Pipeline

The first time I went whitewater rafting, my emotions were as turbulent as the water beneath me. Goaded into making my maiden voyage down Richmond's James River by my whitewater enthusiast boyfriend, I battled fear and exhilaration as we approached the first big rapid. But by the end of the trip, I was eagerly surfing the last rapid, exulting in the thrill of keeping my feet firmly planted inside a contorting, wet rubber raft while I paddled furiously into the roiling whitewater. I was hooked -- and exceedingly glad this grand adventure was so nearby.

Arab leaders visiting with Kadafi on Libya's coastCAIRO, Egypt -- Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were in Libya yesterday for separate talks with Libyan leader Col. Muammar el Kadafi, media reports said.Abdullah arrived yesterday at the coastal town of Sirte, 250 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, state-run Libyan television reported. Arafat arrived there the night before.Abdullah and Arafat are among the first Arab leaders to fly into Libya since a seven-year United Nations travel ban was suspended this month.

After two decades of careful planning, engineers are finally ready to design and build a 4-foot-diameter pipe to help bring 30 million gallons of water a day from Baltimore City to Howard County.The design should be finished by next summer, and construction is expected to begin in January 2001, engineers said.The engineers have worked closely with civic activists in West Baltimore, who were concerned that construction of the huge pipeline would cut a 60-foot swath through Leakin Park.The new pipeline will serve office buildings, homes and businesses coming to Howard County through 2025.

After two decades of careful planning, engineers are finally ready to design and build a 4-foot-diameter pipe to help bring 30 million gallons of water a day from Baltimore City to Howard County -- drought or no drought.If that seems odd, think again, say project engineers and government officials. The final design should be finished by next summer, and construction is expected to begin in January 2001, engineers said.The engineers have worked closely with civic activists in West Baltimore, who were concerned that construction of the huge pipeline would cut a 60-foot swath through the middle of Leakin Park.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The water is flowing and restrictions are lifted, but the battle over the Lake Gaston pipeline continues.Opponents in North Carolina and Southside Virginia took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that Virginia Beach should not be allowed to draw water from Lake Gaston without North Carolina's permission.Their request marks the second time opponents have turned to the nation's highest court.In 1992, the Supreme Court, which hears less than 2 percent of cases presented to it, declined to let North Carolina appeal a pipeline permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers.

WASHINGTON - It's one of the most complicated environmental sagas in U.S. history: the continuing 30-year controversy over the piping of oil from Alaska's North Slope wilderness to the refineries, freeways and furnaces of the Lower 48.But in a new exhibit at the prestigious Smithsonian Institution, the story of the trans-Alaskan oil pipeline is a simple one: savvy engineers overcame natural, political and environmental obstacles to build an 800-mile-long marvel...

Workers have begun to lay a permanent pipeline to keep water flowing to the tiny, parched towns of Lonaconing, Midland and Barton in drought-stricken Allegany County.With freezing temperatures threatening the towns' temporary network of plastic pipes, the state agreed this week to provide emergency funds to get the project under way.The state Board of Public Works approved a $500,000 grant Wednesday, and Allegany County is contributing $71,450 to build the 1 1/2 -mile pipeline that will hook up to an existing network to tap into Frostburg's ample water supply.

WASHINGTON -- Former Democratic National Chairman Donald L. Fowler insisted in Senate testimony yesterday that he had no memory of calling the Central Intelligence Agency to plead the case of a $300,000 party donor, despite evidence to the contrary.A CIA official identified only as "Bob" said Fowler phoned the agency twice in late 1995 on behalf of Roger Tamraz, an Egyptian-born New York businessman who was promoting an oil pipeline project in Central Asia.According to CIA memos made public yesterday, the Democratic chairman was attempting to overcome White House objections to a meeting between Tamraz and Vice President Al Gore.

WASHINGTON -- Despite a new law meant to discourage foreign investment in Iran's oil and gas industry, the Clinton administration has decided not to object to a $1.6 billion project to build a natural gas pipeline through Iran, administration officials said yesterday.The officials insisted, however, that the administration's tacit approval of the project did not reflect any easing of its long-standing efforts to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically.Even though the Islamic government in Tehran would stand to profit by charging transit fees, the administration has concluded the project would not constitute an investment in Iran's industry and that therefore it would not provoke sanctions under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996.

WINDSOR, Va. -- Leaders from Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and other jurisdictions gathered recently in Isle of Wight County to dedicate the Lake Gaston pipeline, which started pumping in August.The reception took place over the pipeline at the Weir Aeration Structure outside Windsor, where water from Lake Gaston comes to the surface after a 74-mile trip from the North Carolina-Virginia border through a pipe 48 inches in diameter.At the structure, the water climbs a 30-foot box, then tumbles down eight 4-foot-wide steps, mixing with oxygen, before re-entering the pipeline for the rest of its trip.

