The U.S. Transportation Department’s Office of Pipeline Safety(OPS) has ordered all three of the pipes comprising El Paso NaturalGas’ 1 Bcf/d South Mainline from Texas to California to remainclosed until extensive tests can be done to ensure they are safe tooperate.

The order came in the wake of Saturday’s explosion and fire thatripped through one of those lines, the 30-inch pipeline 1103, at aPecos River crossing near Carlsbad, NM, killing 11 people.

Because of the internal corrosion discovered on the failedsection of pipeline, OPS is directing El Paso to submit acorrective action plan for OPS approval that will identify allareas on approximately 330 miles of pipeline that may be subject tointernal corrosion,” said Kelley S. Coyner, head of the Researchand Special Programs Administration (RSPA) for the OPS, in aprepared statement.

The DOT “is requiring that all segments of the three pipelinesin the vicinity of Pecos River remain closed until such time thatthe department has determined that the pipeline segments are safeto operate.” This is necessary to “protect the public and theenvironment and to prevent a similar failure on this pipelinesystem.”

The plan will require inspection, assessment, and repair orreplacement of all damaged areas.

“Based on the results of these and other tests, El Paso mustdevelop a plan to assess the integrity of the remainder of its10,000 mile pipeline system.”

The OPS “Corrective Action Order” was issued late Wednesday,after El Paso officials had been saying for most of the day it wasonly a matter of hours before at least one of the lines was back inoperation. One industry source said testing could easily take threeweeks to a month, even if no repairs are necessary.

The OPS order directs El Paso to: 1) conduct hydrostaticpressure testing of the lines; 2) perform a direct assessment ofthe integrity of the pipelines by both X-ray and ultrasonicexaminations; and 3) because internal corrosion has been detectedin the failed section of the pipeline, El Paso also must submit acorrective action plan to OPS identifying all areas on theapproximately 330 miles of pipeline that may have internalcorrosion.

Even if El Paso passes all these tests and OPS allows it toreturn to service, each of the three lines will be subject to a 20%pressure restriction, according to Coyner. The restriction will bereviewed in 10 working days, and may be removed upon the receipt ofmore information about the factors that contributed to the Aug. 19explosion. OPS has the authority to take other actions ifwarranted.

The OPS yesterday issued the seven-page corrective action order,which permits it to suspend or restrict the operations of apipeline, after it determined that the El Paso lines werehazardous. El Paso has been notified of the order, and it has 10days to request a hearing to be held in either Houston orWashington DC. If El Paso fails to comply with any part of theorder, it could face civil penalties of up to $25,000 a day, andthe case could be referred to the U.S. Attorney General for”appropriate relief” in the U.S. District Court, according toStacey Gerard, associate administrator for pipeline safety.

Preliminary investigations of ruptured Line 1103 by the OPS andthe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) indicate that”significant internal corrosion was visible on the failed section.Internal corrosion may have been a contributing factor in the linefailure. The possibility of internal corrosion on other lines inthe area is a safety concern.”

The OPS order applies to the 30-inch Line 1103, which incurredthe most damage, and the parallel 26-inch Line 1100 that “sustainedan undetermined amount of damage at the Pecos River crossing due tothe fire.” It also covers the adjacent 30-inch Line 1110, whosedamages are still undetermined. Lines 1103 and 1110 were built in1950, and Line 1100 in 1947.

Within 90 days, El Paso will be required to submit to the OPSSouthwest region director an “analysis of the continued safeoperation” of the three lines “based on the testing and inspectionrequired under this order.”

In related action. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who has been asharp critic of OPS for its allegedly lax handling of pipelinesafety violators, is in the process of drafting a letter to theagency to determine whether its failure to take aggressive actiontowards pipelines may have created an atmosphere that led to thetragedy on El Paso.

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