Pacific Gas & Electric ends intentional gas-line pressure spikes

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said on Jan. 10 that it has suspended the practice of boosting pressure on its natural-gas transmission lines to the legal limit, an announcement it made one day after The Chronicle reported that such a spike may have weakened the San Bruno pipeline before it ruptured.

The Chronicle reported on Jan. 9 that on Dec. 9, 2008, PG&E intentionally boosted gas pressure on the San Bruno line for two hours to the maximum legal limit of 400 pounds per square inch. That was more pressure than PG&E has ever acknowledged using on the line, which it normally ran at 375 pounds per square inch.

The utility said the spike was "part of our operating practice," and that it runs its lines at their maximum once every five years. It did not elaborate on its reasons for doing so.
Experts interviewed by The Chronicle said the 2008 surge could have exacerbated any existing weaknesses on the San Bruno line, making it more vulnerable to failure in a subsequent pressure spike.

The next spike happened on Sept. 9, when a malfunction caused a surge to 386 pounds on the pipeline running from Milpitas to San Francisco.

The spike coincided with the rupture of the San Bruno section of the pipe and an explosion and fireball that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

"We have suspended the practice of increasing pressure on a transmission line to ensure (its) operational flexibility, pending the outcome" of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the explosion, PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson said on Jan. 10.

Mexico launches investigation into deadly oil pipeline explosion

MEXICO CITY - Mexican officials say investigators have begun probing a massive oil pipeline explosion that killed 28 people.

Valentin Meneses says a commission has been formed in tandem with state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos to investigate. Menses is interior secretary for the state of Puebla, where the blast took place in the town of San Martin Texmelucan.

Petroleos Mexicanos, Latin America’s largest oil producer, expected to reopen the pipeline as early as Dec. 20 after an explosion killed 28 people and scorched homes in the central Mexican city.

Pemex Chief Executive Officer Juan Jose Suarez Coppel and Deputy Refining Director Francisco Fernandez told reporters on Dec. 19 in Mexico City that the explosion may have been caused by thieves trying to steal fuel, “There are elements that point towards an illegal tapping, but we won’t have a definitive cause until the affected pipeline gets a metallurgical investigation," said Coppel. The probe is expected to last at least three months, Fernandez said.

The 30-inch Nuevo Teapa pipeline in San Martin Texmelucan, Puebla state, exploded at 5:50 a.m. local time on Dec. 19, causing crude to flow into a nearby river and a cloud of smoke to blacken the sky, the Milenio television network reported.

Pemex said that it had five million barrels worth 9.3 billion pesos ($750 million) stolen in 2008. Pemex has detected more than 600 cases of illegal tapping from its pipelines this year, Suarez Coppel said.

Pacific Gas and Electric took money from ratepayers, but never made San Bruno repair

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - State regulators in 2007 gave Pacific Gas and Electric Co. the go-ahead to spend $5 million of ratepayer money to replace a 62-year-old section of the same pipeline that exploded last week in San Bruno.

But the work never got done as scheduled in 2009, and this year the utility asked for another $5 million to do the same job by 2013, according to documents submitted by PG&E to the California Public Utility Commission as part of a general rate-hike request.
"There's no excuse for deferring maintenance of potentially compromised pipelines that run under customers' homes, businesses and schools," said Mark Toney, executive director of the Utility Reform Network. The San Francisco ratepayer's group, known as TURN, monitors electric and gas company regulatory activity.
"PG&E is responsible for maintaining the gas lines and has been given more than enough money to do so," said Toney, whose group released the rate-filing working papers on Sept. 15.
In the 2011 request for capital expenditures, PG&E described the portion of the pipeline in South San Francisco, about 1.5 miles north of the segment that exploded, as ranking in "the top 100 highest risk line sections" in a 2007 evaluation.
"The pipe is 30" diameter pipe, has a potential impact radius of 415 feet and is located in a heavily urbanized area," PG&E wrote. "If the replacement of the pipe does not occur, risks associated with this segment will not be reduced. Coupled with the consequences of failure of this section of pipeline, the likelihood of a failure makes the risk of a failure at this location unacceptably high."

Atmos accused of violating minimum safety standards again

DALLAS-FORT WORTH, Texas - For the third time this year, Atmos Energy has been cited for allegedly violating minimum safety regulations set out by the government.
The citation follows three house explosions over a three-month period.
A just-released report documents a fatal house explosion in Irving, Texas, last January. In it, the Texas Railroad Commission excoriates Atmos for failing to maintain its equipment as required by law.
The findings in the report are among the main reasons Atmos Energy is about to embark on what may be the largest pipeline removal initiative
in Texas history.
In the explosion early in the morning on Jan. 31, natural gas leaked into an Irving residence and ignited. The resulting explosion seriously injured Peggy Mantheiy, who survived. Her husband Joe died a few days later.
Although Atmos Energy crews spent several days repairing natural gas leaks around the Mantheiy's neighborhood, no official cause of the leak has been reported until now.
According to Texas Railroad Commission investigators, "there was a leak on a... compression coupling nut."
It was a "grade one" leak - so powerful that it can be seen in video from the scene bubbling up through the foundation.
The leaking natural gas compression coupling was just a few feet away from the Mantheiy residence, under the ground, attached to the main gas line which runs east and west.
In the days following the explosion, Atmos crews identified 32 similar leaks all over the neighborhood.
That was enough for state regulators to request "replacement of the service lines and their couplings across the entire Irving distribution system."
The findings in the latest report mirror an explosion report issued April 28. In it, Railroad Commission investigators recommended "replacement of all steel service lines in Mesquite" following the blast that leveled Kristi Samons’ house in November.
In the days following her house explosion, workers discovered not only a leaking compression coupling behind her house, but 61 other leaks in the surrounding neighborhood.
Two weeks earlier, the Texas Railroad Commission released another report documenting an explosion in Lancaster in November 2009. In that case, gas leaking from a pipe connection found its way from under the street into a residence. One person was severely burned when the house exploded.
Again, Atmos was cited for "violations of the minimum safety regulations."

