Explosion

Pressure is mounting inside and outside Washington, DC, for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to order the retrofit or phase-out DOT-111 tank cars that are used to transport crude oil and ethanol by rail. Proponents of the effort note that a number of the tank cars involved in the fiery crash of tanker cars carrying Bakken crude in Quebec earlier this month were DOT-111 cars.

Williams Partners has begun taking stock of the damage at its Geismar, LA, olefins plant caused by an explosion and fire on June 13 that killed two workers and injured more than 70 others.

The mayor of San Bruno, CA — where a natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion killed eight nearly three years ago — on Wednesday called for the California Attorney General’s Office and state lawmakers to investigate replacement of the state regulatory legal team investigating the event.

Talks for the settlement of outstanding state regulatory cases relating to the 2010 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion have broken down, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) now expects to litigate the issues at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said PG&E Corp. CEO Tony Earley.

Settlement talks have broken down for regulatory cases involving the 2010 San Bruno, CA, natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) now expects to litigate the issues at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), according to PG&E Corp. CEO Tony Earley.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) natural gas system appears to have overcome the San Bruno, CA, natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion two and a half years ago, PG&E Corp.’s Nick Stavropoulos, executive vice president of gas operations, said in Houston last week.

Coming two months after the explosion on the Columbia Gas Transmission system in West Virginia, the state’s House of Delegates Thursday voted out and sent to the Senate legislation that would raise the penalty per violation from $1,000 per day to $200,000 per day for pipeline safety violations.

Coming two months after the explosion on the Columbia Gas Transmission system in West Virginia, the state’s House of Delegates Thursday voted out and sent to the Senate legislation that would raise the penalty per violation from $1,000 per day to $200,000 per day for pipeline safety violations.

The Missouri Public Service Commission continues to investigate a natural gas explosion in Kansas City, MO, on Feb. 19, which killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen others (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). According to Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte, Heartland Midwest LLC did not have a permit to drill and excavate near the site. A Heartland crew contracted by Time Warner Cable Inc. was installing a fiber optic cable when it apparently punctured a two-inch diameter natural gas pipeline operated by Missouri Gas Energy.