Several Harford County residents are protesting a proposed gas pipeline that would run beneath their land by refusing to allow environmental surveyors hired by a natural gas company onto their properties. "This pipeline might be coming, but I am not going to help them," said Lisa Schneider of Fallston. As a condition of its approval of the project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required AES, the Virginia company planning to run an 88-mile pipeline through Maryland, to conduct an environmental survey to locate endangered species along its path.

Opponents of a liquefied natural gas terminal in eastern Baltimore County stepped up their attacks Tuesday, hosting an appearance by a former CIA officer who said the $400 million project lacks critical safeguards and raises the specter of terrorism and piracy. "The more I looked into this project, the more I thought the company building it does not care about the safety implications," said Charles S. Faddis, who retired a year ago as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's anti-terrorism unit and is a security consultant, based in Davidsonville, and a writer who has published two books on security issues.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said yesterday that it plans to vote this week on a proposal to build a natural gas terminal in Sparrows Point and an 88-mile pipeline to Pennsylvania, despite a request to delay action until concerns about an endangered bat and a threatened turtle can be addressed. "The case is still scheduled for consideration Thursday," said Tamara Young Allen, a commission spokeswoman. "The commission could address the issues brought by the wildlife service and could approve [the project]

MOSCOW - Fuel delivery to four European countries fell below normal yesterday as Russia's state gas monopoly withheld natural gas from neighboring Ukraine for the third consecutive day. Ukraine warned that its gas pipeline system could experience "serious disruptions" if a worsening price dispute isn't settled in 10 to 15 days, threatening shortfalls across Europe in the heart of winter. Flows of gas to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, all of which depend on pipelines that cross Ukraine, decreased yesterday, officials said.

Somali pirates release S. Korean cargo ship SEOUL, South Korea : Pirates who seized a South Korean cargo ship off the coast of Somalia more than a month ago freed the 22 sailors and the vessel yesterday, a South Korean official said. The crew members - eight South Koreans and 14 citizens from Myanmar - were heading toward a U.S. Navy vessel in the area after being set free, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae Young told reporters. Moon said the sailors were all safe but declined to comment whether a ransom was paid.

As gas wholesalers and Baltimore-area service stations continue to deal with the fallout caused by Hurricane Ike, consumers were faced yesterday with widely ranging prices as they filled up their tanks, from $4.15 at one location in Govans to $3.57 at another stop in Baltimore. Industry analysts say the wide range in pump prices can likely be attributed to problems caused by a temporary shutdown of a major fuel pipeline, which might have affected some companies more than others. The average price of a gallon of gas in Maryland shot up 17 cents over the weekend, to $3.69 as of yesterday, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The lush 12-acre field, bordered by huge oaks and a rippling creek, would have been the perfect setting for a country house, with plenty of room for a few horses to gallop around. That, at least, was Ann Paszkiewicz's vision six years ago, when she paid $250,000 for the property near Fallston High School in Harford County. But yesterday, Paszkiewicz and other residents of the area who have been fighting a proposed natural-gas pipeline got the full measure of what the construction might mean to their properties.

If the proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline from eastern Baltimore County to Pennsylvania is approved, Mike and Pat Liberatore face two daunting possibilities. Under one scenario, the Harford County couple could lose most of the trees on their property. Under the other, they say, the LNG pipeline could come through their bedroom. The kicker? "We can't get our home connected for natural gas," says Mike Liberatore, a builder who has lived in the Street area for 13 years. "We won't see the benefits of this."

The fury about a proposed liquefied natural gas project began in eastern Baltimore County, but it doesn't end there. More than 120 LNG opponents filled a meeting room in Harford County last night to voice concerns about an 88-mile pipeline that would pass close to or cut through backyards, school grounds and parks. "This is an ill-conceived project," said Donna Ichniowski, a Street resident, one of the dozens of residents and officials who spoke about the proposed line, 30 inches in diameter, that would connect a proposed LNG terminal on Sparrows Point to three interstate gas lines in southern Pennsylvania.

In a fiery meeting drawing hundreds of people last night, resident after resident and official after official told why Dundalk is the wrong place for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal. At a hearing before federal regulators, they spoke against a plan that they said would harm the Chesapeake Bay, threaten the safety of people living in eastern Baltimore County and harm the economy that millions of tax dollars have been spent to improve. Elected officials and community leaders said they also had growing doubts about the process federal officials were using to evaluate the proposal by AES Corp.