Four workers & fireman injured in multiple explosions in Texas
Article from the News Staff, Reuters News Service, August 1, 2018
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A series of natural gas pipeline explosions in Midland County, Texas sent five people to hospital with critical burn injuries, and interrupted energy pipeline operations in the area, officials said.
The region is the home to the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oilfield, and is crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines. The cause of the explosion and fire were not immediately known.
Five workers with critical injuries were airlifted to University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, and were being treated at the center’s burn unit, said University Medical Center spokesman Eric Finley.
Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan said on Wednesday it had isolated a portion of its El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline (EPNG) as a precaution, after being alerted to the fire near its line. One of its employees was injured and taken to hospital, spokeswoman Sara Hughes said.
“There was a third-party pipeline involved that also experienced a failure, and preliminary indications are that the third-party line failure occurred before the EPNG line failure,” Kinder Morgan’s Hughes said in an email.
The company is investigating the cause of the fire and evaluating any damage to its property. Regulatory agencies and customers were notified of the incident, she added.
“Fire Department personnel suppressed the fire, however approximately one hour later a second and third small explosion followed,” said Elana Ladd, public information officer for the city of Midland, in emailed comments.
Multiple pipelines are located near the site, Ladd said, adding that first responders were focusing on shutting off pressure and flow to the pipelines at the site.
The pipeline explosion occurred on a rural road, FM 1379, about five miles south of Highway 158 at around 11:30 a.m. local time (1630 GMT), Ladd said, adding that the road had been closed. Ladd identified one of the injured as a firefighter.
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See also: Accident sends 20,000 gallons of drilling fluid into Maumee River tributary in Ohio, July 27, 2018
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Pipeline Still at Risk Near Marshall County Explosion Site
From the Wheeling Intelligencer, July 17, 2018
MOUNDSVILLE — The federal agency in charge of investigating a Marshall County pipeline explosion in June has said the pipeline is at risk of another catastrophic event if the company that owns the pipeline does not take corrective action.
In a Notice of Proposed Safety Order dated July 9, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration lists 13 points of proposed corrective actions that it said TransCanada Corp. must take to avoid a similar explosion. The PHMSA wrote, “…it appears that the continued operation of the Affected Segment, without corrective measures, poses a pipeline integrity risk to public safety, property, and the environment.”
According to the order, TransCanada and its subsidiary, Columbia Gas Transmission LLC, has identified six additional areas of concern along the 130-mile pipeline that runs from Majorsville, Pennsylvania, to Crawford, Ohio. The company said that the areas of concern were a result of large spoil piles, steep slopes and indications of slips.
The investigation into the failure of that pipeline at a point about 7 miles south of Moundsville is ongoing, the administration said.
The 36-inch gas transmission pipeline failed on a weld early in the morning of June 7. It sent a fireball into the air that could be seen as far as 50 miles away, according to reports from the time of the explosion. The area where the pipeline failed, known as Nixon Ridge, is rural and isolated. There were no reports of injuries, fatalities or evacuations.
Source: http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2018/07/pipeline-still-at-risk-near-marshall-county-explosion-site/