Natural gas fire in northeastern KY about 80 miles west of Ashland, KY
From an Article by Steve Rogers, WTVQ, ABC News 36, May 5, 2020
FLEMING COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – An investigation is underway Tuesday morning after a gas line explosion caused a huge fire off Highway 1013 in Fleming County on Monday afternoon, May 4th, according to Fleming County Emergency Management.
The pipeline is owned by Texas Eastern, which has a history in the state, including a fatal explosion last summer in Lincoln County. But despite the two incidents, experts say such explosions are rare.
In the video, shot by pilot Josh Clark, flames can be seen blazing through timberland on a hill. The fire was reported just before 5:00 p.m.
The pipeline explosion was three miles outside of Hillsboro, according to emergency management officials. The explosion and subsequent fire was in a remote area. No homes or businesses were threatened, according to emergency management. No one was hurt.
The pipeline belongs to Texas Eastern, according to emergency management officials. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
An estimated 200 acres on the hillside burned, according to emergency management. No land in the Daniel Boone National Forest was affected, according to officials.
The fire was extinguished on Monday night (5/4/20) and Texas Eastern secured the area so repairs and an investigation could begin Tuesday morning. Residents said on Facebook the explosion could be heard and smoke could be seen for miles.
This is the third Texas Eastern pipeline explosion in the state in the last 17 years and the second in less than a year.
The Lincoln County explosion on Aug. 1, 2019 killed one person, injured more than a dozen, forced the evacuation of 75 people from the Indian Camp mobile home park, destroyed five homes, damaged 14 others and burned about 30 acres. including railroad tracks owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Corporation.
Lawsuits still are pending over that explosion.
On Nov. 2, 2003 in Morehead, a Texas Eastern pipeline released about 167,100 million cubic feet of natural gas which ignited. There were no fatalities or injuries as a result of that explosion.
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See also: Eastern Kentucky pipeline explodes, the second in the year, Louisville Courier-Journal, May 4, 2020
A spokesman for Enbridge, the Canadian-based energy conglomerate that owns the Texas Eastern Transmission Co. pipeline, said in a statement that company crews are on-site and have “secured the area.”
The 30-inch pipe that exploded, Line 10, feeds into the Texas Eastern System — a network of 9,100 miles of piping that stretches from Texas to New York and moves 20% of America’s natural gas.
About 690 of those piping miles run through the state of Kentucky, from Lewis County on the Ohio border to Monroe County on the Tennessee border.
Adjacent Lines 15 and 25, which are also part of the Texas Eastern, have also been shut down, according to the pipeline safety administration.
These natural gas pipelines have a history of fatal blasts before this Kentucky explosion.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
To: Stop The Pipelines WVVANC, May 6, 2020
I have found it educational to include information re: pipeline explosions or toxic emissions in many of my comments to civilian review boards, local, state, and federal representatives, and particularly for county supervisors and planners. Most of these officials have little scientific and factual information on the danger of pipelines.
Our Buckingham County administrator told me that she was impressed by our videos of pipeline explosions and that of an infrared video of a toxic gas cloud hovering over a compressor station and then moving sideways from wind. Actual graphic representation of the danger from these pipelines seems to drive the point home to those who simply can’t imagine how anything bad can happen or those who dismiss those accidents or toxic impacts.
My favorite go-to video of a recent horrific pipeline explosion is the video taken by drivers when they came across the huge natural gas pipeline explosion adjacent to Highway 77 in Sissonville West Virginia. The drivers are shocked and describe the scene quite well. The fire shut the highway down, burned 5 homes, had people running for their lives, and melted the asphalt. It clearly demonstrates why these pipelines are a threat to human life, property, and the environment.
Here is the link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Sjl_x3fs0
All the best to you,
Joseph Jeeva Abbate, Director
Yogaville Environmental Solutions
108 Yogaville Way
Buckingham, VA 23921
jeeva@yogaville.org
To: Stop The Pipeline WVVANC, MAY 12, 2020
The pipeline that Jeeva talks about is part of the network of pipelines that run through WV, one arm of it runs through Monroe County. WV.
It is very small at 24 inches compared to the monster 42 inch MVP running near my home.
Frightening, but yet our entire County Commission is pro pipeline. One Commissioner even has numerous family members living in the blast zone of the pipeline and voiced concern about it until he was elected in 2018 and has now turned completely pro pipeline.
Sad very sad.
Maury Johnson
To: Stop The Pipeline WVVANC, May 12, 2020
I’m wondering if anyone may have information on the chemicals, pollutants, health issues, etc., they can send me related to people who live near these pipelines and compressor stations.
Vanessa Clemens,
vanessabolin29@icloud.com
Vanessa,
I’ve found the ‘Fracking Compendium” from the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Concerned Health Professionals of New York is well researched and useful for some of the basic data that you seek.
The compendium provides a wide assortment of data, analysis, and summaries on natural gas industrial infrastructure impacts, including pipelines and compressor stations. There’s numerous reports that you can reference in comments, letters, or testimony.
I’ve attached their 6th compendium edition for your and anyone else’s review and use. The science detail has grown in the compendium as more studies have been done.
Please use and enjoy. Let me know what you think of the compendium.
Be happy and well, Jeeva
>>>>> Concerned Health Professionals of NY »
Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction) Sixth Edition, June 19, 2019
http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/