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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2006WWW.CHRON.COM

P I P E L I N E S

ALBERTO CUADRA : C H R O N I C L ESources: Louisiana Geological Survey; National Pipeline Mapping System

N

New Orleans

PIPELINES OUT OF POSITIONWhile all pipelines in the National Pipeline Mapping System are supposed to be within 500 feet of their actual location, researchers in Louisiana have found them more than a half-mile out of place, like the example below. That error since has been fixed.

Actual locationThe blue line shows where the pipeline was found in the field.

Mississippi River

Data entry pointThe blue cylinders show where researchers logged in latitude and longitude.

Area of studyThe researchers have mapped 15 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. Below is an example from a parish south of New Orleans.

Pipelines from the ground up

Mapped locationThe red line shows the location of the natural gas pipeline according to the National Pipeline Mapping System.

Fill

Anode

Witness posts Researchers take down the latitude and longitude of posts connecting them to make a map.

5 miles

PipesBuried in trenches on well-drained bedding material. 0.5 miles

Let’s go DynamoWe preview today’s

MLS Cup in Frisco and outline the Dynamo’s keys to bringing home the championship.

FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT IN SECTION C

BATTLE FOR THE MLS CUP

STATES’ MILEAGEA comparison of the pipeline mileage in different states:

TEXAS: 52,934.70

LOUISIANA: 15,818.10

OKLAHOMA: 10,834.60

KANSAS: 10,023.50

CALIFORNIA: 7,397.90

What lies beneath

Thousands of miles of pipelines crisscross the Gulf Coast carrying volatile fuels, oil and gas. But NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW

EXACTLY WHERE THEY ARE LOCATED.JAMES NIELSEN : C H R O N I C L E

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

INSIDECrossword. . . G4 Dear Abby. . . G2 Editorials. . . . .E2 Hale . . . . . . . G1

Hoffman . . ZEST Horoscope. . . G4 Lottery . . . . . A2 Movies. . . . ZEST Obituaries . . . B9

SCORESNebraska . . . .28Texas A&M. . .27

Oklahoma . . .34Texas Tech . . .24

ON THE WEBFor more information on pipelines and the federal mapping system, or to find pipelines in Texas, log onto the following Web sites:

National Pipeline Mapping System: www.npms.rspa.dot.gov

General information on pipelines: www.pipeline101.com

To map pipelines in Texas: www.rrc.state.tx.us/gis/index.html

HOW THE HAMMER FELL ON HIS OWN PARTY

The iron hand of TOM DeLAY built a GOP empire — and may have contributed to its undoing

SPORTS

UH and Rice win on road; UT fallsCougars clinch berth in C-USA title game with win, while Kansas State shocks the Horns 45-42. PAGE F1UH QB

KEVIN KOLB

¬ ¬ ¬ ¬

Good morning! COOL, HIGH 67, LOW 53 / PAGE B12 BAGWELL FILES FOR FREE AGENCY / PAGE C1

Nowhere is the problem more acute than in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, home to the most extensive and oldest pipeline networks in the nation.

On the calcasieuriver, la. — Thestate-issue Boston

Whaler plowed through thebeer-bottle-brown CalcasieuRiver, stirring the calm watersthat concealed what coursedbelow.

From their boat, John Sneadand Robert Paulsell weretracking Louisiana’s man-maderivers of commerce: thethousands of miles of pipelinethat crisscross the state

transporting fuel, oil andnatural gas mined and refinedalong the Gulf Coast to distantgas stations and homes.

The two men, mapmakerswith the Louisiana GeologicalSurvey, knew the pipelineswere down there. They just

weren’t sure where.“A map of pipelines in

Louisiana looks like a webmade by a spider on LSD,”Snead said.

The problem is thatLouisiana — like many otherstates, including Texas —

doesn’t know exactly where allits pipelines are. And thefederal government, which issupposed to keep maps ofpipelines crossing state linesnationwide, may not be muchhelp, a Houston Chroniclereview shows.

