As El Paso Natural Gas worked to restore one of three pipes inits 1 Bcf/d South Mainline system, possibly by today, the NationalTransportation Safety Board (NTSB), investigating Saturday’sexplosion in one of those lines, said they found corrosion and athinning of the pipeline wall in a 22-foot section that broke offin the blast.

Meanwhile, a 43-year old man who had been critically injured in theincident about 30 miles south of Carlsbad, NM, died yesterday,bringing the death toll to 11, with one woman remaining hospitalizedin critical condition. (see Daily GPI, Aug. 22)

Federal investigators from the NTSB and the Office of PipelineSafety (OPS) planned to remain at the blast site through the week,sorting through clues for the cause of the blast that ripped apartthe 30-inch pipeline. The NTSB has indicated it could be monthsbefore a final report is issued.

The damaged section of pipe is being sent to Washington, DC foradditional examination. According to El Paso, the last corrosiontest on the pipe in question was conducted in February by companyofficials. A patrol inspection, or visual inspection, also wasconducted on the above-ground portion of the pipes Aug. 2 by ElPaso.

According to NTSB’s Keith Holloway, corrosion is a commonproblem, along with a problem of infrequent inspections on mostpipeline systems. Holloway said that even though undergroundpipelines are marked, they may be damaged during constructionprojects such as utility pole installations, and the damage maytake years to be exposed.

NTSB found evidence of a campfire and a Coleman-type lanternhanging from a tree under the Pecos River bridge, about 500 feetfrom the rupture site. The dead, members of two local families, hadbeen on a camping and fishing outing there. Four pipelines,including one that has been abandoned, cross the river in the samegeneral area, and the one that ruptured is carried on a bridge thatalso has a roadway. However, the roadway is blocked with a cable,according to NTSB.

The incident Saturday was the worst single U.S. gas pipelinedisaster in more than 10 years. According to OPS, there have beenthree large natural gas pipeline explosions in Texas’ recenthistory: 43 killed in 1978; 23 in 1976; and 11 in 1989. In eachcase, OPS said that it was a single incident of a natural gaspipeline explosion.

In New Mexico, intrastate pipelines are inspected once a year bythe New Mexico Department of Transportation. Interstate pipelines,however, are supposed to be inspected annually by the federal OPS,which is under the jurisdiction of the federal TransportationDepartment.

OPS has come under mounting scrutiny by federal and stateofficials. In June, the General Accounting Office reported that OPSwas falling behind in its duties, and was not enforcing 22 of 49safety regulations that have been passed by Congress since 1988 (seeDaily GPI, June 20).

Congress now is considering NTSB-backed reforms, including theproposed Pipeline Safety Improvement Act, which would require morefrequent inspections as well as give states more control over theirown regulations.

As expected, there were more calls for more stringent gas safetyregulations. Consumer advocates, including SSP Inc. headquarteredin California, called for OPS to require all U.S. natural gascompanies to periodically inspect, lubricate and, if necessary,repair their main gas shut-off valves on single and multi-familyhomes.

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