U.S. pursues natural gas pipeline safety

Rules push follows geysers at LR, disaster in California

Almost 10 months after a 63-year-old pipeline burst in the Arkansas River — sending two large spouts of water skyward as it released natural gas into the river — a federal agency is proposing new natural gas safety rules aimed at toughening regulations and reducing pipeline incidents.

The proposed rules by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration come as there’s growing awareness of the nation’s aging infrastructure and the strain that’s being placed on it as companies move more crude and natural gas than ever before as a result of the U.S. shale boom.

The new regulations proposed by the pipeline agency primarily address safety protocols for aging pipelines and lines in moderately populated area, but it also recommends changes to the way companies secure and inspect natural gas pipelines after extreme-weather events, such as flooding.

When the pipeline ruptured in the Arkansas River on May 31, it released 3.9 million cubic feet of natural gas that sent up two large geysers near the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, along with large chunks of concrete, possibly from the pipe, that damaged a boat docked nearby at Jeffrey Sand Co.

The break of the natural gas pipeline was caused by the river’s flooding, which washed away riverbed, leaving the line unsupported, according to an analysis by the pipe’s owner Spectra Energy. It was a backup pipe to the main line of the company’s Texas Eastern Transmission system.

Asked whether the rules would have prevented the break of the Spectra Energy line, a company spokesman said, “We are fully committed to pipeline safety and reliability, and are pleased to see PHMSA making progress on this topic.”

“We are reviewing the proposed rule, and look forward to participating in the comment process to ensure an applicable and practicable final product that also recognizes the many voluntary efforts our industry already has in place,” spokesman Creighton Welch said in an email.

“And as you might recall, we took voluntary steps in Little Rock to protect our river crossing — covering the main line with about 5 to 6 feet of stone, in two layers, to shield it from strong river currents. We’re confident in this solution,” he added.

When the agency announced its regulations this month, it noted the 2010 explosion of a pipeline in San Bruno, Calif., which killed eight people, injured dozens more and left many houses uninhabitable.

The investigation after the disaster found that hydrostatic testing of the pipeline would have likely exposed the defect that led to the pipeline rupture. The pipeline agency’s proposal includes a rule that pipelines built before 1970 be tested. Previously, they were exempt.

“Following significant pipeline incidents such as the 2010 San Bruno, Calif., tragedy, there was a pressing need to enhance public safety and the integrity of the nation’s pipeline system,” said pipeline agency Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez in a prepared statement.

“The proposal’s components address the emerging needs of America’s natural gas pipeline system and adapt and expand risk-based safety practices to pipelines located in areas where incidents could have serious consequences,” she said in the statement.

Phillip Wallace, a representative for Pipeliners Local Union 798 in Bald Knob, said any new safety regulations from the federal pipeline agency were welcomed.

“Anything they are trying to get in place, I’m all for,” he said. “We need to update our infrastructure on gas and products. Some of those old lines are scary.”

Wallace said older pipelines that run under waterways, including the Spectra Energy line, need to be replaced using a newer technique that more safely protects the pipeline.

When Spectra Energy installed its concrete-coated pipeline under the Arkansas River in 1952, it placed it into a trench about 6 to 10 feet beneath the riverbed — a common practice at the time. The pipeline was then covered in river mud and sand.

Pipelines are now installed at river crossings using horizontal drilling. They are angled at least 50 to 60 feet below the riverbed.

“Back then they didn’t have the luxury of the directional bore,” he said. “We need more of the replacing of pipelines under the rivers.”