2010
On January 2, Enbridge's Line 2 ruptured near Neche, North Dakota, releasing about 3,784 barrels of crude oil, of which 2,237 barrels of were recovered. The cause was a material defect.[238][239]
On January 7, a gas pipeline exploded near Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, in January, killing a pipeline employee.[240]
On February 1, a plumber trying to unclog a sewer line in St. Paul, Minnesota ruptured a gas service line that has been "cross bored" through the house's sewer line. The plumber and resident escape the house moments before as an explosion and following fire destroyed the house. The Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety ordered that gas utility, Xcel, to check for more cross bored gas lines. In the following year, 25,000 sewer lines inspected showed 57 other cross bored gas lines. In Louisville, Kentucky, 430 gas line cross bores were found in 200 miles (320 km) of a sewer project, including some near schools and a hospital. The NTSB had cited such cross bore incidents as a known hazard since 1976.[241][242]
On February 7, a power plant explosion occurred at the Kleen Energy Systems, killing 5 and injuring a dozen. 2010 Connecticut power plant explosion
On February 25, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline ruptured near Pond Creek, Oklahoma, releasing over 575,000 US gallons (2,180,000 L) of NGL's, and forcing road closures. There was no fire.[243][244]
On March 1, at about 8:10 am, Mid-Valley Pipeline identified a release of crude oil in the manifold area of the Mid-Valley tank farm in Longview, Texas. Crude oil was observed "gushing" from the soil in the manifold area. About 198 barrels of crude oil were estimated to have been released and 196 barrels were recovered from the secondary containment area within Mid-Valley's site.[245]
On March 15, a 24-inch gas pipeline burst, but did not ignite near Pampa, Texas.[246]
On March 25, there was a release of 1700 barrels of Vacuum gas oil (VGO) from the FM-1 pipeline into an open in-ground valve pit and the surrounding area in the West Yard of the Sunoco, R&M Philadelphia refinery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The area was under the control of the Operator in a fenced off area that is off-limits to the public.[247]
On April 5, a crude oil pipeline ruptured near Green River, Wyoming. At least 84,000 US gallons (320,000 L) of crude were spilled. Corrosion in the pipeline was the cause.[29]
On April 13, a flash fire occurred as a result of incorrect operations while operator and contract employees were conducting planned maintenance at the Seymour Terminal of the Enterprise Products Operating Company, LLC(EPCO) located in Jackson County, Indiana. Two EPCO employees and two contract employees were injured.[248]
On April 23, a pipeline ruptured near Niles, Kansas, due to previous excavation damage. About 1,659 barrels of natural gasoline were lost.[169]
On May 29, an Amoco pipeline leaked nearly 89,000 gallons of gasoline into a farm field along Quarterline Road. The leak occurred in Constantine Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan. The cause was from a manufacturing defect in the pipe.[210]
On June 7, a 36-inch gas pipeline explosion and fire in Johnson County, Texas, was caused by workers installing poles for electrical lines. One worker killed, and six were injured. Confusion over the location and status of the construction work lead to the pipeline not being marked beforehand.[249][250]
On June 8, construction workers hit an unmarked 14-inch gas gathering pipeline near Darrouzett, Texas. Two workers were killed.[249][251]
The Red Butte Creek oil spill. On June 12, a Chevron crude oil pipeline, damage by lightning, ruptured, causing 800 barrels (130 m3) of crude to spill into Red Butte Creek in Salt Lake City, Utah. Crude then flowed into a pond in Liberty Park.[252]
On July 5, a landowner operating a bulldozer hit an 8-inch LPG/propane pipeline near Thomson, Georgia. Later, the propane fumes ignited, killing the adult son of the landowner, and igniting fires that destroyed a trailer house and woodlands.[253]
On July 26, the Kalamazoo River oil spill: Enbridge Energy Partners LLP (Enbridge), reported that a 30-inch (760 mm) pipeline belonging to Enbridge burst in Marshall, Michigan. Enbridge had numerous alarms from the affected Line 6B, but controllers thought the alarms were from phase separation, and the leak was not reported to Enbridge for 17 hours. Enbridge estimates over 800,000 US gallons (3,000,000 L) of crude oil leaked into Talmadge Creek, a waterway that feeds the Kalamazoo River,[254][255] whereas EPA reports over 1,139,569 gallons of oil have been recovered as of November 2011.[256] On July 27, 2010, an Administrative Order was issued by U.S. EPA requiring the performance of removal actions in connection with the facility. The Order requires Enbridge to immediately conduct removal of a discharge or to mitigate or prevent a substantial threat of a discharge of oil and to submit a Work Plan for the cleanup activities that was to include a Health and Safety Plan,[257] as required by 29 CFR 1910.120 (HAZWOPER). In 2012, the NTSB later cited known but unrepaired cracks and external corrosion as the cause.[258]
