Explosion

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) LP told Texas regulators this week that nearly 166,000 pounds of volatile organic compounds burned off into the atmosphere before a natural gas pipeline explosion and fire in the southern part of the state could be brought under control.

Twenty-two people were injured and two others were missing following an explosion possibly caused by natural gas in New York City Thursday that caused the collapse or partial collapse of three buildings, heavy fire damage in a fourth, and forced the evacuations of 11 more.

No indication of unusual levels of pollutants that would suggest a potential health concern for local residents or emergency responders was found as a result of fires at a Chevron Appalachia well site in Greene County, PA, earlier this year, according to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

A natural gas flow interruption caused by an explosion and fire at the Opal hub in Wyoming was partially restored Thursday afternoon by flowing through a different processing plant. Opal had been supplying up to 1 Bcf/d to interstate pipelines before the incident Wednesday at the Williams Partners LP facility.

Despite some media reports to the contrary, there were no complaints about possible gas leaks from residents of the two buildings destroyed by an explosion and fire in New York City Wednesday in the months preceding the incident, other than one called in just minutes before the blast, according to Con Edison and New York City officials.

A state lawmaker from the San Francisco Peninsula suburbs held a fact-finding subcommittee hearing Monday, prompted by safety and communications concerns between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and communities stunned three years ago by the San Bruno transmission pipeline rupture.

Washington state regulators saidPuget Sound Energy(PSE) has agreed to pay a $275,000 penalty to settle a natural gas safety complaint lodged against the Bellevue, WA-based combination utility last year regarding a pipeline leak, explosion and house fire in North Seattle in 2011. TheWashington Utilities and Transportation Commission(WUTC) alleged that PSE violated certain gas safety rules when it responded to reports of gas leaks in the Pinehurst neighborhood of Seattle two years ago. An explosion and fire subsequently destroyed a home and injured two people. Under the settlement, PSE admits there were violations and agreed to pay the penalty. The utility is not allowed to pass on the cost of the fine in the retail rates it charges customers. The WUTC staff found the cause of the leaks late last year and recommended a $400,000 penalty (seeDaily GPI,Dec. 28, 2012).

A former Halliburton Co. manager was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday with destroying evidence linked to the Macondo well blowout in 2010.

On the third anniversary of the Sept. 9, 2010 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion pipeline owner/operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said it has settled substantially all of the legal claims that resulted from the blast.