It used to be operated by the Magnolia Pipe Line Company, and ground first broke June 2, 1947: http://www.freelawreporter.org/flr3d/f2d/195/195.F2d.391.13268.html

It cost $46 million in 1947:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19461126&id=O68fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ItcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4497,2834674

This line was to supply about 250.000 barrels per day. It was to service the Lubrite Refinery in E. St. Louis. The Strawberry station was automated in 1962 and operated remotely from Dallas. It has a single 900 hp electric motor turning a centrefugal pump and producing an output pressure of from 600-800 psi.

books.google.com/books?isbn=1563117533

http://books.google.com/books?ei=t5hbUbnEO4S5Udu6gOgL&id=K94o71aLb-0C&q=magnolia#v=snippet&q=magnolia&f=false

-- Mother of Counties, Lawrence County 1815-2001 History and Families

Dilbit pipelines run at 1300-1400 psi. That's around 160-175% the design pressure.
Nearly 2x!

No wonder the thing ruptured.

They basically took and old pipeline which used to ship crude from Texas to Illinois, and reversed the direction in 2006 after it had sat ideal "for a few years".

TALKING OUT BOTH SIDES O'DEY MOUTH
While 99.5% of the media is repeating what they are being told by Exxon Mobil, that this is a "crude oil spill", the same Exxon Mobil is telling the government the truth, that this is DILBIT, thus exempting them from paying for the cleanup.

http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-spill-exxon-cleanup-244/

Increase in capacity announced:

Exxon boosts Pegasus Pipeline to tar sands by 50%

Exxon boosts pipeline to oil sands by 50%
By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg
Aug 17, 2009

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil refiner, boosted its capacity to transport crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas and Louisiana.

Exxon Mobil increased the capacity of its 1,381-kilometre Pegasus Pipeline by 50% to about 96,000 barrels a day, the Irving, Tex.-based company said Wednesday in a statement.

The expansion followed a 2006 reversal of the flow on the pipe, most of which had been idle for four years amid slack demand for shipping. The conduit runs from Patoka, Ill., where several Midwest and Texas pipelines converge, to Nederland, Texas, which is near Houston.

Exxon Mobil didn’t disclose how much it spent on the project, which involved upgrading pump stations along the route of the line, the statement said.

Bloomberg.com
© Copyright (c) National Post

http://oilsandstruth.org/exxon-boosts-pegasus-pipeline-tar-sands-50

Curious that 800 psi can deliver 250,000 bbls/day of actual crude oil.
But 1400 psi can only deliver 96,000 bbls/day of dilbit?

I will also fold this into the main article here: http://tinyurl.com/dilbitisnotoil

--
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May you, and all beings
be happy and free from suffering :)
-- ancient Buddhist Prayer (Metta)