Report: Gas pipeline in fatal Kentucky explosion had defects operator had not found
A large natural-gas pipeline that blew up in Lincoln County, killing one person and injuring several others, had several defects at the failure site that the operator had missed, according to a federal agency.
The agency did not say the defects caused the explosion, but the finding did prompt the agency to order the operator to review 20 years’ worth of tests and figure out if similar conditions are likely to exist anywhere else on the 775-mile long line.
The 30-inch diameter pipeline is operated by Texas Eastern Transmission LP, a subsidiary of Enbridge, a Canadian energy company. It runs between southern Mississippi and Pennsylvania, according to the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
The line blew up early last Aug. 1 near Junction City, about six miles south of Danville.
The explosion threw a 30-foot long section of the heavy pipe 481 feet and ignited a fire that destroyed five homes, damaged more than a dozen others and scorched 30 acres of ground.
Residents of mobile homes near the pipeline scrambled to escape the blowtorch heat as their homes caught fire.
One woman, 58-year-old Lisa D. Derringer, died and six other people were hospitalized, according to the federal report.
The pipeline safety agency does not determine the cause of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board is doing that, but has not reported the likely cause of the failure.
The information about defects in the line was in an order issued April 28 aimed at trying to make sure the rest of the Enbridge line is safe.
The order said Texas Eastern inspected the inside of the pipeline in 2011. Natural gas companies do that with instruments commonly called pigs that are pushed through the pipe.
The 2011 review showed no evidence of hard spots in the pipe, according to the PHMSA order.
Hard spots are changes in the hardness of the pipe caused during the manufacturing process. They can become failure points, according to the Pipeline Safety Trust.
However, a review of the same company data from 2011 showed there were actually 12 hard spots in the section of the pipe that failed, according to the PHMSA order.
The agency found 10 of those last year and two others during further analysis.
In a separate inspection in 2018, Texas Eastern found a “small dent with metal loss” in the pipeline, the report said.
The company was not required to report that dent to authorities because the pipeline was in an area not designated by the company as a “high consequence” area — one where a pipe failure could have “greater consequences to health and safety or the environment,” the NTSB said.
The pipeline-safety agency had ordered Enbridge to take some corrective actions soon after the blast, such as lowering the pressure on the line.
After reviewing the data on hard spots, an agency administrator said in the order that allowing continued operation of the line without additional corrective measures “would result in the likelihood of serious harm to life, property, or the environment.”
The order required a number of steps, including surveying for leaks along the entire line and fixing any; a review of 20 years’ worth of in-line pipe inspections to see if there are potential problem spots elsewhere; and reporting actions the company will take to fix problems.
An Enbridge spokesman said the company would not comment on the order while the NTSB investigation continues.
The line that failed in Lincoln County has been involved in other accidents in Kentucky and elsewhere.
