Go behind the scenes of a 38-mile smart pig run and see how teamwork and precision protect pipeline integrity and the communities we serve.

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A 38-Mile Mission Begins Before Dawn
It’s a dark, chilly October morning at Ergon Terminaling Inc. in Magnolia, Ohio. An above-ground oil storage tank farm with a direct pipeline connection to the Ergon – West Virginia Inc. (EWV) refinery, the Magnolia terminal is a lynchpin of Ergon’s operations in the area.

With headlamps and a pair of taillights illuminating the worksite, the team is up early to launch a “smart pig” through 38 miles of pipeline running between Magnolia, Ohio, and Newell, West Virginia.

Despite the squealing sound that accompanies the initial launch, this isn’t the kind of pig found on the farmlands surrounding the terminal. It’s a sophisticated device used to inspect pipelines for corrosion, cracks, dents, leaks and any other safety risks.

Just as the first hint of sunrise breaks over the horizon and the project is about to launch, our Magnolia team members and representatives from a local contractor work together to finish their final safety checks. Hundreds of hours of preparation have led to this point, and it’s vital to ensure the ensuing steps — from loading the device onto a truck to positioning it for insertion into the pipeline — are carried out by the book.

With everyone in the field helping however they can regardless of their job title, the smart pig is quite literally in good hands.

Three Little Pigs, One Big Goal
The first step of this critically important inspection is carried out by a scraper pig. As the scraper pig makes its way through the pipeline, it removes debris and rust flakes through a combination of flexible cups, discs, steel-wire brushes and spring-loaded scraper blades.

Next comes the gauge pig with a simple but crucial role: ensuring there are no obstructions along the pipeline that could damage the much more expensive smart pig. Sized to fit snuggly in an eight-inch pipeline, these two tools pave the way for the rest of the project.

Once the pipeline has been confirmed to be clear, the smart pig can be launched. Widely used across the oil industry, a smart pig is a unique device several feet in length that checks for anomalies, reports on the status of previous repairs and maps out the need for future maintenance — all without ever needing the pipeline to be shut down.

“It’s how you determine your mechanical integrity,” says Sam Davis, Director of Projects for Ergon Terminaling. “It takes readings, it finds things like dents and corrosion, even past repairs. Starting at the Magnolia location, it takes 13 hours. We push it with oil, and there are teams that’ll follow it so they can make time-stamped recordings of where it is.”

It takes more than just the team at Magnolia. With 15,000 barrels of oil needed to send the smart pig along, constant communication is essential to ensure everyone involved knows where they fit in the partnership.

“It’s a very involved process,” says Davis. “There’s a lot of planning and coordinating. We typically start about six to eight months out to get ready for it. We’re required to do these projects, and it takes a good bit of planning each time to make it happen smoothly and safely.”

Long before the smart pig comes off the truck, meetings are held with EWV, Ergon Oil Purchasing Inc. (EOP), Ergon’s Engineering Team and the external contractor to coordinate the personnel, equipment and oil movements needed to make the run happen.

“Our team in Magnolia will assist with the launch itself, and then you’ll have the movement coordinator at Newell making sure the refinery is prepped to receive the pig,” says Davis. “Ergon Terminaling, EOP and EWV must make sure we have enough oil at Magnolia to send the pig, and that EWV has enough room in a tank to receive the oil. That’s the part that takes the most coordination, because the pig run has to be done in one shot — it can’t be stopped once started. But our people have shown, time and time again, that they’re equipped to handle it.”

Once the pig is launched, the external contractor follows it on its 13-hour journey from Magnolia to Newell. Whenever the smart pig passes road crossings and other predetermined locations, their team intercepts it with a pinging device that allows them to see if it’s moving and functioning properly.

“Essentially, this is a highly technical, extremely organized 13-hour game of leapfrog,” says Davis.

Keeping Neighbors and Nature Safe
Smart pig readings are federally regulated. Teams are required to complete a project every five years to ensure their pipelines aren’t at risk of causing an environmental safety issue. For the experts at Ergon Terminaling, though, this project is about more than just checking a box.

The Magnolia team is all about running a successful project. But for them, success means more than just a smooth inspection. It’s about ensuring each other’s safety and the safety of those around them, all while embodying Ergon’s mission of meeting needs, supporting families and serving customers.