On August 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department announced that Plains All American Pipeline and several of its operating subsidiaries have agreed to spend approximately $41 million to upgrade 10,420 miles (16,770 km) of crude oil pipeline operated in the United States. The settlement resolves Plains' Clean Water Act violations for ten crude oil spills in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and requires the company to pay a $3.25 million civil penalty.[259]
On August 17, smell from a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel were detected in Hammond, Indiana. The source was from a leaking Amoco/BP pipeline in the area, and, about 38,000 gallons of the mixture was released. about 5,000 gallons of the spillage was not recovered. The cause was from external corrosion to the pipeline.[210][260]
On August 25, a construction crew installing a gas pipeline in Roberts County, Texas hit an unmarked pipeline, seriously burning one man.[261]
On August 24, a gas compressor station in Shongaloo, Louisiana injured one worker.[262]
On August 27, a LPG pipeline sprang a leak in Gilboa, New York, forcing the evacuation of 23 people. The cause was stress corrosion cracking. There were no injuries or ignition.[263][264][265]
On September 9, 2010 a high pressure gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, California, a suburb of San Francisco. The blast destroyed 38 houses and damaged 120 houses. Eight people died and many were injured. Ten acres of brush also burned. Later, PG&E was unable to supply the California Public Utilities Commission with documents on how PG&E established pressure limits on some of its gas transmission pipelines. It was also revealed that this pipeline had 26 leaks between Milpitas and San Francisco during the time of 1951 to 2009, with some of the leak causes listed in records as "unknown". Later hydrostatic testing of the same pipeline that failed found a pinhole leak, and a previously damaged section blew out.[266][267][268][269][270]
On September 9, a 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission Company pipeline failed in Lawrence County, Kentucky. While there was no fire or evacuations, the condition of this uncoated, non-cathodic protected, unknown grade pipeline caused PHMSA to enter into a Consent Order to eventually replace this pipeline.[271]
On September 28, a repair crew was working on a corroded gas pipe in Cairo, Georgia, when the line exploded. One crew member was killed, and three others burned.[272]
On October 15, a gas pipeline under construction in Grand Prairie, Texas was running a cleaning pig without a pig "trap" at the end of the pipe. The 150 pound pig was expelled from the pipeline with enough force to fly 500 feet (150 m), and crash through the side of a house. No one was injured.[273]
On November 12, three men working on natural gas lines were injured when a pipeline ruptured in Monroe, Louisiana.[274]
On November 30, a Tennessee Gas Pipeline 30-inch gas pipeline failed at Natchitoches, Louisiana. There was no fire, but the pipeline had a Magnetic Flux smart pig test earlier in the year that indicated no flaws in the pipeline. The failure was at a crack in a wrinkle bend. The deadly 1965 gas pipeline accident had occurred on a different pipeline owned by the same company nearby.[275]
On December 1, a valve on a crude oil pipeline leaked about 500 barrels (79 m3) of crude in Salt Lake City, Utah. This failure was only 100 yards from a June 2010 failure on the same pipeline.[276]
On December 2, a pipeline was discovered leaking gasoline near Livingston, Illinois.[277]
On December 8, at East Bernard, Texas, a 24” diameter Tennessee Gas Pipeline exploded, blasting a 12-foot section of ruptured pipe 295 feet and caused $715,000 in property damage. It took 6 hours for the pipe system to blow down. The cause of the leak was a full guillotine failure of the pipe caused by internal corrosion micro-biologically induced due to moisture in the pipe.[278]
On December 17, a gas line fire and explosion just outside Corpus Christi, Texas city limits leaves one person critically injured. A man was working on removing an abandoned pipeline when it exploded, and the man's face was severely burned.[279]
On December 21, a crude oil pipeline was discovered leaking into the Dominguez Channel in the Port of Los Angeles. Over 1,000 gallons of crude oil was recovered, but the pipeline company was alleged to have failed to report the spill to State or Federal pipeline authorities. A 61 count criminal complaint was later filed in this accident.[280]
On December 28, a pipeline at an underground gas storage facility in Covington County, Mississippi, forcing the evacuation of about two-dozen families for over a week.[281]
2011
On January 11, personnel from Millennium Pipeline noticed that a gas transmission pipeline was leaking in Tioga County, New York. This 30-inch diameter pipeline was built in 2008. A pinhole in a rejected girth weld was found to be the cause of the failure. It appears that during the course of the construction project for the line, the subject pipe section was inadvertently picked up and subsequently installed in the pipeline. PHMSA ordered testing of this pipeline for similar flaws.[282][283]
A 12-inch cast iron gas main leaking in Philadelphia explodes, killing a repair crew member and injuring six others on January 18.[284][285]
