An old Oil & Gas Journal dated Feb. 13, 1941, found recently in the office had an interesting article we feel needs to be shared with our readers. The article is on pipeline construction, the subject of this week's special report (p. 57).
Title of the article is "Pipeline and submerged oil developments are imminent," by Henry D. Ralph, who at the time was district editor in Washington, DC. Later Ralph moved to Tulsa and became editor of the magazine. (We won't touch on the submerged oil issue in the article.)
Several weeks before the article was written, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt had sent a letter to a congressional committee "suggesting" an investigation of railroad opposition to the construction of gasoline pipelines in the southeastern US.
A large number of people in the US were isolationist in early 1941; they did not want their country to get involved in another war in Europe. Roosevelt and others, however, knew that US involvement in the war was only a matter of time. Preparations were being made quickly, sometimes in secret.
Railroad opposition
Pipelines to move crude oil and products from producing areas especially to the Northeast were vital. As Roosevelt wrote in his letter to the committee, "The Atlantic Coast area now is dependent upon ocean transportation for nearly its entire supply of crude petroleum and petroleum products. Present facilities for such transportation do not afford much leeway under normal conditions and very likely will prove inadequate in an emergency.
"I have been informed by the government agencies concerned," Roosevelt continued, "that the completion of one gasoline pipeline and the commencement of another to the southeastern states have been delayed by opposition from other carriers in interstate commerce." He then insisted that the matter be settled quickly.
According to Ralph, the president was referring to the longstanding situation in Georgia where opposition of railroads and railway labor had prevented completion of a products pipeline from the Florida Gulf Coast to Atlanta. The Georgia legislature had refused to grant the pipelines the power of eminent domain to acquire rights-of-way. Similar opposition was blocking another products pipeline from Baton Rouge, La., to Charlotte, NC.
The article continued to say the Navy was very concerned over the dependence of the Atlantic fleet on tankers transporting oil from the Gulf of Mexico around the tip of Florida. Navy officials were even reported to advocate a government-owned pipeline because they did not want to convoy tankers on that route to protect them from submarines.
There were rumors at the time that the government also wanted pipelines from the Midcontinent to the Pittsburgh area and from Texas to New York.
"On top of the concern of defense officials over the need for new pipelines," said Ralph, "private initiative is pretty well stymied by the Department of Justice antitrust suit against the [American Petroleum Institute] and major oil companies, which threatens to disintegrate the industry and divorce pipelines from ownership by the majors."
Ralph felt that hearings might do the industry a big service by "laying bare" the complicated underlying facts and building a framework for a constructive government policy.
"While Congress is reluctant to intervene in state politics," Ralph continued, "several suggestions have been made to prevent railroads from blocking pipeline construction. Since the federal government has authority over interstate carriers, Congress could forbid one carrier to refuse right-of-way to another carrier, or it could provide that a certificate of convenience and necessity issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission would entitle one carrier to right-of-way through another."
Taking action
Shortly after Roosevelt's letter, the US loaned Great Britain 80 tankers. The effect was felt almost immediately on the US East Coast with a shortage of fuel. And even with a big increase in tank-car traffic, the railroads could not make up the difference.
It was only after the attack on Pearl Harbor that real progress was made on the pipelines. War Emergency Pipelines Inc. was formed, and construction started in May 1942 on the Big Inch and Little Big Inch pipelines from Texas through the Midcontinent to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The lines were completed in 1943 and are credited with providing the fuel needed to keep the ships, tanks, and airplanes running throughout the war in Europe.