JUNE 3, 2015
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
UPDATE June 2, 11:00 p.m.: A spokesperson from Spectra
Energy, the operator of the Texas Eastern pipeline, spoke with me this evening
about the incident. See below for details.
The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed news that began circulating earlier today: A pipeline that carries natural gas across the Arkansas River ruptured in Little Rock yesterday or over the weekend. The breach occurred east of the I-30 bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed news that began circulating earlier today: A pipeline that carries natural gas across the Arkansas River ruptured in Little Rock yesterday or over the weekend. The breach occurred east of the I-30 bridge.
Lieutenant Brian Porter, a public affairs officer for
the Coast Guard Sector Lower Mississippi River in Memphis, said it appears
no one was injured in the accident, but one vessel — a towboat called the Chris
M — was damaged. Porter said the Coast Guard was alerted to the rupture by a
call on Monday, June 1 at 2 p.m. It has closed the river to commercial traffic
from mile markers 116 to 118 while it assesses the situation.
The line in question is the Texas Eastern, which is owned by Houston-based Spectra Energy. Phil West, a spokesperson for Spectra, spoke with the Times about the breach on Tuesday evening.
West said the rupture occurred on a 4.6 mile back-up section of 24-inch pipeline that runs parallel to another pipe the company normally uses to transport natural gas north from Texas to Arkansas and other states beyond. Both are buried beneath the Arkansas River. Gas was not flowing through the back-up line at the time, West said — the material that escaped was only the gas present in that 4.6 mile stretch. He said the company "has not yet determined a cause" for the break.
"We have two pipelines that run across the river in the area, and the one that [ruptured] is an auxiliary. It’s not normally in use. It’s a way to transfer gas across the river when the other pipe is not in use," West said. "There’s valves on either side of that that isolate the line ... the release was contained to the section on either sides of that valve."
About 3.9 million cubic feet were released, or 3900 Mcf in the volume units commonly used within the gas industry. Although that may sound like a large amount at first glance, West said "that is, in natural gas terms, a relatively small number ... On any given day, we send billions of cubic feet through our pipeline." West provided some additional numbers by email to contextualize the figure: "Arkansas consumed about 282.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2013. That’s approximately 774.8 million cubic feet per day."
As for cleanup concerns, he said, "all of the gas in that line would bubble to the surface and dissipate into the atmosphere quickly."
West said Spectra was shutting down its primary pipeline underneath the Arkansas "out of an abundance of caution" as it investigates the cause of the rupture. Spectra delivers gas to Centerpoint Energy, but West said neither retail nor industrial customers in Arkansas should expect any interference in service because of the accident.
He also said the company had sent a response crew to the site, including divers, but flood conditions on the Arkansas have interfered with that effort. "They experienced swifter currents than they expected and decided to come out," he stated. West could not yet confirm that the company has been searching for a missing piece of pipe in the river. Porter, the Coast Guard spokesperson, told the Times earlier today that the crew was trying to locate a section of pipe but had not yet found it.
The tugboat damaged by the rupture, said Porter, "sustained damage on the port side, the smokestack and main deck." It's not yet known whether the pipeline was somehow struck by the Chris M or if it exploded for a different reason.
"We sent a warrant officer out there today — he'll gather that information, what happened, the course of path. We can find out if they were involved in that situation, but we may not know for awhile what happened. ... We're investigating it from a marine casualty standpoint."
Other agencies will likely get involved as well, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and possibly state environmental regulators. The Army Corps could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon evening.
Glen Hooks, director of the Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club, issued the following statement on Tuesday afternoon:
The line in question is the Texas Eastern, which is owned by Houston-based Spectra Energy. Phil West, a spokesperson for Spectra, spoke with the Times about the breach on Tuesday evening.
West said the rupture occurred on a 4.6 mile back-up section of 24-inch pipeline that runs parallel to another pipe the company normally uses to transport natural gas north from Texas to Arkansas and other states beyond. Both are buried beneath the Arkansas River. Gas was not flowing through the back-up line at the time, West said — the material that escaped was only the gas present in that 4.6 mile stretch. He said the company "has not yet determined a cause" for the break.
"We have two pipelines that run across the river in the area, and the one that [ruptured] is an auxiliary. It’s not normally in use. It’s a way to transfer gas across the river when the other pipe is not in use," West said. "There’s valves on either side of that that isolate the line ... the release was contained to the section on either sides of that valve."
About 3.9 million cubic feet were released, or 3900 Mcf in the volume units commonly used within the gas industry. Although that may sound like a large amount at first glance, West said "that is, in natural gas terms, a relatively small number ... On any given day, we send billions of cubic feet through our pipeline." West provided some additional numbers by email to contextualize the figure: "Arkansas consumed about 282.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2013. That’s approximately 774.8 million cubic feet per day."
As for cleanup concerns, he said, "all of the gas in that line would bubble to the surface and dissipate into the atmosphere quickly."
West said Spectra was shutting down its primary pipeline underneath the Arkansas "out of an abundance of caution" as it investigates the cause of the rupture. Spectra delivers gas to Centerpoint Energy, but West said neither retail nor industrial customers in Arkansas should expect any interference in service because of the accident.
He also said the company had sent a response crew to the site, including divers, but flood conditions on the Arkansas have interfered with that effort. "They experienced swifter currents than they expected and decided to come out," he stated. West could not yet confirm that the company has been searching for a missing piece of pipe in the river. Porter, the Coast Guard spokesperson, told the Times earlier today that the crew was trying to locate a section of pipe but had not yet found it.
The tugboat damaged by the rupture, said Porter, "sustained damage on the port side, the smokestack and main deck." It's not yet known whether the pipeline was somehow struck by the Chris M or if it exploded for a different reason.