Multiple gas pressure regulators failed, and caused a gas pressure surge in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, on January 24, causing gas fires in 11 houses, and one apartment. 150 gas appliances were damaged or destroyed, but there were no injuries. Gas company Dominion East Ohio says it found fluids and debris in a failed regulator. A year after the explosion, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio recommended a $500,000 fine for Dominion.[286][287][288][289]
Five people were killed, and eight houses were destroyed, in a gas explosion and fire in Allentown, Pennsylvania on February 9. The NTSB had warned UGI about cast iron gas mains needing replacement after the 1990 gas explosion in that city. Between 1976 and the date of the letter, July 10, 1992, two more gas explosions occurred. Three people were killed, 23 injured and 11 houses were destroyed or damaged in those explosions. UGI was cited in 2012 for several safety violations, including a lack of valves on their gas system.[290][291][292][293]
Late on February 10, a Tennessee Gas Pipeline 36-inch gas transmission pipeline exploded and burned near Lisbon, Ohio. No injuries resulted. The cause was from stress on a girth weld on the pipeline. A failure on another girth weld on the pipeline system led to a PHMSA Consent Agreement.[294][295][296]
Early on February 24, a pipeline near Texas City, Texas ruptured, sending up to 5,000 US gallons (19,000 L) of gasoline into Bayou Pierre.[297][298]
On March 1, a Tennessee Gas Pipeline gas transmission pipeline failed near Cumberland, Ohio. A material or weld defect was the cause.[299][300]
Early on March 17, a 20-inch steel CenterPoint Energy natural gas line running through a Minneapolis, Minnesota neighborhood ruptured, and gas from it ignited, caused evacuations to buildings nearby, and Interstate 35W was closed from downtown Minneapolis to Highway 62. There were no injuries. The Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety later found the pipe there was not designed to handle the load of soil and passing cars, and efforts to shore up the pipeline were incorrectly carried out.[301][302][303]
A farmer and rancher near White Oak Township, Michigan smelled gasoline on April 13, and discovered gasoline from a products pipeline leaking into a drainage ditch. As of late September, an estimated 460,000 gallons of gasoline had been released, with about 111,000 gallons of it recovered.[304]
On May 7, a threaded connection failed on a Keystone Pipeline pump at a station in Sargent County, North Dakota, spilling about 400 barrels of crude oil. Due to a number of other leaks on this pipeline system, Keystone's owner, TransCanada Corporation, was given a Corrective Action Order by PHMSA.[305]
An 8-inch NGL pipeline failed in Romeoville, Illinois on May 14, leaking about 4200 gallons of butane. Corrosion inside a casing under a road was the cause of the failure. Corrosion only 2.5 feet from the failure had been seen by a smart pig run in 2007, but was not within action limits at the time.[306]
On May 19, a 10-inch crude oil pipeline ruptured near Maysville, Oklahoma. Over 42,000 US gallons (160,000 L) of crude were lost. There was no fire. Internal pipeline corrosion was the cause.[307][308]
A 2-inch lateral on a crude oil pipeline rupture in Huntington Beach, California on July 1. A major road, Goldenwest Street, had to be closed for cleaning and pipeline repairs.[309]
Late on July 1, a 12-inch Exxon Mobil crude oil pipeline. also known as the Silvertip Pipeline, ruptured, and spilled about 63,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River in south-central Montana. There was confusion in the pipeline control room, causing a delayed pipeline shutdown. Some residents of Laurel, Montana had to be evacuated.[310][311] The break near Billings fouled the riverbank and forced municipalities and irrigation districts to close intakes.[312][313] Exxon later increased the spill size estimate to 1500 barrels in January 2012 after seeing the damage to the pipeline.[314] About 140 people were evacuated starting about 12:15 a.m. Saturday due to concerns about possible explosions and the overpowering fumes. All were allowed to return after instruments showed petroleum odors had decreased,[315] although no information was available regarding the concentrations of benzene in air. Speculation involves high water flow in the Yellowstone River may have scoured the river bed and exposed the pipe. Consequently, with three oil refineries are located in the Billings area, the fire chief for the city of Laurel said he asked all three to turn off the flow of oil in their pipelines under the river after the leak was reported. Exxon Mobil and Cenex Harvest Refinery did so, and that Conoco Phillips said its pipe was already shutdown.[315] Cenex had a release into the Yellowstone River in September 2002. Exxon Mobil later announced the cleanup would cost $135 million. In 2015, Exxon Mobil was fined $1 million by PHMSA for this incident.[316][317][318][319]
On July 20, a six-month-old, 30-inch natural gas pipeline exploded near Gillette, Wyoming, creating a 60-foot (18 m) crater. There was no fire, nor any injuries. Construction or installation issues caused the failure.[320][321]
A pipeline carrying jet fuel ruptured in Mango, Florida on July 22. About 31,500 US gallons (119,000 L) of fuel spilled. There was no fire or injuries.[322]
