MEC&F Expert Engineers : 03/03/15

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A BC OIL AND GAS COMMISSION INVESTIGATION HAS FOUND THAT ON-SITE SUPERVISORS HAD A ROLE IN A MAN’S INJURY DURING WORK TO PREVENT A LEAK ON A NATURAL GAS SITE LAST YEAR.




MARCH 3, 2015

The incident, which happened last March, involved workers for Trinidad Drilling Ltd., who were contracted by Progress Energy to perform drilling activities at a location about 200 kilometres north of Fort St. John.

Neither the OGC nor WorkSafeBC would say what the extent of the man's injuries were, other than to say that he was taken to Fort St. John Hospital, and it was non-fatal.

About 9,400 cubic metres of sweet natural gas leaked over five days, but most was diverted to a flare stack, where it was burned off, and the OGC said there were "no significant offsite or environmental impacts" because of the leak.

The incident occurred northwest of Fort St. John, near the Alaska Highway. 
The crew had finished cementing the well, which is part of a procedure to prevent leaks.

Workers had been told it would take six hours for the cement to set. But apparently a change in the type of cement used at the site meant that it would take 24 hours to set.

Around six hours later, the well was depressurized at the surface. (The difference between the pressures on the surface and underground allows gasses underground to rise to the surface.) The decision to depressurize the well before the cement had set allowed a natural gas leak to develop, the BC OGC said.

Around 12 hours after the cementing job was finished, the crew discovered that the pipe was leaking gas.

It took this long, said Alan Clay, a spokesman for the BC OGC, because "it took time for the natural gas to migrate to the surface where it could be detected."
Then, the crew attached a hose, called a blowout prevention stack, to depressurize the well and fix the problem.

The hose was not properly restrained, however, and it struck and injured one of the workers.

A BC OGC investigation found that the on-site supervisors did not do an adequate job of telling their workers about the change in the cement setting time. 
"It is the responsibility of the on-site supervisors to ensure that changes to the nature of the job are reviewed with those employees involved with the work and that a hazard assessment is carried out beforehand and built into the work plan."

The last time the OGC issued a safety advisory was in 2013.
Stacie Dley, a Progress spokesperson, said they are still concluding the matter with the OGC.

The injured worker has "recovered and is back at work."

"Worker safety is paramount" she said. "We learn from all incidents that may occur in our operations and thoughtfully implement necessary mitigation measures to ensure the safety of workers, the environment and the communities."

Questions directed to Trinidad asking for comment were not returned as of press time.

The well was "sweet," meaning that it did not contain poisonous hydrogen sulphide, which can be found in some natural gas fracking operations. 


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BC OIL &  GAS COMMISSION ISSUES ADVISORY FOLLOWING INCIDENT INVESTIGATION

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

The BC Oil and Gas Commission (Commission) is reminding operators Division 2 of the Drilling and Production Regulation contains regulatory requirements related to well control equipment, procedures, training and competency. Permit holders must ensure that reliably operating well control equipment is installed at all times and that site personnel have adequate training and competency to safely carry out well operations.

This follows an investigation into a March 2014 incident where approximately 9,400 cubic metres of sweet natural gas leaked from a well over five days, most of which was diverted to a flare stack before the leak was successfully repaired. The incident occurred following cementing operations on a natural gas well targeting the Montney formation. Drilling operations were complete, and production casing was installed in the well and cemented with nitrogen foam cement. The well is located in a remote area approximately 200 kilometres north of Fort St. John and there were no significant offsite or environmental impacts.

Approximately two-and-a-half hours after cementing was complete, the rig crew proceeded to partially unbolt the flange that secures the BOP (blowout prevention) stack to the well. Approximately three-and- a-half hours later, the well was de-pressurized at surface. Approximately 12 hours after cementing was complete, the well was found to be leaking gas. A hose was attached to the BOP stack in an attempt to de-pressurize the well and allow the leak to be repaired. The hose was not properly restrained when flow was diverted, and one worker was injured. Medical aid was provided at the scene and at the Fort St. John hospital.

