Tag Archives: National Transportation Safety Board

We were told to shut up or quit –Spectra Energy whistleblowers

Even Spectra workers sometimes develop a conscience. These whistleblowers are not the first, and thirty years of Spectra’s sordid safety record agrees with them. Tonight you can help stop Spectra from drilling under the Suwannee River in Florida, and that will help stop Spectra in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

Steve Ahlquist, RI Future.org, 30 November 2015, Former inspectors allege safety issues with Spectra pipeline project,

Two safety inspectors who worked on Spectra Energy’s proposed methane gas pipeline that will cut through Burrillville, RI, say the company cut corners when it came to project, worker and environmental safety.

“Right now, what they’re hoping to do, is they’re hoping to slam all this through, and then at the end ask for forgiveness,” said one of the former inspectors. “Oops, sorry about that, I didn’t know, let me write you a check. Because once this thing’s turning meter, they’re going to be making millions of dollars a day. It doesn’t matter what your problems are…”

The other added, “We were told to shut the fuck up or quit.”

Both men, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, were subcontracted by Spectra and both were Continue reading We were told to shut up or quit –Spectra Energy whistleblowers

Williams explosion and fire, Opal, WY 2014-04-23

Fourth major incident this year for Williams, this time in Wyoming. Yet again locals and their local and state governments were left to pick up the tab, and the cause is still “under investigation”.

Ryan Parker wrote for the Denver Post 23 April 2014, Wyoming town evacuated after gas plant explosion,

There was an explosion followed by a fire Wednesday afternoon at the Williams Gas Plant near Opal, Wyo..

The entire town of Opal was evacuated Continue reading Williams explosion and fire, Opal, WY 2014-04-23

Thirty years after Spectra’s Beaumont, KY explosion little has changed

Spectra is related to this from 13 February 2014 MASSIVE BLAST in KY-60 foot crater-3 houses two barns destroyed, 30 foot section of 30″ pipe thrown 300 feet. It was partly about Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern pipeline, almost 30 years and about 30 miles from a very similar Texas Eastern explosion in 1985.

Mark Boxley, wrote for The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal 13 February 2014, Ky. gas line explosion injures 2; homes evacuated,

Two homes were destroyed, 20 residences were evacuated and two people received non-life threatening injuries early Thursday in Adair County after a natural gas transportation line exploded, leaving a 60-foot crater near Highway 76 in Knifley.

The first call came in at about 2:04 a.m. EST when residents heard and felt rumbling under their feet, said Adair County Emergency Management Agency director Greg Thomas. Then came the explosion and a ball of fire, he said.

Continue reading Thirty years after Spectra’s Beaumont, KY explosion little has changed

700×500 feet incinerated, 5 dead, 3 burned: Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline 1985

Plus numerous houses and cars destroyed, all in one methane pipeline explosion in Beaumont, Kentucky in 1985. The same company, today known as Spectra Energy, had another explosion near Lancaster, Kentucky in 1986 that injured three people, two seriously, evacuated 77, and destroyed more buildings and cars, plus ripping 480 feet of pipe out of the ground.

Stu Beitler posted on GenDisasters 30 June 2010, Beaumont, KY Gas Line Explosion, Apr 1985,

GAS LINE EXPLOSION RIPS KENTUCKY TOWN.

Beaumont, Ky. (AP) — A natural gas line explosion killed at least five people, gouged a 20 foot deep crater and flattened six buildings in a tiny community, igniting fires that were visible 20 miles away, authorities said. At least three other people were seriously injured in the weekend blast that ripped up a section of Kentucky’s Route 90 and devastated a mile-square area, according to authorities.

Dick Brown, a spokesman for the state Department of Disaster and Emergency Services, said two houses, three mobile homes and a sawmill were destroyed in Marrowbone Hill, a settlement about a mile east of Beaumont, whose population is 60. The blast site is 90 miles south of Louisville.

A crater 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep was left by the blast, which occurred about 9:30 p.m., Brown said.

Fires sparked by the explosion could be seen 20 miles away, officials said.

“It was described to me as resembling where a bomb went off,” said Bob Walter, a disaster and emergency services worker. “If you’ve ever been to Vietnam, that’s exactly what it looked like.” Three bodies were found early Sunday, and two more were discovered later in a destroyed house near the scene, officials said.

There’s more in that article.

Here’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Pipeline Accident Report Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline Company Ruptures and Fires at Beaumont, Kentucky on April 27, 1985 and Lancaster, Kentucky on February 21, 1986, NTSB/PAR-87/01, Continue reading 700×500 feet incinerated, 5 dead, 3 burned: Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline 1985

Spectra’s Durham Woods apartment fire, Edison, NJ, 1994

Children running naked into the flaming night of a Spectra pipeline fireball, thousands evacuated, hundreds made homeless, some burnt or “felled by smoke”, one woman literally scared to death, all caused by corrosion in a dent Spectra knew about years before, and NTSB says it’s up to local governments to make pipeline companies prevent it happening again.

Robert D. McFadden wrote for NYTimes 25 March 1994, EXPLOSION IN EDISON: The Overview; New Jersey Pipeline Explosion Sets Off Panic, Chaos and Fear,

A natural gas pipeline explosion that awestruck witnesses compared to a blinding, scorching nuclear blast turned a neighborhood in the central New Jersey town of Edison early yesterday into a war zone of flames, panic and chaos.


Local resident jseaton uploaded to YouTube 15 May 2006, Edison Natural Gas Explosion – Durham Woods: “This is my video footage of the gas pipeline explosion in Edison NJ (March 1994). This was taken while trying to evacuate the Durham Woods apartment complex”

Back to the NYTimes story:

Scores of residents were hurt, one death was reported and Continue reading Spectra’s Durham Woods apartment fire, Edison, NJ, 1994