On August 13, an 8-inch NGL pipeline ruptured near Onawa, Iowa at a Missouri River crossing, during flooding conditions. About 818 barrels of Natural Gasoline was lost. There were no evacuations or injuries, but two other pipelines in the same right of way were forced to shut down.[323][324][325][326]
On August 17, Kinder Morgan's Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America had a flash fire and explosion at a plant south of Herscher, Illinois. Five employees went to the hospital. Kinder Morgan was later cited for pipeline and workplace safety violations.[327][328]
A pipeline carrying heating oil was hit by construction workers in East Providence, Rhode Island on August 31, spraying oil on roofs, trees, and pavement, and flowed into storm drains. At least 56,000 US gallons (210,000 L) of oil were spilled.[329]
A Cupertino, California condominium was gutted August 31, after a plastic pipeline fitting cracked, filling the garage with natural gas that exploded just minutes after the owner left for lunch. PG&E later found six other plastic pipe failures near the blast site. The line was an especially problematic type of pipe manufactured by DuPont called Aldyl-A. PG&E has 1,231 miles (1,981 km) of the early-1970s-vintage pipe in its system. Federal regulators singled out pre-1973 Aldyl-A starting in 2002 as being at risk of failing because of premature cracking. Explosions caused by failed Aldyl-A and other types of plastic pipe have killed more than 50 people in the United States since 1971, the federal government says.[330]
A 10-inch LPG pipeline failed on September 8 in Mitchell County, Texas. The escaping gas ignited, starting a small brush fire. The cause of the failure was a crack in the weld of a repair sleeve from bending and heat hardening. There were no injuries.[331]
On September 20, a farmer digging to lay drainage tile hit a 10-inch gasoline pipeline near Aurelius, New York, spilling about 3,300 US gallons (12 m3) of gasoline. There was no fire or injuries.[332]
A 2-inch crude oil gathering pipeline failed in Oklahoma on October 12, spilling about 120 barrels of oil. There were no injuries or fire from the failure.[333]
Early on November 3, an explosion and fire hit a gas Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline compressor station at Artemas in Mann Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. There were no injuries. The cause was internal corrosion.[334][335]
On November 8, a contractor for Vectren Corp. working on a bare gas main replacement project broke a "short stub" on the main, then failed to notify New Albany, Indiana authorities about the leak. Gas migrated through the soil, and built up in a nearby house, then exploded. Five people had to be hospitalized.[336]
A crew working on a waterline hit a gas distribution pipeline in Fairborn, Ohio on November 12, leading to a gas explosion that killed one man, and injured five others, including children.[337]
On November 16, a Tennessee Gas Pipeline 36-inch gas transmission pipeline exploded and burned near Glouster, Ohio. Two people were injured, with three houses and a barn destroyed, and a barn damaged. The pipeline failed at a girth weld, with landsliding causing more stress on the weld.[338][339]
Late on November 21, a Tennessee Gas Pipeline 24-inch gas transmission pipeline exploded and burned near Batesville, Mississippi. Twenty houses were evacuated for a time, but there were no injuries or major property damage. The pipeline failed at a sleeve over a wrinkle bend installed in 1946.[340]
On December 3, a Williams Companies gas transmission pipeline exploded and burned in Marengo County, Alabama. A 47-foot section of the pipe was hurled more than 200 feet from the failure area. The gas burned for several hours, and a nearby pipeline was damaged. There were no injuries, or serious property damage. External corrosion was the cause of the failure, due to issues with the pipeline coating, the cathodic protection level, and the local soil corrosiveness.[341][342][343]
On December 6, explosions and fire erupted at a natural gas pipeline compressor station in Sublette County, Wyoming. Two workers were injured.[344]
On December 10, a landowner using a bulldozer hit an 8-inch and a 12-inch petroleum pipelines near Nemaha, Nebraska, rupturing both lines. The spill size was estimated to be 119,000 gallons of gasoline, jet fuel, and Diesel fuel. Some of the fuels flowed into a creek leading into Jasper Creek. There were questions about the depth of soil coverage for this pipeline.[345][346][347]
A 42-inch natural gas transmission pipeline failed and ignited at a valve on December 10 in Cache County, Utah.[348][349]
On December 27, controllers for Enterprise Pipeline received an alarm, for a leak on an LPG pipeline. The leak location was found in Loving County, Texas. Repair crew excavated the area, and found a full girth weld failure. During the pipeline repair, a flash fire involving residual pipeline product in the soil occurred, injuring 3 employees, one of whom required in-patient hospitalization. The rupture was attributed to the complete circumferential separation of an acetylene girth weld dating to 1928, and the flash fire was attributed to operator error.[350]
2012