The planned cement job included the pumping of nitrogen foam cement with a “cap” cement. The cap cement is a rapid-setting cement capable of providing pressure containment at surface while the foam cement cures. On arrival at the site, it was determined the cementing company did not have sufficient additives for the cap cement, so the decision was made to only pump the foam cement. Due to the job scope change, the cement setting time increased from six hours to 24 hours.

Key findings of the investigation are as follows:
·         Removal of some of the BOP flange bolts while the well was pressurized allowed a leak path to develop.  The bolts were removed prior to cement setting time elapsing.
·         Depressurizing the well prior to the cement setting time elapsing compromised the cement integrity, allowing a natural gas leak to develop.
·         The cementing job scope change was not adequately communicated to on-site personnel.
·         Adequate assessment and control of hazards were not completed during initial attempts to control the natural gas leak.
  

SOURCE OF 30 GALLON DIESEL OIL SPILL NEAR SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS REMAINS UNKNOWN. LOOKING FOR THAT RECKLESS BOATER.






SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS

MARCH 3, 2015

Gallons of oil spilled at the marina giving boat owners a headache Tuesday.
When Shrimp Boat Owner Joe Martinez arrived at the marina early in the morning, he noticed an odd smell emitting from the water.

"As soon as I got here, and I got off, I was waiting to see if the fog was going to pick up,” said Joe Martinez, a shrimper. “I smelled the really bad oil and diesel.”
A mixture of oil and diesel spilled around the marina putting Martinez’s business at risk.

"If it kills the shrimp then we can’t come out here and shrimp no more,” Martinez explained.

The marina received an anonymous call around 8 a.m. about the spill.
U.S. Coast Guard was on the scene determining where the spill started, officials with the Texas General Land Office said.

"We do have some boats and docks that will be stained a little," said Gonzalo Pena, a natural resource specialist and response officer for The Texas General Land Office.

About 30 gallons of oil spilled into the water.

"It will affect the environment to a point, but at this point because it's so small. There's no mangroves or sea groves in this area so we are pretty happy that no wildlife should be affected," said Pena.

"We’ve hired a contractor to boom this off and to throw absorbent pads in the water and clean that up and dispose of it properly,” said Mitchell Priest, a marine science technician for the Coast Guard.

Crews collected water samples, and they will go boat by boat to see if they find the source of the leak.

"Now the wind and the tide are going up. It's going to be a little hard to contain this," said Victor Moore, a forklift operator at the South Point Marina.

If they find a person caused the spill, they will be issued a citation and be fined for the cleanup, according to Moore.

Boat owners hope a spill does not happen again.

"About a couple months ago, a barge sank over there and this whole place was filled with oil and diesel and fluids that was on that boat came from over there," said Martinez.

Officials are trying to determine where this oil came from.

2 TRAIN CARS OF A NORFOLK SOUTHERN TRAIN DERAIL IN CAMPBELL COUNTY, TENNESSEE




MARCH 3, 2015

CAMPBELL COUNTY, TENNESSEE

Two cars of a Norfolk Southern train delivering empty rail cars derailed early Tuesday in Campbell County, TN, near the town of Pioneer.

The incident happened on Titus Hollow Road near Howard Baker Highway in the Pioneer community.

No one was injured and no roads or communities were affected, according to Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay.

Dispatchers said there were no evacuations.

By 4 p.m. according to Terpay, the rail operator had "re-railed" one of the cars and expected to right the other one later Tuesday.

According to Terpay, the train was delivering empty rail cars used to carry wood chips to a lumber company.

When even the empty cars derail, we have a problem with these railroads.  Perhaps the fatigue of the tracks and other factors contribute to so many derailments.  Using these trains to carry hazardous material is basically playing Russian roulette with people's lives and properties.

