Hoeschen,
Spot reports are made on all equipment, construction, exposed pipe, oil or product leak, ice or frost formation on natural gas valves, water on the top of storage tanks, dead animals, survey crews, survey stakes, vegetation restricting view, or unusual activity on or near the pipeline right of way (fifty feet swath.) Any equipment at any distance working toward the right of way is also called. Because bad weather may remain many days in the midwest, most lines there are flown weekly. In the west they are usually flown bi-weekly. Any line not flown in the prior 21 days must be shut down until flown. All spot reports must be physically investigated withing 48 hours, I think, by oil or pipeline company employees.
Spot reports are made by estimating distance from the nearest mile pole, positioned every mile in the midwest and every two to five miles out west. Many oil companies required GPS as well, but the interface technology was not there in inexpensive GPS units when I retired in 2006. The best unit I ever used was an old marine Magellan GPS that had a man overboard button. Still at 130 mph the coordinate could be way off. Does it happen when you push down or when you let the button up? The later Garmin 196s didn't have any way to get an accurate spot. I simply guessed. The company guys on the ground used the mile pole reports. They, like me, simply ignored any GPS coordinates. They said any would put them on the wrong side of the river or miles away.
As a normal operating practice, I read every mile pole. That way I could confirm the accuracy of the spot. I also found the occasional double entry or missing mile post, which I also reported. I also found unusual routing in pipelines. To be accurate you need to see every foot of the right of way. Energy management turns are the only way to do this on crooked lines.
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