A 30-inch gas pipeline exploded and burned, in Estill County, Kentucky, on the evening of January 2. The rupture created a crater approximately 86 feet long by 22 feet wide, and expelled a number of pieces of pipe as far as 800 feet from the rupture center. Flames were reported reaching over 1,000 feet high. Residents up to a mile away from the failure were evacuated. There were no injuries. The cause was overstress from land movement.[351][352]
A forest fire caused a gas pipeline to explode and burn in Floyd County, Kentucky on January 7. There were no injuries from this incident.[353]
On January 9, a man was killed, and another person injured, in a fiery house explosion from a leaking 4-inch cast iron gas main installed in 1950 in Austin, Texas. Gas had been smelled in the area for several weeks prior to this. Gas company crews had looked along the affected property for a leak, but were unable to find it.[285][354]
A Sunoco pipeline ruptured and spilled about 117,000 gallons of gasoline, in Wellington, Ohio, late on January 12. Some residents were evacuated for a week.[355][356]
On January 13, an 8-inch gas pipeline exploded and burned, in a vacant agricultural field, in Rio Vista, California. There were no injuries or evacuations.[357]
A Tennessee Gas Pipeline gas compressor had a major leak "that sounded like a rocket" in Powell County, Kentucky, forcing evacuations of nearby residents on January 14. There was no fire or injuries reported.[358]
A contractor excavating for a communications company caused a massive gas explosion and fire at a condominium complex on January 16 in West Haverstraw, New York, injuring two firefighters and two utility workers. Afterwards, it was found that the excavator's insurance will be insufficient to cover all of the property damage of the incident.[359]
On January 18, the original Colonial Pipeline mainline failed in Belton, South Carolina, spilling about 13,500 gallons of petroleum product. The failure was caused by internal corrosion.[360]
Workers in Topeka, Kansas were installing a yard sprinkler system on January 30, hit a gas line. Gas from the leak later on exploded in a nearby house, burning a 73-year-old woman, who died several weeks later.[361][362]
On January 31, a Shell Oil Company fuel pipeline to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mitchell International Airport was found to be leaking. Jet fuel had been smelled for about two weeks in the area, and was found in runoff water in the area. The cause was from external corrosion. About 9,000 gallons of fuel were spilled. In 2014, a Shell employee was scheduled to plead guilty to charges of falsifying records of the pipeline.[363][364]
A Florida Gas Transmission Company 30-inch gas transmission pipeline burst near Baton Rouge, Louisiana on February 13. Residents in the area were evacuated for a time, but there was no fire.[365][366]
On February 15, 2012, in Arenac County, Michigan, oil was discovered in the soil around a 30-inch Enbridge crude oil pipeline. About 800 gallons of crude oil was spilled.[367]
Two cars that were drag racing went off the road they were on, and crash through a fence and into a crude oil pipeline in New Lenox, Illinois on March 3. The pipeline was ruptured, and the crude oil ignited. Two men from the vehicles were killed, and three others seriously burned.[368][369]
On March 5, a leak at an Enid, Oklahoma pipeline storage facility spread propane fumes in the area, forcing evacuations. There was no fire or explosion.[370]
A crude oil pipeline leaked near Grand Isle, Louisiana on March 17, spilling as much as 8,400 gallons of crude oil. There were no injuries reported.[371]
On March 29, an employee accidentally left a valve open during maintenance work on a Williams Companies gas compressor station near Springville Township, Pennsylvania. Later, gas leaked through the valve, causing alarms to evacuate workers in the compressor building. Later, the gas exploded and burned. There were no injuries. It was also found there are no agencies enforcing rules on rural gas facilities in that state.[372][373]
On April 2, Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, reported a leak on their 72nd Street Interstate Transmission Lateral located in North Bergen, New Jersey. Workers discovered a rock in contact with the bottom of the pipe. Upon removing the rock, the pipeline began to leak. There was no fire or injuries reported as a result of this incident.[374]
A 12-inch gas pipeline exploded and burned for five hours near Gary, Texas on April 4. There were no injuries, but the rupture site was only 200 feet from that pipeline's compressor station.[375]
On April 6, two gas company workers were mildly burned when attempting to fix a leak on a 4-inch gas pipeline in DeSoto County, Mississippi. The pipeline exploded and burned during the repairs.[376]
A gas pipeline exploded and burned in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, on April 9. The accident was reported first by a satellite monitoring the area to the NRC. There were no injuries.[377]
Two men escaped with only minor burns after a bulldozer they were using hit a 24-inch gas pipeline near Hinton, Iowa on April 25. Authorities later announced the men did not call 811 for an underground utility locate.[378]