CALIFORNIA SUES GALLO GLASS OVER ILLEGALLY RECYCLING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS CONTAINING LEAD, ARSENIC, CADMIUM AND SELENIUM





MARCH 2, 2015

MODESTO, CALIFORNIA

Modesto’s Gallo Glass Co. will fight a hazardous-materials lawsuit made public Monday by California authorities who acknowledged that alleged violations do not harm consumers.

“The lawsuit has no merit,” reads a statement issued by Gallo Glass, the world’s largest single-site glass bottle producer. “We look forward to our day in court.”
State Department of Toxic Substances Control officials said in an interview that the plant illegally recycled hazardous dust laced with lead, arsenic, cadmium and selenium, all byproducts of bottle making, by adding the dust to other ingredients when forging new wine bottles.

“We have no evidence that consuming wine (from those bottles) poses a health threat,” said Elisa Rothschild, the agency’s deputy director. Nor would people be exposed to danger from contact with pieces of glass should bottles break, said Keith Kihara, the agency’s enforcement supervisor.

The plant, which employs more than 800 people, prides itself on using state-of-the-art technology and “environmentally-friendly sustainable practices which the state is inexplicably challenging in this lawsuit,” reads the Gallo statement, issued through spokesman John Segale.

Kihara said state inspectors are under the impression that Gallo Glass stopped recycling the contaminated dust in May 2014. But the company’s statement suggests pride in finding new uses for otherwise spent material, rather than burying it in landfills, and refers to recycling practices as if they’re ongoing.

The dust is made of “the same raw materials used to make glass, so we use it instead of adding new raw materials,” the company’s statement says. The plant has been monitored for decades by an array of regulators from various agencies, Gallo said, and no inspector ever suggested something was amiss until this enforcement action.

The company’s website says about 45 percent of its bottles come from recycled glass, or used bottles that don’t go to dumps. Its glass, made in five oxygen-fired furnaces, meets the highest federal standard for safe packaging, the site says.

Gallo calls the dust substance “precipitate,” and state regulators often call it “sludge.” The plant every day produces tons, which is captured by air pollution equipment. The lawsuit says Gallo illegally stored it in an unpermitted tank; Kihara said it should have been taken to a landfill.

The company says material sitting in landfills “is in direct conflict with California’s recycling goals.”

The alleged violations were discovered during two inspections in 2009 and one in 2011, says the lawsuit, which was filed in Alameda County because that’s the location of the nearest office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Her office brings civil actions on behalf of state agencies.

Kihara acknowledged that the lawsuit, dated Friday, beats a five-year statute of limitations starting at the point alleged violations are detected. Negotiations for a settlement led to “a bit of an impasse, necessitating us filing the case,” he said.

He declined to say what the state has sought in settlement talks or what an appropriate fine might be. The lawsuit says violations can bring penalties of up to $25,000 for certain offenses, and the document lists several.

For example, the toxic substances agency alleges that Gallo improperly stored used oil, illegally discharged used oil “directly to a sewer” and disposed of used oil in a Kern County landfill that doesn’t take hazardous waste.

The lawsuit also says that Gallo Glass failed to minimize releases to the environment, failed to train workers and failed to properly report six fires from 2006 to 2011. They included a June 2008 fire that sent four employees to a hospital with smoke inhalation when lubricating oil in a machine area ignited; a September 2008 “homemade dry ice bomb” explosion that injured a worker; an August 2009 three-alarm fire that cracked an electric furnace, causing a leak of molten glass that started fires throughout a basement where combustible material was stored; and a June 2011 “major fire” that required five fire engines to extinguish.

Gallo says state officials, in talks stretching several years, “refused to provide us with any proposals and instead unilaterally cut off negotiations, deciding instead to sue us.”

The plant, built in 1958, manufactures all bottles used by E.&J. Gallo wines, plus other companies. Last year the company applied for a $4.7 million plant expansion.

Gallo Glass’ website says the plant has 2 million square feet of warehousing, maintains a truck fleet of 150 and produces four bottle colors.