Pipeline company has few incidents on record

By Carrie J. Sidener

Published: November 8, 2008

Click here for an interactive map of pipeline incidents on the Williams/Transco line

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As the company that operates the natural gas pipeline through Appomattox works toward full service in time for the winter cold, it also is trying to repair confidence in its safety record.

A September explosion of one of three lines that carry natural gas through the county is one of the worst on record for Williams Gas Co., which operates the Transco pipeline that runs to New York from the Gulf of Mexico, delivering gas to locations along the way as well.

The blast leveled two homes, damaged several others, injured five people and left many who witnessed the fireball fearful of the pipelines that have run underground there since the 1950s.

While devastating to the area, federal oversight records show it is one of just two significant incidents over the past 10 years along the 858 miles of pipeline in Virginia. The other incident, in 2005, caused the evacuation of more than 850 schoolchildren and others from a northern Virginia neighborhood.

To obtain a more complete picture of the safety of the natural gas pipelines in the Commonwealth, The News & Advance requested all reports from the district office of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. That administration is responsible for investigating pipeline incidents as well as monitoring operations of pipeline companies.

In the past 20 years, there have only been two additional significant incidents in Virginia — one in Campbell County in 1993 when a defect in the pipeline caused a rupture, and one in Culpeper the following year when corrosion caused the pipe to fail.

Those reports and letters show the accidents over the past 20 years caused $1.2 million in damages and no injuries.

“Not all incidents are as dramatic as the one we just experienced,” said Christopher Stockton, spokesman for Williams.

“In fact, those types of incidents are very rare.”

The Appomattox explosion is still under investigation, although authorities have ruled out any deliberate acts to rupture the line or accidental digs that punctured the line. The federal regulatory agency did note some metal loss at the rupture site.

Because the blast involved a natural gas pipeline, federal investigators were called in within hours and spent more than a week at the site looking over the lines and company records.

Any “significant incident” — defined as a death or injury requiring hospitalization, $50,000 or more in total cost in 1984 dollars, or any release resulting in a fire or explosion — prompts federal involvement.

In the 2005 incident in Chantilly, near Manassas, a backhoe operator hired by Williams punctured one of four 36-inch pipelines while digging up another one in need of repair, records show.

“The majority of accidents that occur are the result of third-party damage, which means someone accidentally digging into the line,” Stockton said.

“That was the case in Chantilly. A contractor working in the right-of-way accidentally hit our line. No one was hurt and the gas did not ignite, but nevertheless it was an accident that should not have happened.”

The federal agency fined the gas company about $590,000 in the October 2005 incident, which the inspectors’ report said “could have easily resulted in serious injuries or deaths in a populated urban area.”

The agency cited Williams for allowing the backhoe to be operated without removing or covering the side teeth on the bucket, which are what punctured the line. The company also was cited for failing to hand dig within two feet of an active line.

The report also cited Williams for failing to make available at the site drawings that showed the locations of the four pipelines.

In its response, the company said those drawings were available at the construction office. But federal investigators noted that the office was miles away from the construction site, and that the backhoe operator did not attend the pre-construction meetings, where that information was made available.

Also, investigators noted, there were no temporary markings for the line that was punctured or the other three pipelines in that right-of-way.

The report also cited Williams for failing to have an inspector spotting for the backhoe operator when the pipeline was hit.

Oversight records also show an incident just over the Virginia border in Maryland. This one occurred in one of the stations that push the gas through the underground pipes and is the next in line after a similar station in Appomattox.

That incident, in Ellicott City, Md., resulted in an explosion that caused $150,000 in damage in December 2006. It ended up changing some of Williams’ policies, according to a company letter filed with the regulatory agency.

Although the letter does not describe the incident, it outlines changes made by the company in its operations and maintenance manual. Those include: The use of welding and torch cutting should be avoided inside the station and a lead person must ensure that the steps necessary to isolate the main compressor units are communicated to maintenance personnel.

“We work very hard to keep our pipeline safe, and I think if you were to ask the tens of thousands of neighbors we have along our system, the vast majority of them would agree,” said Stockton, the company spokesman.

“We’ve worked hard for many years to build that trust. We understand we’ve lost some of that trust in Appomattox, but we are committed to working very hard to earn it back.”

Larry Hjalmarson, the company’s vice president of operations, said at a recent meeting in Appomattox that there was a fatality relating to an explosion on the Williams-Transco line in the early 1960s. Other than that incident, the explosion in Appomattox was the worst in the history of the Transco line, he said.

“We do have leaks and ruptures, sometimes one or two or more a year,” he said. “It does happen. I’m not here to tell you it doesn’t. …

“We feel that if we had a couple more months we would have found this anomaly (in Appomattox) and fixed it.”