Tag Archives: Marengo County

Williams Transco explosion in Appomattox Virginia 2008-11-14

Alabama, Appomattox County, Corrosion, Explosion, Marengo County, PHMSA, Virginia, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Almost $1 million PHMSA fine to Williams Transco for safety regulation violations that let corrosion continue until a pipeline exploded near Appomattox, Virginia in 2008, taking out two homes and injuring five people, with local and state governments footing the bill as usual for the pipeline company failure. Yet Transco let much the same thing happen again in 2011 in Marengo County, Virginia, after which even PHMSA said “Transco has a history of cathodic protection [corrosion] concerns on other segments.”

The Lynchburg News & Advance wrote 11 August 2009, Company fined in Appomattox pipeline explosion, Continue reading Williams Transco explosion in Appomattox Virginia 2008-11-14 →

Alabama Sierra Club against the Sabal Trail methane pipeline

Alabama, FERC, Fracking, Hazards, Marengo County, Safety, Trees, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Robert W. Hastings, Alabama Sierra Club contact for the joint Alabama, Georgia, and Florida Sierra Club statement against the pipeline, and author of a FERC ecomment against the pipeline, was elected Chairman of the Alabama Chapter 9 March 2014.

He wrote in the April Alabama Sierran about the Sabal Trail pipeline,

Seems like everyone wants to build a pipeline these days. I’m sure almost everyone has heard about the Keystone XL pipeline, and our Mobile Group has done a good job of publicizing their opposition to the oil pipeline to be constructed through a major water supply area for the city of Mobile. But there are several other pipelines being proposed for Alabama. One of these is the so-called Sabal Trail Pipeline that would carry natural gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing from Pennsylvania and Texas through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The new pipeline would begin in Alexander City, where it Continue reading Alabama Sierra Club against the Sabal Trail methane pipeline →

A 36-inch pipeline blews up in Alabama

Alabama, Appomattox County, Environment, Explosion, Florida, Hazards, Marengo County, New Jersey, Safety, Trees, Virginia, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The pipeline Sabal Trail wants to connect to, Williams Transco in Alabama, blew up in 2011, flaming a hundred feet up, heard more than 30 miles away, left a crater more than 50 feet wide, destroyed 65 acres of trees, fried five acres of soil into pottery, and launched a 43-foot pipe section as a missile that landed 190 feet away. The cause was never announced. There was no construction going on, so could it be corrosion? Do we want another pipeline like that?

TXsharon wrote for Bluedaze drilling reform 2 January 2012, Pictures: Acres of devastation from Williams gas pipeline explosion in Alabama

Williams did some pigging just before this pipeline rupture but they didn’t receive the pigging results until after the explosion. The word from the locals in Alabama is that Williams is now frantically digging up parts of this same pipeline in several different locations which could indicate the problem is not isolated.Williams does not have a good track record of pipeline safety.

Jason Cannon wrote for Demopolis Times 3 December 2011, No cause known in explosion,

A Transco natural gas pipeline ruptured at approximately 3:07 p.m. Saturday with an explosion that could be heard for more than 30 miles while shooting flames nearly 100 feet in the air for over an hour….

Continue reading A 36-inch pipeline blews up in Alabama →