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The information below is provided for educational purposes. The
intent is not to scare but rather to inform residents of the hazards associated with gas drilling and pipelines.
Realistically, we take risks every day when we stop at a gas station or use gas in our homes, but
accidents rarely happen. However, we should know about the potential for disaster where wells and pipelines
are involved....
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10-20-09:
CARLSBAD,
NEW MEXICO
Firefighters sue over mental trauma Excerpts from Albequerque Journal article by By
Scott Sandlin , Journal Staff Writer:
Firefighters and rescue
workers who responded to a "scene from hell" after a gas pipeline explosion near Carlsbad in August 2000 won the
right
from the New Mexico Supreme Court to sue for emotional distress two years ago.
Today, their attorneys
begin trying to persuade a jury that they are entitled to damages from El Paso Natural Gas Company for what they allege
was a lack of maintenance of its 50-year-old, 30-inch, high-pressure gas pipeline that led to the explosion.
The
fireball from the explosion killed a dozen members of an extended family camping by the banks of the Pecos River south of
Carlsbad, including
four children. It left a 20-foot-deep crater 86 by 46 feet in size. The first responders' lawsuit
described the scene in which "babies were
burned and charred," family members "suffered burns so severe
they were unrecognizable," and "one family member asked to be shot."
The suit, which has been winding
its way through the legal system for years, contends that the volunteer and professional firefighters suffered
"severe
trauma, injury and emotional distress" that has affected their personal lives, has resulted in frequent nightmares and
flashbacks, and has
been debilitating and traumatizing.
The
lawsuit says the firefighters from Carlsbad, Otis, Loving and Joel fire departments knew that there might be injuries
or deaths, but even after arriving at the campsite, didn't realize that human beings had been caught up in the flames. They
gathered away from the 500-foot fireball because of the intense heat.
Then they found vehicles, and heard human
cries.
The campsite had been transformed into an inferno. "A father and grandfather were killed as they tried
to run toward the truck in which (a young man) was trapped ... flesh fell off arms and faces and legs," the lawsuit says.
The family had been camping near the site when the explosion occurred about 200 yards from their campsite. Some died at the
scene. Others were rushed to area hospitals. None survived their injuries.
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| Residents evacuated from one mile area |
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2-12-9:
CARTHAGE, TEXAS
Gas pipeline
explosion damages U.S. 79 Panola Watchman Explosion rocks area near processing facility. Second explosion occurs
after first responders arrive. The residence closest to the heat looked as though it had been melted. Chief Deputy
reports that it wasn't immediately clear who owns the pipeline that exploded.
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11-16-08
JOHNSON COUNTY, TEXAS
Compressor
explosion two miles west of Cleburne KXAS-TV One employee working at the time of the fire. Flames could be seen for miles around.
No reason yet given for cause of fire.
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11-08
GRADY COUNTY,
OKLAHOMA
20" Gas gathering pipeline
built in 1975. Explosion destroys 3 homes, injures 2. Carried gas from well to processing plant - reason for explosion
unknown. Grady County Fire Chief said he could see it from his home 20 miles away. "A big, massive, huge fireball. The
sound, it was unreal. This is nothing like I've ever seen before. I've been in the fire service now for
21 years now." No problems were found when its integrity
was inspected in 2007 and when a routine maintenance operation was performed within ta week before the rupture.
A section of pipe about 16 to 18 feet long blew, causing a crater 30 to 40 feet wide.
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10-26-08
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Corrosion suspected in pipeline burst - gasline blows apart hurling pipe across the tundra
Anchorage Daily News BP's old bugaboo, corrosion, might have struck again in the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field. The
oil company suspects corrosion contributed to a pressurized natural gas pipeline blowing apart on Sept. 29, BP spokesman Steve
Rinehart said. No one was hurt, though some workers were in the vicinity when the line ruptured violently,
hurling a length of pipe across the tundra. Automated safety systems and field workers rushed to shut
down the pipeline, which was 8 inches in diameter and carried gas for shooting underground, part of a technique to help coax
out additional crude oil. The incident forced the shutdown of two well pads producing about 5,000 barrels
of oil per day -- less than 1 percent of total North Slope oil output. The pads remained out of service on Friday. BP will do a metallurgical analysis of the failed pipe before declaring corrosion as the culprit for the rupture,
Rinehart said. Some possibilities have been ruled out, he said, such as a bad weld. Investigators found
the corrosion had attacked the outside surface of the above-ground pipe at a point where insulation that normally jackets
the line was missing, Rinehart said. Moisture had wicked beneath the exposed insulation and come into
contact with the steel, causing corrosion that can eat through metal and weaken a pipeline, he said. As
a safety measure, BP workers will look for any pipes that might be in a similar condition, Rinehart said. State
and federal pipeline regulators are investigating the pipeline rupture. BP runs Prudhoe, the nation's
largest oil field, on behalf of itself and other owners including Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil. ********
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| Photo by Reggie Cooper/Marshall Fire Dept |
7-21-08
MARSHALL, TEXAS
Pipeline explosion
MarshallNewsMessenger.com
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7-17-08
DURANGO, COLORADO
Frac accident
Gas field worker comes into ER soaked with frac fluid. The ER
intake nurse immediately loses her sense of smell, begins to have headaches and a few days later is in intensive care
with liver, lung and heart failure. Gas company will not reveal the chemicals in the frac fluid to her doctors.
