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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993                   TAG: 9304020257
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HERNDON                                LENGTH: Short

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WILDER WANTS ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE TEAM

Workers used heavy construction equipment to remove more dirt surrounding a damaged oil pipeline Thursday, and Gov. Douglas Wilder said an emergency response team will be created to deal with future environmental disasters.

Two sections of 36-inch pipe have been removed from the site of the pipeline break, which spilled about 336,000 gallons of fuel. One section broke and the other was dented.

Officials said 89 percent of the fuel had been recovered.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said metallurgists found a 6-inch fatigue crack on the outside of the pipe. The crack, about one-third the thickness of the pipe wall at its deepest point, is toward the center of the 42-inch rupture. The remainder of the rupture was apparently caused by stress, Lopatkiewicz said.

Board investigator George Mocharko said the crack was due to mechanical damage, not metal failure.

Federal officials ordered more of the pipeline exposed for examination after a second set of scratches and a palm-size dent was found on the bottom of the .34-inch-thick steel pipe Wednesday.

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