Pipeline may carry crude oil through southern Illinois

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - A Texas-based company is converting an existing natural gas pipeline that runs through southern Illinois to transport crude oil.

Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Vicki Granado says the converted line would be part of a proposed new pipeline that could transport 450,000 barrels each day from oil fields in North Dakota.

She tells The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale (http://bit.ly/18cE38G ) the pipeline would not carry tar sands crude. That's the Canadian product involved in the Keystone XL pipeline, a project President Barack Obama vetoed last week.

The newspaper reports the conversion is underway on more than 500 miles of natural gas pipeline, part of which runs through the Shawnee National Forest. The stretch runs underground from Joppa in Massac County north through Johnson and Williamson counties up to Johnsonville in Wayne County.

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Information from: Southern Illinoisan, http://www.southernillinoisan.com