News Briefs
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Keep Informed!
Want to stay current with what's happening regarding pipeline safety or LNG facility siting? One way to stay current is to subscribe to either of the listserves below. More than 350 people are already getting this information via their email everyday.
SAFE Pipelines discussion list
To get current pipeline news join the SAFE Pipelines nationwide email discussion list. The list currently includes over 215 people nationwide, and is dedicated to sharing pipeline safety and pipeline siting information to community activists, government officials, and pipeline experts nationwide. It is our hope that through this sharing, initiatives that will make pipelines safer will be adopted, and that citizens will be given a larger role in the oversight of pipeline safety and pipeline siting nationwide.
To join either go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
safepipelines/ OR You can join by sending a blank email to: safepipelines-subscribe@
yahoogroups.com
LNG Safety discussion list
This group is dedicated to sharing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) safety and siting information among community activists, local government officials, industry experts, and regulators nationwide. It is our hope that through this sharing, initiatives that will make LNG facilities safer will be adopted, and that citizens will be given a larger role in the oversight of LNG safety and siting nationwide.
With the current rush to site LNG facilities, such shared information (including the best available science, technologies, and risk assessment) is needed for communities to make well informed decisions about these potentially dangerous facilities being proposed in their midst.
To join either go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
LNGsafety OR You can join by sending a blank email to: LNGsafety-subscribe@
yahoogroups.com
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Pennsylvania -
On February 1st an 8" Exxon/ Mobil gasoline pipeline ruptured in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania where the leak was ignited by an unknown source. The rupture was in a section of pipe where the nearest shut off valves were 10 miles in each direction. An estimated 50,000 gallons of fuel burned for over three days. Forty-three homes were evacuated in the surrounding area. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted flights from entering airspace within a mile of the explosion.
Ironically, Carl Weimer, the Executive Director of the Pipeline Safety Trust was flying to Washington, D.C. when he saw the plume of smoke from the pipeline explosion out of the plane window. He thought it looked a lot like the plume from the Bellingham pipeline tragedy, but did not find out until hours later that it actually was a pipeline explosion.
A specially trained firefighting team was brought in from Texas to help fight the blaze. The fire was extinguished by tapping into a section of pipeline to drain the remaining gasoline that was feeding the fire.
This incident brings into question whether there is a need for stricter regulations to require closer placement of shut off valves in high consequence areas to allow for faster control of pipeline fires.
Kinder Morgan Investigation -
The federal Office of Pipeline Safety, began setting up a multi-state taskforce which will examine how Kinder Morgan inspects its pipelines, and decides whether their pipelines are in need of repair or replacement. The Kinder Morgan Hazardous Liquid Pipelines Safety Task Force, includes the Arizona Corporation Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and representatives from California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas. Some of the high profile incidents that led to the creation of this task force included the April 2004 40,000 gallon diesel fuel rupture that polluted the Suisun Marsh outside of San Francisco, CA. The November 2004 rupture and explosion in Walnut Creek, CA that killed five construction workers. A 70 foot geyser of gasoline that spewed for nearly 12 hours along Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. As well as a 2003 rupture near Tucson, AZ, which led to a pipeline shutdown that caused gasoline shortages throughout much of Arizona.
API/AOPL Letter to Congress -
In March the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) reported, in a letter to Congress, that the industry has met it's September 2004 regulatory deadline for inspecting 50% of the pipelines in designated High Consequence Areas (HCA). High Consequence Areas include areas that are heavily populated, could affect drinking water sources, are ecologically sensitive, as well as navigable waterways.
The Office of Pipeline Safety received voluntary certification from numerous operators that are responsible for over 80% of the nation's crude oil and refined product pipeline mileage. The percent of assessments completed for companies providing the voluntary certifications were:
- 100% have assessed 50% of HCA mileage (required by 9/30/2004)
- 59% have assessed 65% of HCA mileage
- 27% have assessed 75% of HCA mileage
- 9% have assessed 80-100% of HCA mileage
Other good news included in the letter was that while the law only requires about 65,000 (40%) of the 160,000 miles of liquid pipelines to be inspected, nearly 72,000 miles have already been inspected. The letter reports that due to the way segments of pipeline need to be inspected they expect around 130,000 miles (80%) of all liquid pipeline will be inspected as part of this initial effort.
Read the entire letter here
FCC Approves Single Nationwide One Call Number -
On March 10th, 2005 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission adopted a national call-before-you-dig 3-digit telephone number- 8-1-1. The 3-digit number was mandated in the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. It is estimated that it will take over a year to implement the 8-1-1 number across the U.S.
An estimated 400,000 incidents and 50 fatalities occur annually due to excavations around underground utilities, so CALL BEFORE YOU DIG. Until the 811 number becomes active you can find the number in your state by calling 1-888-258-0808 or checking online at: http://www.digsafely.com/contacts.htm