Second fatal gas pipeline explosion rocks Texas in as many days

LUBBOCK, Texas - A day after an accident on an Enterprise pipeline near Cleburne, Texas, claimed one life, a new gas pipeline explosion occurred on June 8 near Darrouzet, a small community in the Texas Panhandle, killing two people and wounding three others.
The blast in Lipscomb County, a few miles from the Oklahoma border and about 270 miles from Lubbock, occurred when a crew that was removing caliche - commonly used in making cement - from a pit for a dirt-contracting company, Lipscomb County Sheriff James Robertson said in a news release. The bulldozer being used by the crew hit the gas pipeline, causing the explosion.
The gas line involved is operated by Denver-based DCP Midstream, which shut off valves leading to the 14-inch pipeline, allowing the fire to burn out about four hours later, spokeswoman Roz Elliott said. She said the pipeline fed one of the company's processing plants.
The two killed were identified as Steven Douglas Odell, 32, and Johnnie Mike Renner, 44, Lipscomb County Sheriff James Robertson said.
In addition, one person was hospitalized in critical condition after the blast and two others were treated and released from a nearby hospital, officials said.

OSHA fines three companies for fatal pipeline explosion in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied fines totaling $108,000 against three companies in connection with a pipeline explosion that killed one man and injured three others in 2009 in Smith County, Mississippi.
The explosion occurred on July 15 along Smith County Road 99 near Sylvarena, Miss.
Workers were using nitrogen to pressure-test the pipeline. During the tests, something caused the line to explode, officials said. OSHA said the lid on the separator where the pipes attached flew off, throwing portions of the massive pipe into the air.
James Lee Candler, 40, of Sulphur, La., was killed during the explosion.
OSHA fined Mustang Engineering $65,000; Grand Bluff Construction Co., of Beckville, Texas, $38,500; and Priority Energy Services of Chicago. $4,9000.

Magellan holds public meeting on Wisconsin gasoline spill

KRONENWETTER, Wis. - Magellan Pipeline hosted a public meeting at the Kronenwetter municipal center on Feb. 17 to inform local residents on its 35,000-gallon gasoline leak from a pipeline that runs through Kronenwetter. The public meeting about the spill and cleanup efforts was also attended by officials from the county health department and the state department of natural resources.
Magellan discovered the leak when it checked its inventory in December 2009.
Company officials have assured the village that they have replaced the
damaged pipeline and contained the spill to groundwater at their terminal property.
They've also begun cleanup efforts which include vacuuming up the gasoline to prevent the plume from spreading further underground.
Kronenwetter has hired an independent consultant to monitor the cleanup
and make sure that Magellan doesn't have any more problems that may
impact residents, village administrator Blaine Oborn said.

Alyeska to test hydraulic clamp designed to repair bullet hole leak

ANCHORAGE - Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is planning a field exercise this year to test a hydraulically powered clamp designed to stop oil from spewing out of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline through a bullet hole.
The bullet-hole exercise is planned for a site at the Chatanika River.
A test piece of 48-inch mainline pipe will be placed at the scene and
pressurized with water to simulate a high-pressure oil spray through a bullet hole, an exercise description says. Equipment including Alyeska's HC 320 hydraulic clamp will be dispatched from the company's Fairbanks Response Base.
A simulated 60-barrel release is expected over the course of the planned 12-hour exercise, and Alyeska and regulators will time and evaluate all the activities, the exercise description says.
The drill is scheduled for the third quarter of this year, though Alyeska spokesman Matt Carle said it could come sooner to avoid conflicts with planned summer maintenance shutdowns along the pipeline.

NTSB issues findings on fatal 2007 Dixie Pipeline rupture in Mississippi

CARMICHAEL, Miss. - The National Transportation Safety Board on Oct. 15 issued its final findings on a 2007 rupture on the Dixie liquid propane gas (LPG).
In its report, the NTSB took direct aim at Dixie Pipeline. It stated, among other things, that better pipeline testing might have prevented the explosion. It also found that the company had not included the Carmichael community in its safety education program.
For many residents of Clarke County, Miss., the wounds from the 2007 pipeline explosion remain fresh. The trees are still charred. The ruins of two mobile homes are still where they almost melted when the LPG line ruptured and exploded near the Carmichael community in southeastern Clarke County. Pieces of the charred mobile homes still sit exactly where they fell on Nov. 1, 2007, when the compromised pipeline spilled propane gas down in a hollow.
"It was just a normal day in Clarke County until the explosion happened and then it was total chaos," said Sheriff Todd Kemp.
"This line travels a long distance, but for it to happen right here in this little community here, it was tragedy," said District 5 county supervisor Tony Fleming. "You come down here hoping no one got hurt. We find out we lost some lives, people that we knew."
The cost to the Dixie Pipeline Company was over $3.5 million. The cost to the Carmichael community was two lives, five homes, and a feeling of unease. The blast killed Maddie and Naquandra Mitchell, and forced many of their family members to find alternative living arrangements.
At least one group has filed a class action lawsuit against the pipeline company.