Remember when I mentioned the PA OneCall markings that appeared mysteriously on our street a few weeks back?

This evening, there were more markings. And we learned why, as a rep from Buckeye happened to be parked in front of our house when we got home, and wanted to talk to us.

They periodically send probes down the pipeline to keep an eye on things, like the general condition and integrity of the pipeline. You know, things like that. Seems they’re concerned with either part of a pipe or a pipe seam, and that section most likely is under a) our yard, b) the street in front of our house, or c) neighbor across the street’s yard. So there’s a better-than-average chance there’ll be a 2 ft deep by ??? ft wide by 15-20 ft long trench in our yard in two or three weeks.

We must’ve talked to the pipeline guy for at least 15 minutes. Pipelines are manly things, so I was interested in getting as many questions answered as possible.

• The pipeline carries petroleum. Someone else of some authority (but not with the pipeline company) told me it was definitely natural gas. So, at $122/barrel, it’s interesting to know there’s a metric assload’s worth of product flowing across the Hart estate every day.
• The pipeline’s only about 2 ft. under the surface. For whatever reason I figured it was like 15 or 20 ft.
• I have the pipeline rep’s email address; he promised to send me some pictures.
• The company flies over the entire pipeline weekly, looking for brown vegetation and signs of digging.
• There’s a map of our pipeline here. See the black & white dotted line running northwest to southeast? Where it intersects Uwchlan Twp (near the middle of the map) is where it crosses our property.
• Once they’re done digging, they’ll replace the soil and tamp it back down. After that, they’ll reseed the lawn.

The fun begins in two or three weeks.