“We’re the link between EOP, Ergon Trucking and EWV,” explains Justyn Mook, Crew Chief at the Magnolia terminal. “Operating in a safe manner and taking proper care of our equipment is an essential part of serving the needs of those companies. Good mechanical integrity reduces downtime that can be caused by poorly maintained equipment and keeps us all safe. These smart pig runs play a huge role in preserving the quality we pride ourselves on.”

“Our teams are always looking for ways to be more than just ‘good enough’,” says Zach Young, President of Ergon Terminaling. “And you see that at all levels with projects like a smart pig run. Technicians, crew chiefs, regional managers — everyone is out there going beyond their job description, because everyone knows how important something like this is. Our team at Magnolia is a great example of what it means to be ‘United by Service’ and ‘Driven by Solutions’.”

Craig Rohr, Northern Regional Manager of Ergon Terminaling, shines a light on a benefit that might not be as obvious when discussing highly regulated technical maintenance.

“Of course we want the pipeline to run efficiently because that’s what our business relies on,” says Rohr. “But also, a lot of us are very outdoorsy. We enjoy going fishing, hunting and hiking, just like many people in this community. So, we want to do right by people and the environment and be good stewards of the places we love to spend time in.”

As the workday comes to an end 13 hours later, the team at Magnolia is informed that EWV has safely received the smart pig. Following a successful run, Senior Engineer Robert Cooper and Lead Plant Support Engineer Kendall Brown guide the Engineering Team through several rounds of meticulous reviews of the data captured by the device.

“Once we get the report back from the vendor, we review it and look for any kind of anomaly,” says Cooper. “We’re looking for any defects in the pipe that meets the criteria outlined by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration [PHMSA] in the CFR 195 document. Once we identify any anomalies, we review the data and help build the plan to execute the repairs.”

Meetings with the Operations Team are then scheduled to go over the scope of repairs needed and how the work will fit into the budget. “We’ll review and confirm with Operations that this is the repair we need to do, and we’ll discuss our options on doing it in-house or with external contractors,” says Brown. “After we all agree on the next steps, our Engineering Team manages the project. We make sure all the repairs are done and we document them. Because every year, there’s an annual report due to PHMSA that shows how many repairs we did, how many miles we inspect, all that kind of data.”

Though it’s a complicated process, the camaraderie between the teams ensures the project operates like a well-oiled machine.

“Working with Operations and Terminaling and getting everything put together, it’s as near effortless of a process as it could be, really,” says Brown. “We all communicate and work really well together.”

From launch to recovery, every step of a smart pig run is a testament to the value of preparation, precision and the teams’ commitment to ensuring the highest standards of safety. These inspections preserve more than just the bottom line — they’re about protecting people and the forests, parks, rivers and lakes our communities call home.

With 38 miles of pipeline to maintain, it’s critical the team at Ergon Terminaling in Magnolia, Ohio (Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia) is ready for anything.

It would be easy to draft an oil spill drill, stick it in a binder and casually read through the steps to check off federally mandated safety requirements.

But the teams at Ergon don’t see it that way. They’re committed to keeping their colleagues safe. They know spills aren’t easy to deal with, and preparing for them shouldn’t be either.

Moments after air patrol reports an oil slick on the Whitacre Greer Pond, the Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia Team springs into action. Shutdown of the pipeline is initiated, the Carroll County Emergency Management Agency is notified of the situation and a mobile response trailer is prepared.

This isn’t a crisis in the making, though.

This is practice — an Ergon drill, not just on paper, but on site.

By the Book and Beyond
Regulations laid out by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) require terminals to have written emergency procedures for gas pipeline incidents.

At a bare minimum, these procedures must include information regarding receiving, identifying and classifying events that call for an immediate response, as well as clear ways to contact local emergency agencies. Responsibilities are clearly defined and the availability of all necessary personnel, equipment, tools and materials are noted.

The requirements for response plans are strict and complex. Yearly drills, however, go beyond the expected and are not explicitly mandated.

For Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia, though, they might as well be. Emergency preparedness is something the team takes very seriously, and in addition to following the PHMSA regulations, they keep their own internal schedule of inspections, maintenance and spill response programs.

