[Imperialist]

It was a gas pipeline, so these water additives you mentioned were not present.

[First_Salute]

Long time ago, now, a friend of mine was in the aviation sales business, and he had many friends, and of course, customers, who were pilots.

Some of the pilots flew for the gas pipeline companies. All day long, all they did was fly cross country and observe the ground over the pipelines, in order to spot changes in the land that would indicate erosion, presumably caused by pipeline failures.

The first time that I learned of this kind of work, I was a bit fascinated because I had watched the building of pipelines, how they ran out to the horizon and were marked by poles and plaques.

I also had spent time inspecting gas and oil pipeline junctions along the Ohio River, looking for leaks and damage, though, at the time, I was not, in my view, any kind of expert from the standpoint of knowing the details of the business, that is, the terminology of the industry.

I was able to identify a leak --- that's all that mattered to the "higher-ups."

However, the whole of it, was very interesting. (Not to mention that an uncle of mine owned one of the largest mid-West pipe and valve distributorships; something that, around the dinner table, "you could not miss.")

So, when I hear of pipeline stories in the news, they get my attention more than as a passing interest.

Recently, I have been watching the construction of local water main lines. In particular, I've been examining up close, the gaskets; very, very tough stuff.

It has been my concern, given that so much is being overlooked by city hall, because city hall is not listening to "the troops" (in the name of not embarrassing the bureaucratic chiefs'-dumb) on matters regarding The Defense Against and Treatment of Terrorist Attacks, that we will get hit in the flank.

I've listened to some officials relate how there has been planning, and I'm sure there has. But when one fellow got all hot under the collar and said that "Well, we have video cameras everywhere, and we don't need people ... " then, I began to wonder a little more, about what exactly our city has planned for us.

Under the heading of pipelines, most being out of the public eye, there is much to overlook, especially when the "experts" are looking through cameras.