300-foot fireball near Hughesville, MO, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 2013-11-29

A 30-inch pipeline explosion was visible 30 miles away. The 36-inch Sabal Trail pipeline would carry 44% more fracked methane than that Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company Line 400, and could be even more destructive. “The most intense, scared feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” said one witness.

Troy Diggs and Michelle Pekarsky reported for fox4kc.com 29 November 2013, Pipeline explosion sends fireball 300 feet into air,

HOUSTONIA, Mo. — An overnight explosion at the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company near Hughesville, Mo., in Pettis County lit up the sky for miles early Friday morning. Fox 4 viewers from more than 30 miles away reported seeing the fireball in the sky.

A spokesperson from Panhandle Eastern says a 30-inch pipeline ruptured just before midnight, causing the explosion. Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. is about 90 miles from Kansas City.

No injuries were reported. Three homes were evacuated, but by mid-morning on Friday, the residents had been allowed back in.

“The gas has been rerouted from this area so there will be no impact to customer deliveries. The company and the appropriate regulatory agencies will conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident,” wrote Vicki Granado, spokesperson for Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co.

Investigators are still working to determine was caused the explosion.

It’s the area inside the pipeline that matters, so the square of the diameter: 30 * 30 = 900; 36 * 36 = 1296; 1296/900 = 1.44. And if the proposed pipeline is higher pressure, it would carry even more explosive gas.

-jsq

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