Lessons Learned from three powerful gas transmission line explosions

What went wrong?

The National Transportation Safety Board said its investigation of three powerful gas transmission line explosions (near Sissonville, WV, Palm City, Florida, and San Bruno, California) exposed deficiencies with the pipeline companies' programs for ensuring their pipelines were safe and reliable.

1. Gas companies did not do inspections or tests to find pipeline weaknesses.

2. There was no automatic or remotely controlled shut off valves or a shut off valve failed to close.

3. There was a lack of coordination between federal-to-state and state-to-state inspectors.

4.  Some states have more pre-1970s pipelines than others so have higher risk and therefore need more expert inspectors and more thorough inspection methods.

Read: Editorial: Pipeline study highlights need for more oversight, Feb. 02, 2015, The Herald-Dispatch, herald-dispatch.com, Huntington, WV. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinions/x984739799/Editorial-Pipeline-study-highlights-need-for-more-oversight

...lack of a strong safety culture in the natural gas industry

“I believe there is a lack of a strong safety culture in the natural gas industry,” said Jim Hall, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1994 to 2001 and an experienced pipeline investigator. “When you have a lack of enforcement activity, you end up with a tragedy.”

Read  Gas Blasts Spur Questions on Oversight
NYTIMES September 24, 2010

Blast shows dangers, scarcity of gas explosions

Blast shows dangers, scarcity of gas explosions
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The natural-gas explosion that rocked a San Francisco suburb Thursday evening serves as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by the pressure cooker of pipelines crisscrossing the country.

---