GhostBlogger
There was a gasoline pipeline leak in Wellington, Ohio, Thursday night. Residents of were evacuated.
One of the disturbing facts about this pipeline failure was that the estimated spill size repeated a frequent pattern of giving a small amount first, then going up in later reports. This makes one wonder if enough resources are being sent to these spills due to the frequent small initial reports. This leak was reported first as 1,000+ gallons, then 10,000 gallons, now it’s at 117,000 125,000 gallons of gasoline.
Note that both petroleum & gas pipelines do not always recognize failures of their systems, contrary to the PR spin given. One Williams-Transco gas transmission pipeline fire in Virginia in 1974 was first noticed by a worker at a compressor station happening to look out a window, and saw the massive fire from that pipeline.
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An update:
http://www.woio.com/story/16524467/emergency-response-underway-in-wellington
I’ve been informed that Sunoco Pipeline has had 143 PHMSA reportable “incidents” from 2006 to just before this accident. This, despite 54 PHMSA inspections & 12 PHMSA enforcement actions. I guess they need more than a slap on the wrist about this.
http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/operator/Operatorlist.html?nocache=9151#
Looking at the causes of these Sunoco Pipeline failures, most of them were NOT caused by someone digging into their pipelines, but from corrosion, welding, material or equipment problems, or “misoperation”, like someone closing a valve against a flowing pipeline or overfill a storage tank.
All these issues are the responsibility of the pipeline company. I hate to think what’s going to happen over time with pipelines with less oversight.
Well sunoco logistics line testing takes inspecting these pipelines very serious and they do it according to DOT and Federal regulations. So not really sure what your getting at?