Jessieville gas line still disrupted
Summit Utilities using workarounds to service customers
HOT SPRINGS — Three weeks after a natural gas transmission line ruptured in the Jessieville area, Summit Utilities, the company that provides gas service to many businesses and residents in the area, is working around the “ongoing disruption” the rupture created to service its customers.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer operates the 30-inch transmission line that ruptured around 5 p.m. on Oct. 4 and created a column of flame “300 feet in the air” that endangered a residence in the 1400 block of Arkansas 298, according to Garland County Department of Emergency Management Director Bo Robertson.
Summit Utilities acquires some of its natural gas from the Energy Transfer line, and due to the rupture, the gas in the line was shut off, leaving many customers without gas service.
“Summit Utilities has set up temporary Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) units to provide our customers with the most reliable service possible,” a news release from the company said. “After the initial rupture of Energy Transfer’s line, our customers were back online within 8-24 hours.”
The release said 141 customers are affected by the rupture in the line, and “Summit’s team has created solutions to provide service to those customers until the Energy Transfer line is back in service.”
Most of those customers are being served by CNG tankers that tie into the current gas lines to “supply larger loads of gas demand for longer periods of time.”
There are approximately 26 residential customers on what is known as a “farm tap” line, the release said.
“Instead of receiving service from Summit Utilities’ distribution system, farm tap customers receive gas directly from Energy Transfer’s line to their gas meter,” it said. “Summit maintains the gas meter and bills the customer. The ‘farm tap’ customers are being served by smaller CNG tankers and trailers.”
Customers who have these direct connections to the Energy Transfer line have been provided with “direct phone numbers to Summit service technicians to ensure we are providing the best customer service we can until the Energy Transfer line is back in service,” the release said.
“We are grateful to our customers for their patience during this time and are committed to providing the best customer service experience possible while Energy Transfer continues to make repairs to their ruptured line,” it said.
Approximately 2 acres of the estimated 40-50 acre pine thicket burned thanks to the quick work of Jessieville and Buckville fire departments, Robertson said following the incident. The state Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division cleared a fire line around the endangered home.
A spark created from the rupture ignited the flammable gas, which pushed the flames high into the air due to the more than 1,100 pounds per square inch of pressure on the line.