On April 28, an ExxonMobil 20/22-inch-diameter pipeline ruptured near Torbert in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, about 20 miles west of Baton Rouge, and crude oil spilled into the surrounding area, and flowed into an unnamed tributary connected to Bayou Cholpe. About 117,000 gallons of crude were spilled, with about 37,000 gallons being lost. The pipeline failed due to a manufacturing defect.[379][380][381]
A 26-inch gas transmission pipeline ruptured on June 6 in a compressor station near Laketon in northeastern Gray County, Texas. Gas escaped from the 50-foot-long rupture, igniting, leaving a crater 30 feet in diameter, burning two acres of agricultural area and telephone poles. There were no injuries.[382]
On June 8, near Canadian, Texas, a trackhoe operator suffered burns, after a fire from leaking 4-inch gas-gathering pipeline that was undergoing maintenance. Fumes entered the engine of the trackhoe and ignited.[383]
A contractor was killed and two others injured after an explosion at a BP gas compressor station in Durango, Colorado on June 25. BP, Halliburton, and the other contractors were fined $7,000 each for safety violations in that work.[384][385]
A West Shore Pipe Line petroleum products pipeline burst near Jackson, Wisconsin on July 17, releasing about 54,000 gallons of gasoline. At least one family self evacuated due to the leak. At least 44 water wells nearby were contaminated from benzine in the gasoline, including a municipal well. A LF-ERW seam failure was suspected as the cause. Further testing revealed that at least 26 other areas on this pipeline needed repairs, with 22 within the Jackson Marsh Wildlife Area.[386][387][388][389]
A 14-inch gas gathering pipeline exploded and burned on July 18 near Intracoastal City, Louisiana. There were no injuries or major property damage reported.[390]
On July 23, a compressor station operated by Williams Companies in Windsor, New York was venting gas in a "routine procedure" — during a lightning storm — when the vent was ignited by lightning, causing a fireball "hundreds of feet into the air"[391][392]
An Enbridge crude oil pipeline ruptured in Grand Marsh, Wisconsin, releasing an estimated 1,200 barrels of crude oil. The pipeline had been installed in 1998. Flaws in the longitudinal welds had been seen during X-ray checks of girth welds.[162][393]
Four contract workers were injured during a flash fire at a Wyoming gas processing plant on August 22.[394]
A jet fuel pipeline near Chicago began leaking on August 27. The burst pipeline spilled an estimated 42,000 gallons of jet fuel into a ditch that empties into the Calumet Sag Channel in Palos Heights, Illinois. External corrosion was the cause of the pipeline failure.[395][396][397]
On August 28, a Atmos Energy repair crew struck an 8-inch gas main in McKinney, Texas, causing a fire. Four Atmos workers were treated for injuries. 1,000 Atmos gas customers lost gas service for a time.[398][399]
On September 6, a 10-inch gas gathering pipeline exploded and burned near Alice, Texas. Flames reached 100 feet high, and caused a 10-acre brush fire. There were no injuries.[400]
An explosion and fire hit a Crestwood Midstream Partners gas compressor station in Hood County, Texas on September 6. Heavy damage to a sheet metal building resulted, but, there were no injuries reported to crew there.[401]
A Colorado Interstate Gas gas compressor in Rio Blanco County, Colorado caught fire on September 11. There were no reported injuries.[402][403]
On September 24, an excavator struck a 4-inch natural gas line on Route 416 in Montgomery, New York. Escaping gas ignited, and it took 90 minutes before the gas was shut off. There were no injuries.[404]
On October 3, a Colonial Pipeline stubline leaked gasoline into in a marshy area of Moccasin Bend, about 1,000 feet from the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. About 3,600 gallons of gasoline were spilled, with about 1000 gallons being lost. The cause was from previous excavation damage.[405][406]
The operator of an excavator machine narrowly escaped serious injury in Lewiston, Idaho on November 19, when his machine hit a gas pipeline during road work. The resulting fire destroyed a railroad signal, along with several telephone poles, and road construction equipment. The depth of the pipeline has been misjudged at that location.[407][408]
On November 20, about 38,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from an Enbridge pipeline at a tank farm in Mokena, Illinois.[409]
Two men were injured in an explosion and fire at a natural gas production facility east of Price, Utah on November 20.[410]
On November 23, a gas company worker looking for the source of a reported gas leak in a Springfield, Massachusetts strip club pierce a gas line. The gas later exploded, injuring 21, devastating the strip club, and damaging numerous nearby buildings.[411]
On November 30, a heavy equipment operator punctured a 12-inch gas transmission pipeline, near the city of Madera, California. The adjacent highway, along with several rural roads, was shut down for hours, while houses and businesses in the area were evacuated.[412]
A malfunction in a gas compressor caused a fire on December 4, north of Fort Worth, Texas. There were no injuries.[413]
On December 5, a 16-inch gas pipeline at 500 psi of pressure exploded and burned near a natural gas plant in Goldsmith, Texas. A fireball 250 feet high was created after the explosion, destroying 12 to 15 utility poles, and caliche and rocks the size of bowling balls damaged a road. There were no injuries reported.[414]
