's request that Maricopa County be allowed to use conventional rather than cleaner burning fuel until the gas supply stabilizes.

In a letter sent Wednesday, EPA Assistant Administrator John Peter Suarez said gas stations could sell conventional gas as long as efforts were being made to obtain as much cleaner-burning fuel as possible. The waiver expires Sept. 19.

Napolitano on Tuesday asked that the state be allowed to bypass requirements for cleaner-burning fuel.

Since 1997, the federal government has required gas stations in the Phoenix metropolitan area to use gasoline blended with ethanol or another additive to combat ozone pollution during the summer.

On Tuesday, Napolitano also said she requested that officials increase the number of hours gasoline truck drivers can work in a week from 70 to 80 to keep more drivers delivering gasoline to dry stations.

The Kinder Morgan pipeline shut down on Aug. 8, causing a hiccup in the supply chain, leaving many gas stations dry by Sunday and forcing motorists to wait in long lines at other stations. The lines and shortages continued into Wednesday.

Kinder Morgan representatives and Napolitano met Tuesday afternoon, but the governor said she left the meeting with many unanswered questions. She questioned why the company didn't monitor the aging line more closely and didn't have an effective backup plan.

"We are doing everything we can do but we have an obligation to public safety," said Tom Bannigan, who heads Kinder Morgan's fuel pipeline business.

There are no gasoline refineries in Arizona, so fuel must be delivered through two pipelines operated by Kinder Morgan -- the closed one, which runs from Texas, and a second from California, which is still working.

Since the weekend, gasoline has become a precious commodity in Phoenix, a sprawling city with few mass transit options.

Byron Woodson was among nearly a dozen other drivers who crowded around the pumps of a Phoenix station Tuesday, three hours before gasoline was expected to arrive there. With an empty tank, Woodson could only leave a message for his employer saying he would be several hours late.

"That's what I was freaking out about," said Woodson, an administration manager at a real estate firm. "Do I have a job?"

On the Net:
Kinder Morgan: www.kindermorgan.com/