Interviews with safetyofficials in nine states, home tomore than 100,000 miles ofburied pipe, reveal hugedifferences in the accuracy ofmaps relied on by emergencyresponders and, in some cases,by urban planners deciding

By DINA CAPPIELLOH O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E

Please see PIPELINE, Page A8

NICK de la TORRE : C H R O N I C L E

In tune with Aggie pride

TEXAS A&M University President and defensesecretary nominee Robert Gates, center, joinsCorps of Cadets members in The Aggie War

Hymn at the A&M-Nebraska matchup Saturday inCollege Station. Gates long has had a close relationshipwith the corps, once saying he came to A&M in largepart because of the famous military training group.

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Under new management

REP. CHARLES RANGEL, D-N.Y., will take the reins of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax policy and oversees major federal entitlement programs, when chairmanships of key panels fall into Democratic hands. STORY ON PAGE A14

Democratic battle cry

SEN. HARRY REID, the Nevada Democrat poised to become the majority leader, is among the congressional Democrats who intend to push legislation this week to resurrect a federal agency in charge of eliminating waste and corruption in Iraq and greatly increase its oversight. STORY ON PAGE A6

wa s h i n g t o n — Thelegacy of the once powerfulRepublican Tom DeLay ofSugar Land cast a long shadowover last week’s elections, inwhich voters shrank the ranksof a party accused of being toopartisan, too cozy with specialinterests and too fond of bigspending.

As majority whip and latermajority leader of the House,DeLay helped build a Republi-can political empire that hetried to make immune from

erosion bypushing the2003 Texasredistrictingplan thatthrew sev-eral veteran

House Democrats out of office.For years the former pest

exterminator ruled with aniron hand that brought hisparty legislative victories butalso intensified the poisonouspartisan mood in Washington.

DeLay’s combative style in-deed was one of the factors inturning the electorate awayfrom the GOP, said Ross Baker,a political scientist at RutgersUniversity.

“I don’t think Tom DeLay asan individual was in the mindsof many voters. But the elec-tion was very much a reactionto the kind of bare-knucklespolitics he practiced,” Bakersaid. “People thought this ex-

TEXASPOLITICSThe state’sDemocrats hopeto maintaingains. PAGE B1

By BENNETT ROTHand MICHAEL HEDGESWA S H I N G T O N B U R E AU

Please see DELAY, Page A15

chron.comEXTRA: More images of neighborhood artists at chron.com/metropolitan

Painter Pat Colville wasworking in a Brooklyn loft, buttwo years ago, when looking fora place to live part of the year,she bought a 2-acre farm innorthwest Houston, on the edgeof Acres Homes. There’s achicken coop on the propertyand a horse her son tends.

She expected to be the onlyartist in the neighborhood. Butshe was wrong. She had, in fact,landed in Houston’s newest artenclave.

In Houston, artists do whatartists everywhere have donefor centuries: revitalize ne-glected areas by revampingcheap old buildings and ware-houses to use as housing andstudio space.

But rising property values

have begun to drive them fromclose-in neighborhoods. Now,they’re building brand-newmetal houses and studios out-side the Loop.

That movement is most vis-ible north of Loop 610 and westof Interstate 45 in wooded, his-torically black neighborhoodssuch as Acres Homes and Inde-

pendence Heights.Some of Houston’s best-

known artists either alreadylive and work there or havebought property with plans tobuild. The roster includes The

STEVE CAMPBELL : C H R O N I C L E

STILL LIFE: Pieces of art and old cars dot the landscape at “Itchy Acres,” an enclave in northwest Houston.

Houston artists have been scattering from the traditional enclaves

AN ARTISTICMOVEMENT

By PATRICIA C. JOHNSONH O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E

Please see ARTISTS, Page A15

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where to build the nextsubdivision.

Nowhere is the problemmore acute than in Oklahoma,Louisiana and Texas, home tothe most extensive and oldestpipeline networks in thenation. In the past five years,these three states have led thenation in the number ofaccidents and volume spilledfrom pipelines, according tofederal records.

But perhaps the moststartling finding is that mapsmandated by the federally runNational Pipeline MappingSystem contain significanterrors, pipeline-mappingexperts and state officials say.The system relies on thecompanies that operatepipelines to disclose where theyare. The system is supposed tohave the location of all 182,833miles of hazardous-liquidinterstate pipes within amargin of error of 500 feet. It’sused by more than 30 percentof the nation’s counties forplanning, zoning and spillresponse.

Yet if a pipe breaks,releasing a harmful chemicalinto a neighborhood or spillingoil into a river, emergencyworkers still would have toperform some geographicguesswork to find it, expertssay.