On December 11, at approximately 12:40pm, a 20-inch gas pipeline owned by NiSource Inc., parent of Columbia Gas, exploded along I-77 between Sissonville and Pocatalico, West Virginia. Several people suffered minor injuries, four houses were destroyed, and other buildings were damaged. Early reports announced the NTSB was investigating as to why alarms in the control room for this pipeline did not sound for this failure.[415][416][417][418]
On December 26, a 20-inch Florida Gas Transmission Company pipeline ruptured near Melbourne, Florida, ejecting a 20-foot section of the pipeline. There was no fire or injuries.[419]
2013
On January 1, a Colonial Pipeline line was overpressured by improper operation, causing a spill of about 5,500 gallons of petroleum product in Greensboro, North Carolina. About 1,000 gallons of product was not recovered.[205]
On January 15, a utility crew struck and ruptured a 4-inch gas pipeline in Lewisville, Texas, causing a nearby house to explode later on. The explosion killed a man.[420]
An independent contractor installing fiber-optic cable for a cable company in Kansas City, Missouri inadvertently struck an underground gas line on February 19. Gas later caught fire, and created an explosion that destroyed a popular local restaurant, killing one of the workers there, and injuring about 15 others near the scene.[421][422]
A tug towing a barge struck and ruptured a Chevron LPG pipeline at Bayou Perot, a marshy area on the borders of Jefferson Parish and Lafourche Parish, Louisiana on March 12. The tug Captain was severely burned when the escaping gas ignited, and died several weeks later from those injuries.[423][424]
On March 8, pipeline equipment failure resulted in a spill of 6,000 barrels of crude oil, in eastern Columbia County, Arkansas.[425]
On March 18, a Chevron 8-inch petroleum products pipeline ruptured along a seam, spilling Diesel fuel into Willard Bay State Park near Ogden, Utah. Wildlife was coated with Diesel, but, the fuel was prevented from entering into water supply intakes. About 25,000 gallons of Diesel were spilled.[426][427]
A Williams Companies 24-inch gas gathering pipeline failed in Marshall County, West Virginia on March 22. There were no injuries.[428]
The 2013 Mayflower oil spill occurred when ExxonMobil's 20-inch Pegasus crude oil pipeline spilled near Mayflower, Arkansas on March 29, causing crude to flow through yards and gutters, and towards Lake Conway. Wildlife was coated in some places. Twenty-two houses were evacuated, due to the fumes and fire hazard. Some estimates say the total amount spilled could reach upwards of 300,000 gallons of diluted bitumen were spilled. Hook cracks and extremely low impact toughness in the LF-ERW seam of the pipe were identified as causes of the failure.[429][430][431][432]
On April 4, an explosion and fire occurred at a gas compressor station near Guthrie, Oklahoma. Nearby houses were evacuated. There were no injuries reported.[433]
A flash fire at a pipeline gas compressor station broke out when natural gas liquids ignited in Tyler County, West Virginia on April 11, seriously burning three workers, two of whom later died. The workers were performing pipeline pigging operations.[434][435]
On April 30, the Pegasus oil pipeline spilled a small amount of crude into a residential yard in Ripley County, Missouri, a month after the same pipe spewed thousands of barrels of crude in Arkansas. The Pegasus pipeline was out of service from the Mayflower, Arkansas spill, accounting for the minimal amount of oil spilled in Missouri.[436]
On May 9, Diesel fuel was detected to be leaking from a Marathon pipeline in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over 20,000 gallons of Diesel leaked, at a slow rate that was not detected by SCADA systems. Cleanup cause a nearby major road to be shut down for five days. There were no injuries reported.[437]
Late night on May 14, an explosion and fire hit a Williams Companies gas compressor station near Brooklyn Township, Pennsylvania. There were no reported injuries.[438]
On May 8, the Kinder Morgan Tejas pipeline compressor station near Crockett, Texas, required an emergency shutdown and subsequently had a fire that caused $7,502,188 in property damage.[439][440]
On May 30, two construction workers were injured, when a fire erupted during welding at a Williams Companies natural gas facility in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.[441]
A 12-inch gas transmission pipeline failed near Torrington, Wyoming on June 13. LF-ERW seam failure was suspected as cause. There was no fire or injuries.[442]
On June 18, in Washington Parish, Louisiana, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company 30" diameter pipeline ruptured and exploded before dawn, jolting residents out of their beds. No one was seriously hurt but 55 homes were evacuated. The blast knocked down trees in an area about 200 yards across and the fire burned those within another 300 yards. "The ground around the crater is completely bare. The dirt around it is just like it had been cooked in a kiln," and an 80-foot section of pipe was destroyed.[443]
On July 4, a fire involved a gas compressor and a nearby ruptured 2-inch gas pipeline in Gilmore Township, Pennsylvania. There were no injuries.[444]