Click here for full story |
2-5-08 HARTSVILLE, TENNESSEE
Tornado slams
natural gas station in Tennessee
AP/FoxNews Report No one was killed in a huge explosion at a natural
gas pumping plant that was apparently slammed by a tornado, a company spokesman said Wednesday. There was no one
working at the Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. plant when it erupted Tuesday night and sent flames shooting hundreds of feet
in the air, said Brent Archer, a spokesman for Houston-based Nisource Gas Transmission. The plant in Hartsville, about 50
miles northeast of Nashville, apparently took a direct hit by a tornado, Archer said. Firefighters managed to contain the
massive fire early Wednesday. Customers were not affected because unseasonably warm temperatures meant few people were using
gas heat, Archer said. The same warm temperatures helped contribute to a violent line of storms and tornadoes that swept across
the South, killing at least 48 people, 24 of them in Tennessee. Westmoreland Mayor Ricky Woodard said the fire was about seven
miles away from his city and had spread to houses nearby. Ashley Beff, who lives about five miles from the plant, said she
witnessed the explosion and said it caused the windows in her apartment to shake violently. "It was God awful,"
she said. "It was like an explosion. The city looked like it was on fire." Kelly Merritt, a spokesman for Columbia,
said the company shut off the gas on both sides of the station, which is used to boost pressure along the gas line that runs
from Louisiana to the West Virginia-Kentucky line.
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| RUSK COUNTY RESIDENTS VIEW EXPLOSION |
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| Photo by Jeremy Mallette |
8-25-07
Rusk County, Texas
Unexplained
pipeline explosion
Tyler Morning Telegraph:
It's been a little more than 24 hours since
a 20-inch natural gas pipeline erupted in Rusk County, and officials still don't know why the line burst. Emily Thompson,
spokesperson for the Kinder Morgan pipeline company, said investigators will continue searching for the cause, but don't
have a time frame for finding answers. "We're still investigating the situation," she said. "The local
fire departments have been a tremendous help, and we appreciate all of their hard work. They're doing a phenomenal job."
At 11:44 p.m., Mike Nichols was jarred from his chair. An explosion shook his house, located just 3/8 of a mile from the Kinder
Morgan natural gas line. "I was sitting there watching television with my mother and heard a loud boom," he said.
"When I went to the door, I could see the orange from the fire. It was like a fireball going past the house." Nichols
ran outside, and all he could see were flames in the direction of his brother's house. His brother, he knew, was out of
town. "I tried looking through the darkness to see his house, but it was such a bright flame initially that it was hard
to see if his house was still intact," he said. The house survived the blast. As a matter of fact, only one house suffered
damage from the exploded pipeline, Rusk County Sheriff's officials said. The house belongs to Dorothy Jamerson, who owns
the land where the pipe is located. Sheriff's Officer Brian Bathke said her house received minor burns to its siding and
roof. Jamerson and several neighboring home owners evacuated right away. No one was injured. "It took us a minute to
get ourselves together, it was such a loud blast," Nichols said. He and his mother drove to a neighbor's house until
they knew it was safe to go outside and watch the flames lick the sky. The fire lit up the darkness for miles. Three young
men from New Summerfield witnessed the explosion from their front yard. "The sky just lit up," said 13-year-old
Brady Dominy. "The sky got orange, and then we could see the flames going straight up in the air." ********
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3-12-07 PARKER
COUNTY, TEXAS Gas well fire CBS 11 News
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11-09-04:
IVEL, KENTUCKY
4"
Gas liquids pipeline explodes - Trooper rescues two despite his own injuries - Cause not yet determined
Excerpts from Associated Press article: IVEL, KY: A fiery gas line explosion destroyed homes and injured nine people Monday, including an
off-duty Kentucky State Police trooper who helped rescue a woman and a small child.
Trooper Rick Conn suffered third-degree burns, Kentucky State Police said. Sgt. Phil Crumpton, a state police spokesman in Frankfort, said Conn was on his way to work at the
Pikeville post when he smelled gas coming from the Floyd County subdivision where he lives. He was driving when the blast
occurred, and the explosion blew out the windows in his cruiser. Conn was injured but continued toward the homes to help evacuate
them, Crumpton said. "He heard a call for help and pulled a woman
and small child out and then collapsed," Crumpton said. "I heard he's in good spirits. He's got burns on the face,
neck, chest and hands." By late afternoon, all the house fires
were out, Crumpton said, but authorities were still waiting for the gas pipeline to burn out. The cause of the blast was not known. Officials
from the federal Office of Pipeline Safety were en route to the scene. They would have to wait for the blaze to burn out to
begin their investigation, said spokesman Damon Hill in Washington, D.C. Investigators should be able to determine quickly
if the line was tampered with, he said. "If it's third-party damage,
we can identify that normally fairly quickly," Hill said. "If it's some other type of mechanical error, it could
possibly take up to a month or so." The 4-inch line carrying natural
gas liquids to a processing plant exploded about 8:30 a.m., said Stacy Floden, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Emergency Management
Agency. Floden said the high-pressure gas line belonged to Kentucky-West
Virginia Gas Co. Kentucky-West Virginia Gas is a division of Equitable Gas in Pittsburgh, according to David Spigelmyer, a
spokesman for Equitable Gas. He confirmed that the company owns the
line but said it is operated and maintained by another company - Mark West. Cory
Bromley, spokesman for Mark West Hydrocarbon in Colorado said the company believes it operates the pipeline. The cause of
the explosion, he said, is unknown, and the company probably won't know it for some time, because the pipeline is underground.
He said valves on either side of the rupture had been shut off. Mark
West Hydrocarbon Inc. is an owner of Mark West Energy Partners, which is engaged in the gathering, transmission, processing
and marketing of hydrocarbons and the marketing of natural gas and natural gas liquids, according to the company's Web site. |
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