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Providing an outlet to voice thoughts on bridging fossil fuels, like natural gas to alternative energy.
Natural gas fireball in Philadelphia - where next?
Susan
Susan Bender started selling to the natural gas industry in 1980. In 1990 she f
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The latest natural gas explosion in Philadelphia sounds the alarm for immediate action in improving the safety of natural gas pipelines. Tuesday night's explosion resulted in the death of one Philadelphia Gas Works employee and has left five others wounded including a local fireman. Eyewitnesses saw a 50 foot fireball erupting into the air over a northeast Philly neighborhood resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents and businesses.
This event comes on the heels of the devastating natural gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood this past September. That incident left eight people dead with 20 others injured. The blast created a crater at the epicenter damaging 173 homes. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a shock wave similar to a 1.1 magnitude earthquake. Following the event, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was heavily scrutinized for ignoring the warnings of a state inspector in 2009 for failing to provide adequate safety procedures. The incident currently remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Sunday that erroneous record keeping by PG&E, the owner of the San Bruno pipeline, might have caused the deadly explosion. Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) agrees and expanded in an statement released earlier this month, “While the cause of the explosion is still under investigation, I believe the evidence is mounting that PG&E’s cursory review of an aging infrastructure coupled with operator error contributed to the explosion and fire that killed eight people,” she said in a statement released in early January.
Representative Speier has sponsored a new bill, H.R. 22 Pipeline Safety and Community Empowerment Act of 2011 aimed at improving the safety of natural gas pipelines. This bill follows legislation that California Senators Diannne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer introduced after the San Bruno tragedy. This bill would enhance pipeline safety by providing communities with access to improved information concerning the equipment and operations of pipeline facilities.
PG&E has been accused of temporarily spiking pressure on major gas transmission lines since 2003. Two of those were on the San Bruno line that exploded just two years after the surge. Some experts believe deliberate pressure surges can strain old lines and weaken welds of a pipeline. Critics suspect that PG&E began pinching off the weaker lines for short stretches and then spiking other lines to the legal limit in order to set a higher inspection threshold and avoid the need for expensive water-pressure tests should an accidental surge occur.
The most recent pipeline accident is well too reminiscent of the San Bruno disaster. How many other natural gas and retail energy providers are there in the U.S. that might follow risky and unsafe practices like PG&E and the Philadelphia Gas Works? Rep. Speier calls these events “Russian roulette” and feels as though natural gas carriers are grossly irresponsible in placing ratepayers at this kind of risk.
Since the San Bruno incident there have been nearly ten pipeline accidents. The Philadelphia explosion makes you wonder … where next? Isn’t it time we beef up the safety of our pipelines?
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