::Portland Montreal Pipe Line:: About usBG, a kind gentleman from Maine, e-mailed me about the Portland Montreal Pipe Line, whose warning sign I blogged about yesterday. He sent me this link to the PMPL site. It's full of fascinating information: the pipeline opened in 1941 and is approximately 236 miles (or approximately 380 km) long. It sends oil from Portland, Maine ("the largest oil port on the US East Coast") north to Montreal. It was built because of the need, during World War II, "to safely transport vital oil when enemy warships interrupted tanker traffic bound for refineries in Canada." I haven't heard of any problems with this pipeline. But when a problem happens, it will be a dozy. This is crude oil, and it's dangerous stuff.
According to a Petroleum Administration Defense District map, this seems to be the only pipe line in New England.
Now I'm wondering if a hike along the pipeline (to Portland going south or to Montreal going north) is possible. Sounds interesting. There's a lot of history in this pipeline. Below is a very crude map, provided by PMPL, of the route the pipeline takes:
Thank you, BG, for the information.
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How interesting! I had no clue that such a thing existed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excellent info.
Marie
I grew up in Higwater Que. My father worked for the pipeline.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very close knit community
and a wonderful growing up experience.
JB
Hi, I came across your article and tought you might be interested to know that canadian Govt. and petrolum producers plan to reverse the flow of that pipeline to send Alberta's tar sands oil to Portland.
ReplyDeleteHere is a Facebook group about it (french only) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=297141767267
My grandfather worked at both the Lancaster and Shelburne, NH pump stations. I think a hike would be possible. Much of the right of way is at least somewhat cleared. Snowmobilers use it a lot in the winter.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Anon. Thank you for the historic information. I hope I can hike the link someday. I need several more lives to do all I want to do!
ReplyDelete