Pipe laying on the Energy Coast

Pipelines? You want pipelines? We've got 'em. This one is going right down the middle of Lake Pontchartrain. I captured this photo of a pipeline laying barge as we were heading across the Causeway one day. Don't worry, my wife was driving while I fiddled with my camera.

Inside the buildings on the raft, new sections of pipe are added and welded while the pipe is pushed out to the bottom of the lake (typically about 14 feet deep. You can see the water bubbling up from where the channel for the pipeline is being dug to hold it.

Why so many pipelines? Because this is the Energy coast, that imports and drills a large portion of our country's energy needs. Pipelines, it turns out, are one of the most efficient ways to move product. I dare say, this area ships more product underground that most areas its size ship overground.

-- steve buser