Pipeline blast raises concerns
A pipeline explosion in Refugio County shortly after midnight Wednesday sent flames shooting high into the sky, creating a spectacle that was visible from well more than 50 miles away and drew additional attention to a pipeline industry that’s become the target of environmentalists.
No one was injured after the natural gas pipeline, owned by Houston-based Kinder Morgan, ruptured in a remote area between Victoria and Corpus Christi, but the explosion shook slumbering residents.
“It lit up the sky, and it seemed like it was daylight,” Refugio County Chief Deputy Sheriff Gary Wright said.
The fire, which broke out at about 12:15 a.m., was extinguished less than two hours later. The pipeline is part of Kinder Morgan’s
Tejas system that wraps around much of the Houston area as it runs from North Texas to the Mexican border.
Wright said the explosion occurred at an apparent weak point in the pipeline that must have required maintenance, he said.
Kinder Morgan disputed there was a “weak point.” Spokeswoman Melissa Ruiz said the company recently excavated the section in preparation for maintenance, but the upgrade work had not yet begun. There’s no evidence yet to link the work and the incident, she said, and an investigation will eventually determine the cause.
Pipelines have gained a lot of attention in recent years as environmentalists, concerned about climate change and other environmental damage, have tried to block projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. There, the Standing Rock Sioux, supported by activists from around the nation, said the pipeline, which would run under the Missouri River, threatened water supplies as well as culturally sensitive areas.
The explosion in Refugio County underscored such threats, said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, an advocacy group.
“If pipeline operators can’t stop these accidents and threats to health, safety and the environment, they need to get out of the business,” Metzger said.
Several pipeline accidents have occurred in recent months. Last week, a worker was killed and two others injured in Louisiana when a Phillips 66 natural gas liquids pipeline burst and caught fire. In November, an explosion in the Colonial Pipeline system in Alabama killed one worker and injured several others, and cut off gasoline to much of the Southeast.
Earlier in the fall, Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners Seaway system leaked more than 7,600 barrels of oil in Oklahoma. A Sunoco Logistics pipeline spilled nearly 9,000 barrels of oil west of Abilene near Sweetwater.
Across the U.S., nearly 300 pipeline accidents occur each year, or less than one a day, according to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Sixteen people were killed in pipeline accidents last year, about the same as the 20-year average. The most pipeline fatalities occurred in 2000, when 38 people died.
Brandon Blossman, an energy analyst for Houston investment banking firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., emphasized that shipping petroleum products and natural gas pipeline is safer and cheaper than putting the fuels an trucks or trains. Advancing monitoring technologies have improved safety, Blossman said, but “accidents will happen.”