Nickels Threatens To Shut Down Olympic Pipeline

SEATTLE - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is demanding that Olympic Pipeline conduct a high-pressure water test on its line through Seattle. Nickels says that's the best way to determine the safety of the line, which carries 8 million gallons of fuel a week.

Other, less reliable testing recently uncovered 131 anomalies in the seams that hold the Seattle portion of the line together.

Last Friday, Olympic refused to conduct the tests and Nickels says he'll shut it down Aug. 26.

Olympic says such a test isn't practical or necessary and that Nickels has no legal authority to shut down the line.