Tag Archives: PHMSA

State pipeline safety regulations –NARUC

Did you know New York does not allow pipeline operators to downgrade any leaks while the federal government does not grade leaks at all? Washington state requires responses within 15 minutes for detection thresholds of 8% leak for full flow and no flow conditions applicable to hazardous liquid operators, while the federal government has only begun early discussions of this? That Kansas requires quality assurance inspection of all outside contractors, while federal regulations require only periodic workshops on quality assurance? Idaho requires NFPA 54 compliance before an operator is permitted to distribute gas, while the federal government does not? Illinois requires a full training program for operators, not just the minimum Operator Qualifications required by the federal government? All this and more from a recent report.

PR from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 23 September 2013, Updated Compendium Details State Actions on Pipeline Safety, Continue reading State pipeline safety regulations –NARUC

Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard

Mike Benard sent this today to Spectra’s Andrea Grover, copied to a long list of news media and local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials and employees. For local background, see Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq

Ms. Grover:

Those of us property owners who are already Spectra Energy “stakeholders” (the company’s term), want Spectra Energy to be the best it can be, consistent with its publicly stated commitment to Stakeholder Engagement, Integrity, Transparency, and Accountability.  

Reference link:  http://www.spectraenergy.com/Sustainability/Economic/Acting-with-Integrity/

To that end, and regarding your activities as a “Director of Stakeholder Outreach” on behalf of Spectra Energy’s proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, property owners in Georgia report that you are asserting the following at public meetings:

•  You assert that property owners at Spectra Energy’s Steckman Ridge compressor facility in Bedford County, PA are “happy” despite ongoing problems there and a consistent lack of response from Spectra Energy to its “stakeholders.”  

FACT:  I speak for more than a dozen families who live next to or near the problematic compressor facility; and your statement is incorrect and misleading.  What facts do you have to support such a disingenuous allegation?  A ring of health, water and operational complaints surround this facility that began operations in 2009.  Based on unofficial record keeping by neighbors, there have been nearly 60 shutdowns, blowdowns and related incidents at the Steckman Ridge compressor station and underground natural gas storage facility between August 2009 and the present.  And there is much more, as you know.

You assert that uncontrolled releases of methane and other hydrocarbons that happen too frequently at the Steckman Ridge compressor facility are “normal.”  Let’s hope not.  Your assertion is uninformed and misleading.  

FACT:  Recall the March 9-10 incident Continue reading Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard

Only 50 feet? Sabal Trail in Alexander City, AL

How is that “additional 50 feet of construction lane” temporary after you’ve torn down all the trees, Sabal Trail? And the route you’re showing Alexander City goes through Valdosta, while around here you’re telling us a different route. You told a Lowndes County resident you could also build feeder pipelines, yet the Alexander City story doesn’t mention anything about that. Which of your stories should we believe, Sabal Trail?

Robert Hudson wrote for alexcityOutlook.co 13 November 2013, Citizens hear about proposed gas pipeline,

The proposed corridor is 600 feet wide, but once surveys are done, that area will be decreased to some 50 feet.

“At the end of the day, should our project be approved, that comes down to only being 50 feet,” Grover said. “Then there will also be an additional 50 feet of construction lane that will be temporary so that they can build the pipeline in that easement.”

Let’s go back a month and a few hundred miles south to what Brad McEwen wrote in the Albany Herald 20 October 2013, Continue reading Only 50 feet? Sabal Trail in Alexander City, AL