San Bruno Fire: Gas Pipeline Explosion Exposes Underground Danger in Residential Areas
San Bruno fire caused by massive gas pipeline explosion
[Photo: News 10]
“In a shocking turn of events, CBS news interviewed several people who live in the vicinity who have said that they smelled gas in the area and that PG&E had investigated but not repaired the leak. The allegations are severe and if it is proved that PG&E dropped the ball by failing to make needed repairs to the gas pipe, they will be held accountable.”
Prime Writer News
On the PG&E website:
Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by this terrible situation. The priority right now is to help make the area safe. We have crews on the scene and are working with emergency officials. Though a cause has yet to be determined, we know that a PG&E gas transmission line was ruptured. If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of the incident, we will take accountability. Meanwhile, we are working with the Red Cross to provide emergency shelter for those in need. Anyone in need of assistance or shelter can contact the Red Cross at 1-888-443-5722 (888-4-HELP-BAY).
With reports the San Bruno fire was a gas pipeline explosion, destroying dozens of homes in an upscale community in San Bruno, a 24-inch gas line owned by Pacific and Gas–according to Mercury News P&G says they cannot ‘cannot confirm the cause was sparked by an explosion”–the San Bruno fire and explosion exposing the underground danger lurking in residential areas: underground gas pipelines.
Gotham Gazette, August 2010:
Although natural gas explosions are relatively rare (the US Department of Transportation reported only 47 serious incidents across all US pipeline systems in 2009), they can be dangerous. Project opponents point out that just this summer, natural gas leaks led to explosions and deaths in Michigan, Texas and South Los Angeles. Closer to home, last February, a natural gas explosion in Middletown, Connecticut killed five people and in 1994 a natural gas pipeline ruptured in Edison, New Jersey, causing damage in excess of $25 million.
None of those places were as densely populated as these areas in New York and New Jersey. “Natural gas simply does not belong stored in an urban setting,” stated Jersey City school superintendant, Charles Epps, pointing out that at least six schools sit within three blocks of the pipeline route. In addition, parts of the pipeline route come very close to the heavily trafficked New Jersey Turnpike, Holland Tunnel, and PATH Trains. The proposed line would also cross the West Side Highway.
On January 26, 2010, the Dept. of Transportation issued an advisory from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; DOT. The advisory:
SUMMARY: The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) is issuing this Advisory Bulletin to advise and remind
hazardous liquid pipeline operators of the importance of prompt and
effective leak detection capability in protecting public safety and the
environment.
Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a
safety study on pipeline Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) systems (NTSB/SS-05/02). The number of hazardous liquid
accidents investigated by the NTSB in which leaks went undetected after
indications of a leak on the SCADA interface was the impetus for this
study. The NTSB examined 13 hazardous liquid pipeline accidents that
they investigated from April 1992 to October 2004. The conclusions made
by the NTSB in the study reflected the importance of monitoring
systems, promptly recognizing leak incidents, and minimizing damage
with quick response. PHMSA encourages all hazardous liquid pipeline
operators to review the safety study which is available on the NTSB
webpage.
Under current regulations, all hazardous liquid pipeline operators
are required to periodically patrol their pipeline right-of-ways. This
effort is performed principally to guard against third-party activity
that has the potential to damage the pipeline, and is also performed to
detect very small leaks not detected by other means. Often, the leaking
product has impacted vegetation or has pooled on the surface, and
therefore leaves visual cues. Conducting these surveillance activities
is very important, but they are not sufficient on their own to address
all aspects of leak detection. Hazardous liquid pipeline operators are
also expected to track product movement along the pipelines in order to
ensure that all product going into the pipeline arrives at interim
storage points, and eventually reaches its destination. This
traditional and basic method of leak detection by tracking product
movement is essential to an understanding of line balance. Relatively
short pipelines, operating with a single source and a single
destination, can usually perform this process rather simply, if
adequate and timely information is made available. With these more
simple pipelines, the line balance technique for leak detection can
often be performed with manual calculations, without the need of a
computerized process. Those pipeline operators with longer and more
complex systems, with multiple sources and/or destinations, are more
dependent on computerized processes to perform a thorough product
tracking resulting in a leak detection process. The more complex a
pipeline operation, especially when carrying numerous products through
batch operations, the greater the need for a sophisticated leak
detection process.
Currently, there are 421 hazardous liquid pipeline operators. Two
hundred and twenty of the operators have pipelines less than 50 miles
long, 96 operators have pipelines 50 to 250 miles long, and 105
operators have pipelines longer than 250 miles in length. Many of the
operators with higher mileage have configured their pipelines into
networks, sometimes collecting product from multiple sources and
delivering product to multiple destinations, making the leak detection
process complex. At the same time, we recognize that in some cases the
engineering analysis performed on point-to-point pipeline systems has
determined that installing a computer-based leak detection system does
not offer substantial improvements in leak detection capability beyond
that of a simple manual line balance calculation process.
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