“The information is notnearly as accurate as they claimit to be,” said Snead, whoserved on a technical team thathelped design the federalmapping program in the late1990s. “We have foundpipelines a half-mile out ofposition, being run by thewrong company and filled withthe wrong product.”

Armed with maps and aerialphotographs, and a device thatcalculates their exact positionfrom satellites in space, Sneadand Paulsell slowly are finding,and mapping, the 15,000 milesof pipeline that traverseLouisiana. The pipes shuttlegasoline, oil and an entireperiodic table’s worth ofchemicals across the state,linking oil wells with refineriesand refineries with terminalsand chemical plants in anindustrial-scale connect-the-dots.

Over the course of theirresearch, about 30 percent ofthe pipelines mapped in thefederal system have not beenwhere they are supposed to be.In one case, south of NewOrleans, a pipe was a half-milefrom its mapped location, adifference that had it runningthrough a neighborhoodinstead of a naval base.

“It is an issue in every state.It depends on the level of detailof the mapping,” said DonDavis, administrator ofLouisiana’s Oil Spill Researchand Development Program,which has funded Snead andPaulsell’s work since 1999 withabout $50,000 a year fromtaxes on the oil and gasindustry.

Snead and Paulsell’s workwas triggered by a flood alongthe San Jacinto River in 1994.The waters ruptured eightpipelines, and emergency-response teams had to scrambleto identify the operators in anattempt to shut down the leaks.

Few states beyond Louisianaare trying to more preciselymap pipelines. Those that are,such as Washington, also havefound problems when puttingthe U.S. mapping system to thetest.

The system has “based the

success of their program on thenumber of miles collected, notthe accuracy of milescollected,” said David Cullom, aGeographic InformationSystem analyst with theWashington Utilities andTransportation Commission,which finished mapping itspipelines in 2005, using moneyfrom the Pipeline andHazardous Materials SafetyAdministration.

“We had found, dependingon the operator, largediscrepancies,” he said.

The administration does notverify the pipeline informationit receives from companies inthe field and concedes that atleast 7 percent of the pipelinemileage received since June2005 is outside the 500-footrequirement. About 25 percentis accurate to within 50 feet.

Though the agency correctsthe mistakes it knows about, itnever has penalized a companyfor submitting inaccuratepipeline locations.

It also recommends againstusing its maps for emergencyresponse. Last year alone, theagency recorded 135 accidentsalong hazardous-liquidpipelines — incidents thatcaused $93.8 million inproperty damage and killedtwo.

People responding to theseincidents should use “higheraccuracy” maps from localpipeline companies andplanning and zoning offices torespond to spills, theadministration said.

However, a bill beforeCongress seeks more money forstates, which oversee pipelineswithin their borders, toimprove their maps. If the billpasses, the federal mappingprogram, which tracks mostlyinterstate pipelines will alsoimprove its accuracy.

“We want better fidelity. . . .There is a lot of activity in theunderground, and, to avoidconflicts, you really need tounderstand with moreprecision where your liquid andgas lines are,” said Adm. TomBarrett, the safetyadministration’s administrator.

The quality of maps in thehands of states varies,depending on requirements.

In Texas, companies mustsubmit pipeline locationswithin a margin of error of plusor minus 1,000 feet. In

California, officials requirecompanies to map theirportions of the state’s 5,500miles of hazardous-liquidpipelines within 100 feet. InWashington, a deadly pipelineincident in Bellinghamprompted efforts to locate allpipelines in urban areas towithin 10 feet.

Some states, including NewMexico, Iowa and Louisiana,don’t regularly collectinformation at all.

Bruno Carrara, generalmanager for the Pipeline SafetyBureau at the New MexicoPublic Regulation Commission,said emergency workers andresponse teams “can go on thenational system and look atmaps.”

And in cases in which thepipeline is not in the federaldatabase, emergencyresponders need to know whatcompany to call and where thepipeline is, Carrara said.

Texas subscribes to the samepolicy, even though the SanJacinto River incident, whichspilled gasoline, diesel, naturalgas and crude oil into the riverand later was set on fire by ahouse gas heater, raisedquestions about how well-versed first responders were onpipeline locations. The fireburned for days, and nearly600 people were sent to localhospitals with burns and otherinjuries. Soon afterward, thePort of Houston Authoritystiffened its licensingrequirements for pipelinescrossing navigable waterways,requiring companies to submitmaps based on where thepipeline was built.