An 8-inch natural gas pipeline released gas from a rupture at 1,400 psi, for 90 minutes in New Franklin, Ohio on July 22, forcing 75 people to evacuate the area. Afterward, the local Fire Chief said that pipeline owners refused to give information to first responders in previous requests.[445]
Early on July 23, a downed 13,000 volt power line sparked a massive gas fire in Mamaroneck, New York when a gas main was damaged by the electricity. Three automobiles were destroyed, and houses were threatened for a time.[446]
On July 26, a leaking BP 20-inch crude oil pipeline spilled 50 to 100 barrels of crude oil in Washington County, Oklahoma. Some of the crude spilled into a drainage ditch leading to a water reservoir.[447]
On the evening of August 12, a 10-inch NGL pipeline exploded and caused a massive propane-ethane mix fire in Erie, Illinois. A number of nearby residents were evacuated for a while, but, there were no injuries. About 772,000 gallons of mix were burned or lost. The cause was from a manufacturing defect.[448][449]
A leak developed on a valve on Longhorn Pipeline in Austin, Texas during maintenance on August 14, spilling about 300 gallons of crude oil. There were no evacuations.[450]
Atmos Energy crews dug into a 4-inch gas pipeline in Overland Park, Kansas on September 2, causing an explosion and fire. There was no major damage or injuries.[451]
A 10-inch gas gathering pipeline ruptured and burned in Newton County, Texas on September 21. About a dozen people from nearby houses were evacuated for a time. There were no injuries.[452]
On September 24, a Denton TX city water utility worker ruptured a 1/2-inch gas pipeline in Denton, Texas, which immediately caused a fire that gave the worker minor burns. There was no other significant damage.[453]
A farmer near Tioga, North Dakota smelled oil for several days, before discovering a leaking 6-inch 20-year-old Tesoro pipeline under his wheat field, on September 29. Crews tried to burn off the oil at first. The spill size was estimated at 865,000 gallons, and covered over seven acres. There were no injuries. Corrosion was suspected as being the cause. Governor Jack Dalrymple said he wasn't told of the spill until October 9. In May 2014, it was announced that it would 2 1/2 more years before the spilled crude would be cleaned up.[454][455]
On October 7, a gas pipeline burst in Howard County, Texas. There was no fire, but, dangerous hydrogen sulfide in the gas forced evacuations of nearby residents. There were no injuries.[456]
On October 7, authorities were notified of a Lion Oil Trading and Transportation crude oil pipeline leak in Columbia County, Arkansas. It was estimated that the leak started on September 21. Oil spread into a Horsehead Creek tributary.[457]
A 30-inch Northern Natural Gas pipeline exploded and burned in Harper County, Oklahoma on October 8. 220 feet of the pipe was ejected from the ground. Flames were seen for a number of miles, and four houses nearby were evacuated. Oklahoma Highway 283 was closed for several hours until the fire was determined to be under control and safe. There were no injuries.[458][459][460]
On October 29, a Koch Industries 8-inch pipeline spill about 400 barrels of crude oil near Smithville, Texas. The oil polluted a private stock pond and two overflow reservoirs.[461]
A Chevron operated 10-inch LPG pipeline was ruptured by contractors for the company installing a Cathodic protection system, near Milford, Texas, on November 14, causing a large fire, and forcing the evacuation of Milford and 200 students of a nearby school. A nearby 14-inch pipeline was threatened by the failure, but did not fail. There were no injuries reported. About 183,000 gallons of propane burned.[462][463][464][465]
An ExxonMobil gas plant exploded and burned on November 17, near Kingsville, Texas. The plant burned for over a day, but there were no reported injuries.[466]
On November 18, a gas pipeline burst near Ranger, Texas, causing a fire in a field, with flames reaching 100 feet high. Some houses nearby were evacuated for a time. The owner of the pipeline, Hanlon Gas, had been installing a new compressor station, and they believe a malfunction led to the rupture and fire. There were no injuries reported.[467]
On November 28 a 30-inch Panhandle Eastern natural gas pipeline exploded in Hughesville, Missouri causing several nearby buildings to catch fire. There was a local evacuation but no injuries. Metallurgical examination determined the root cause of the failure to be corrosion.[170][468]
On December 9, a 2-inch pipe on a propane dehydrator failed at the Dixie Pipeline Terminal in Apex, North Carolina, forcing evacuations and sheltering in place at nearby businesses. There was no fire or explosion.[469]
A Sunoco pipeline was found leaking gasoline on December 20, near Coal Township, Pennsylvania, from external corrosion. The initial spill size was reported as two gallons, but, later on, 480 tons of soil were removed as part of the remediation of that leak.[470][471][472]
On December 27, two natural gas company workers had minor burns when the pipeline they were working leaked, and the escaping gas exploded and ignited in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Flames 30 feet high knocked out phone service in the area.[473]
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wie ich immer sage...über allem steht die habgier.