Everyone Involved Matters
“Accidents can happen. We take every measure we can to make sure they don’t. But if they do, we want to make sure we’re prepared and we know what to do. We know how to contain the spill quickly with the least environmental impact and no impact to human life,” says Craig Rohr, the Northern Regional Manager of Ergon Terminaling. “That’s why drills matter. We also work with the local first responders and the local emergency management agencies, because we can’t do this alone. We have our own equipment, but we also have our limitations — that’s why we rely on the local community, so they’re prepared as well.”

For Rohr’s team, the key element of every drill is to “take it seriously.”

“We try to make these events as real as possible,” says Rohr. “So, if we ever do have to respond to a real event, it won’t be like these guys have never seen it before.”

It all starts with a phone call. As soon as the simulated spill is noticed via air patrol or through a pipeline monitoring system, a facility manager or crew chief is notified. The pipeline is swiftly shut down, and the team is brought together just as quickly to divvy out assignments. Every moment matters, and any hesitation can be the difference between a potential setback and a safely contained incident.

As the Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia Team mobilizes a response trailer and closes isolation valves, the Carrol County Emergency Management Agency is notified of the situation, as is Ergon’s corporate headquarters. While the Corporate Communications Team puts together an early draft of a press release, the local sheriff’s department, hospitals and the Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO) prepare to support the Magnolia and Carrol County HAZMAT teams with additional equipment and personnel.

Booms are deployed to keep the oil slick contained long enough for vac trucks and the OSRO to arrive and begin clean-up operations. All the while, communications lines are kept open to ensure the entire drill plays out as smoothly — and realistically — as possible.

“In the rural situations and with the volunteer departments, they typically would rather have a joint command structure, where they have their people, and you have your people, and you’re giving out specific assignments,” says Rohr. “We work a lot with the local HAZMAT team and local fire departments.”

It’s no small task, but preparedness is everyone’s job at Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia.

Building a Safer Future Together
As the sun rises high above Whitacre Greer Pond, Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia, the OSRO and local emergency departments recover their equipment and hold a joint debriefing to go over the morning’s events.

“By working with private companies to do this type of training, it’s an asset for the community, it’s an asset for the companies and it’s a huge asset for us. It gives us a better working relationship with those we serve,” says Jim Marraccini, Chief of the Mohawk Valley Joint Fire District in Waynesburg, Ohio. “It’s a refresher, it brings back all the tactics we need to remember, the procedures we need to follow. So, this is a really good learning experience for all of us.”

During the debriefing, representatives from each organization go over what worked well, and what might need a bit of refining. For Dustin Lucas, the Deputy Director of the Carrol County Department of Emergency Management, these drills and discussions are critical for ensuring his team is ready for anything.

“It’s crucial,” says Lucas. “We have plans, but to get out there and actually test what you have in a plan, what you have equipment-wise, what your personnel can do — this shows you where your faults are, where your strengths are, so you can bring that plan back together and really create a cohesive group of responders.”

It pays to be proactive. When a focus on safety is instilled in every employee at every level across the organization, a culture is created that empowers individuals to go about their day confident that they can react to any surprises.

In addition to keeping employees safe in day-to-day operations, conducting these all-encompassing drills helps the Ergon Terminaling – Magnolia Team meet — and exceed — standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If a representative of the EPA asks to review the team’s plan for an oil spill, they can present it knowing it’s been rigorously tested and revised alongside the exact community partners that will help them carry it out safely.

“Make sure everybody’s aware of each other,” says Lucas. “Not everybody can have everything. So, when each person brings something to the table, it can do a lot of good.”

“These drills are more than practice runs,” says Joel Pastorek, Ergon’s Executive Vice President of Integrated Services & Logistics for Ergon Inc. “They’re opportunities to test ourselves, to share knowledge and to get to work closely with our local community leaders. A true culture of safety doesn’t just emerge overnight — it’s built through repeated efforts to go above and beyond what’s asked of us.”

High fives are shared as another successful drill and debriefing comes to an end — the team can enjoy a group lunch knowing they’re prepared to keep the pipeline running safely and efficiently.