"We sent a warrant officer out there today — he'll gather that information, what happened, the course of path. We can find out if they were involved in that situation, but we may not know for awhile what happened. ... We're investigating it from a marine casualty standpoint."
Other agencies will likely get involved as well, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and possibly state environmental regulators. The Army Corps could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon evening.
Glen Hooks, director of the Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club, issued the following statement on Tuesday afternoon:
This spill is yet another example of the dangers posed to
Arkansas by pipelines and dirty fuels. Whether we are talking about oil spills
in Mayflower or the gas spill this week, the dangers to our health and natural
resources from ruptured pipelines are enormous and unnecessary.
As the number of pipeline accidents pile up in Arkansas, it is time for our state to start moving away from dirty and dangerous fuels. Step one should be stopping the construction of new dangerous pipelines currently proposed for Arkansas. Pipeline ruptures in Arkansas are becoming commonplace—how many will it take before we, as a state, finally say no?
As the number of pipeline accidents pile up in Arkansas, it is time for our state to start moving away from dirty and dangerous fuels. Step one should be stopping the construction of new dangerous pipelines currently proposed for Arkansas. Pipeline ruptures in Arkansas are becoming commonplace—how many will it take before we, as a state, finally say no?
Source: http://www.arktimes.com
///////////////------------------///
A 2-mile section of the Arkansas River near
Little Rock remained closed Wednesday following the rupture of a pipeline that
released enough natural gas to fuel about 65 homes for a year.
U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Brian Porter said the section of
the swollen river, which is near Arkansas' busiest airport, will remain closed
until Spectra Energy Corp. crews can check whether the pipeline poses a danger
to boats. He said there have been no reports of injuries since the leak was
reported Monday, and that the closure hasn't affected boat traffic because the
river was already mostly closed due to flooding.
Spectra Energy Corp. spokesman Creighton Welch said the
cause of the leak isn't known, and he declined to estimate how much it cost the
company. The leak occurred Sunday or Monday on a 24-inch-wide backup pipeline
buried 4 feet below the riverbed. The line was closed when it ruptured and the
roughly 4 million cubic feet of natural gas that escaped had been what was left
over inside, he said.
An incident report submitted by the company to the U.S.
Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration indicates a boat might have struck the pipeline. Welch said
investigators are still working to determine if a boat was involved. Porter
said a towboat reported an explosion and sustained unspecified damage.
The auxiliary line is part of the company's Texas Eastern
Pipeline, which transports fuel from Texas to New Jersey. The
company provides gas to CenterPoint Energy in the Little Rock area.
Welch said Spectra Energy Corp. has indefinitely closed the
main pipeline while crews work to determine how the backup was damaged.
Porter said it's unclear if the spill has affected the
environment. An Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman
declined to comment on the matter.
Welch said the gas leak shouldn't have a lasting impact on
the river, as the fuel escapes from the water relatively quickly.
"What happens is it will bubble up to the surface and
dissipate into the air," Welch said. "There should not be any
residual materials in the water."
The average U.S. family uses 168 cubic feet of natural gas
per day, Welch said, meaning the escaped fuel could power about 65 homes for a
year. He said Arkansas uses about 775 million cubic feet per day.
Dive crews using sonar equipment have been working the area
since Monday, Welch said. Complicating their task is record rainfall across the
southern Plains, which has caused waterways, including the Arkansas River, to
swell.
The National Weather Service reported that the river in
Little Rock has been near flood stage since before Sunday and could enter minor
flood stage briefly on Wednesday or Thursday. The river is projected to crest
at 23 feet, which is the exact cutoff for minor flood stage.
"Given the high levels of the river right now, some of
that has been slowed," Welch said of the divers. "Obviously, we want
to make sure they're safe as well."
Shane Carter, a spokesman for the Bill and Hillary
Clinton National Airport, said the leak didn't cause damage to the airport
or interrupt any flights.
Source:associatedpress.com
//////////-----------------
4 million cubic feet of natural gas leaks as pipeline
ruptures on Arkansas River
Published time: June 03, 2015 16:34
Around 4 million cubic feet of natural gas was released into
the Arkansas River due to a rupture of a pipeline near the city of Little Rock
in flood-hit state of Arkansas, the pipeline’s operator reported.
A two-mile section of the river was closed indefinitely due
to the incident, which led to no injuries or fatalities, Jonathan Lally, US
Coast Guard spokesman, told AP.
It won’t be reopened until the operator of the Texas Eastern
pipeline, Spectra Energy Corp., finds and repairs the leak, he added.
According to Lally, the sheen from the fuel has by now
mostly dissipated.
The 3.9 million cubic feet of gas leaked on Sunday or Monday
from a backup line crossing the swollen Arkansas River, said Phil West,
spokesman for Spectra Energy Corp.
The reasons for the leak haven’t been established yet, the
spokesman said, adding that the line was closed before the rupture and that
what spilled into the water was only leftover gas inside.
"We have two pipelines that run across the river in the
area, and the one that [ruptured] is an auxiliary. It’s not normally in use.
It’s a way to transfer gas across the river when the other pipe is not in
use," West told the Times.
"There’s valves on either side of that that isolate the
line ... the release was contained to the section on either sides of that
valve."
Spectra Energy Corp. shut down its primary pipeline running
underneath the Arkansas “out of an abundance of caution” as it investigates the
cause of the leak.
The amount of gas leaked was “a relatively small number ...
On any given day, we send billions of cubic feet through our pipeline,” West
added.
Southwest Arkansas and areas along the Arkansas River were
flooded in recent days, with State Emergency Operations Center activated at
Level 2 (limited operation) to respond to the disaster.
Source: http://rt.com