The Uinta Express pipeline: a comprehensive research report conducted by students enrolled in CvEEN 3100 technical communications

The Uinta Express Pipeline is a proposed common carrier pipeline which would transport waxy crude oil extracted from the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah to area refineries in North Salt Lake City. The proposed project would consist of a 12-inch, buried, insulated, carbon steel pipeline supported by numerous ancillary facilities along its approximately 135-mile long route. Tesoro Refining and Marketing LLC, the principle organization sponsoring research and development of the Uinta Express Pipeline, claims that once operational it will have the capacity to transport up to 60,000 barrels of unrefined waxy crude oil daily, thereby removing an estimated 250 semi tanker trucks from Utah's highways each day. This Report, compiled by University of Utah students enrolled in CvEEN 3100: Technical Communications, thoroughly interrogates the proposed pipeline with current research and specification data. Students enrolled in CvEEN 3100 during the Fall 2014 semester identified various aspects of the proposed project that presented the most significant challenges from a civil and environmental perspective. Students worked in teams to compile feasibility reports, which comprise the individual chapters. Teams coordinated with one another to ensure that research content, images, and technical data discussed in one chapter did not overlap with material in other chapters.