And that's at the
thinnest portion - how dare those freedumb-hatin' paper-pushers hamper America's entrepreneurial spirit??!?!?
A major oil company's request to continue using a corroded undersea pipeline at an offshore platform in Cook Inlet has been roundly rejected by federal regulators.
As a result, the company, Chevron Corp., said it shut down oil production at its Anna Platform last week. Before the shutdown, the platform on the west side of Cook Inlet had been producing roughly 900 barrels of oil per day.
Before the shutdown, Chevron sought a waiver from federal rules that require pipelines in sensitive locations to be repaired when corrosion has eaten away more than 50 percent of their wall thickness.
In one section of pipe near the seafloor, the line had lost more than 60 percent of its wall thickness. Instead of fixing it, Chevron asked for permission a year ago to keep using the corroded pipeline indefinitely. Chevron proposed to inspect the pipeline periodically and inspect the area weekly by air to look for an oil sheen.
EDIT
http://www.adn.com/2010/05/07/1268807/feds-nix-corroded-undersea-pipe.html