“All I can say is that we havenot had any issues with ourfirst responders. We have nothad anyone say that what weprovided them has not beenadequate for their needs,” saidMary McDaniel, director of theTexas Railroad Commission’ssafety division.

However, McDanielacknowledged that Texas’ mapsare not accurate enough tolocate the exact position of aline for construction, forexample.

Accuracy often comes downto how well the companyoperating the line does itsmapping. Some usesophisticated software; othershave pipes hand-drawn withmarker across nothing muchmore than a road map.

For people living next topipelines, a few hundred feet ofuncertainty could mean thedifference between a pipelinebeneath a driveway — or apipeline beneath a house.

Steve Williams’ home inScotlandville, a working-class,black neighborhood north ofBaton Rouge, sits on theshoulder of a pipelinesuperhighway. Nine Exxonpipeline posts, carrying alaboratory’s worth ofchemicals, are lined up single-file along his chain-link fence.

Where orange and yellowlilies once grew, all that’s left isa grass-covered hump. Beneathit, a ridge of cement covers the

pipes.There could be as many as

20 in all, based on maps of thearea. But the network is sodense here that Paulsellcouldn’t separate one fromanother when he mapped BatonRouge Parish in 1991. Themarker posts don’t help, either,because their order changesacross the street.

“These pipes shouldn’t benear someone’s home. There issomewhere else they could be,”said Edith Williams Pride,Williams’ daughter. The oilcompanies “are doing quitewell, and they will always wantto find the cheapest land, sothey come to blackcommunities.”

In Louisiana, the hope is tomap the location of all of thestate’s pipelines within amargin of error of 50 feet orless.

“It behooves us to knowwhere those pipelines are, incase there is a rupture,” saidDavis, who works for the stateoil-spill office. “We need toknow what is in close proximityso we can respondresponsibly.”

The pipeline industry,which initially resisteddisclosing pipeline locations tothe government, recently hasbecome an advocate foraccuracy. It comes down tomoney. It’s a waste for anoperator to be sent to stake apipeline for an excavation onlyto find the project is nowherenear the line.

“It’s fundamentally in our

interest to have people knowwhere pipelines are,” said BenCooper, a spokesman for theAssociation of Oil Pipelines, aconsortium of the nation’smajor pipeline operators.

Paulsell and Snead are doingtheir small part in Louisiana,where so far they have mappedall the major rivers and parts of15 of 64 parishes, despite littlecooperation from pipelinecompanies.

That summer morning onthe Calcasieu River, theymapped 20 miles. Along theway, they would float over 25pipelines buried deep withinthe river’s muck. In threecases, they found pipelines notmarked on any map. In onecase, they could not find apipeline even though itappeared on the map.

Their search took them toreaches of the river so dark andshallow that they debatedwhether to forge ahead.

“We’re at the end of theriver. Let’s go home,” Paulsellsaid. “This is not navigable.”

“Yeah it is, just go up andget the next pipeline,” Sneadreplied.

Finally, they hit a dead end.But somewhere ahead,

beneath the coffee-coloredwater, among the palms andtangled mass of the Louisianaswamp was another pipeline —or so the map said.

dina.cappiello@chron.com

JAMES NIELSEN PHOTOS : C H R O N I C L E

CLOSE TO HOME: Nine Exxon pipeline posts, indicating a laboratory’s worth of chemicals, line the fence at Steve Williams’ home in Scotlandville, La.

MAP: Exxon pipelines in Louisiana’s East and West Baton Rouge Parish.

DESIGNATOR: A painted line shows where a petroleum pipelinecrosses through East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana.

Some states, includingNew Mexico, Iowaand Louisiana, don’tregularly collectinformation at all.

ACCURACY: John Snead, left, and Robert Paulsell, mapmakers with the Louisiana Geological Survey,photograph and log the location of an underground pipe on the Calcasieu River.

PIPELINE: Inaccuracies affect first respondersCONTINUED FROM PAGE A1

Getting it right

Homeowners worry

Forging ahead

A8 H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E ¬ ¬ ¬ Sunday, November 12, 2006THE JUMP PAGE