Progress being made on Appomattox pipelines

By Carrie J. Sidener

Published: October 16, 2008

One of three natural gas pipelines that run through Appomattox County may be in full operation at the end of the month, with the other two following in early 2009, according to company officials.

Williams Gas Co., which operates the underground line, has been working on repairs to bring the pipeline system back to normal operations since a devastating explosion last month just north of the town of Appomattox.

The company immediately shut down the line that ruptured, and reduced the pressure on two lines that run adjacent to that line.

Christopher Stockton, spokesman for Williams, said Thursday inspections on the two lines that are still in service, called the A and the C lines, have revealed no leaks. Anticorrosive measures damaged in the explosion have been repaired, he said.

Williams workers have been excavating 38 locations on the three lines along the section of pipeline that runs from three miles south of Appomattox to 60 miles north of the explosion site.

Those excavations revealed four places on the line that exploded, called the B line, that have been or are being repaired, Stockton said. Those repairs are not all related to the damage caused in the explosion, he said.

The B line that crosses Virginia 26 just north of the town of Appomattox failed just before 8 a.m. on Sept. 14, a Sunday. The natural gas it released ignited a fireball that burned an area 1,125 feet in diameter, according to preliminary findings in the federal investigation.

Twenty-three families were evacuated. Two homes were destroyed. Five people were hurt, none seriously.

The explosion blew a 30-foot section of pipe out of the ground and across Virginia 26. The neighboring lines did not appear to be damaged in the blast, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Department of Transport-ation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The natural gas pipeline that runs through Appomattox is part of the Transco line, which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to New York, including 858 miles in Virginia.

Several excavations along the A line have been done to make sure no changes have happened since it was last inspected in 2000, Stockton said. That data was reviewed with federal inspectors.

“Based on our current level of progress and the good condition of the A line, we are cautiously optimistic that we may be able to get approval from PHMSA to restore A line to full service later this month,” Stockton said.

The line has been operating at 640 pounds per square inch of pressure — reduced from 800 psi prior to the explosion of the neighboring B line.

“As we have committed, we will conduct another public meeting and inform residents prior to A line being restored to full service,” he said.

Testing is still being done to determine just what caused the B line to fail, he said. Stockton said the company hopes to complete repairs on the B line and bring it back into operation by January, contingent on federal approval. The C line will be restored to full pressure sometime after that, he said.

Preliminary findings by federal inspectors charged with investigating the rupture show some measure of metal loss near the failure, according to a corrective order issued in September to Williams.

The families of Linda Jamerson and Calvin Childress — the two whose homes were destroyed — have been placed in temporary or permanent housing, Stockton said.

He said the company is continuing to work with families affected by the blast.