Feds keep 3 gas pipelines shut down Safety concerns prompted a federal agency to order El Paso Natural Gas to test the lines for leaks and corrosion.

By Lowry McAllen Tribune reporter

Federal officials have issued shut-down orders applying to two major gas transmission lines in southern New Mexico operated by El Paso Natural Gas Co., along with a third line, the one that exploded Saturday and killed 11 family members. Concern about the lines' safety prompted Wednesday's order directing El Paso Natural Gas to stop the high-pressure flow of gas through the lines. A spokeswoman for the company said the order didn't carry much immediate weight because all three lines were shut off immediately after Saturday's explosion. "When we had the rupture, we closed all of those lines to isolate all of the gas and we still haven't put any (lines) back into service," Norma Dunn, a spokeswoman for El Paso Natural Gas, said today. Dunn said some of the gas flow has been rerouted and there has been reduced delivery to many customers. She said that while the U.S. Department of Transportation inspects the lines, El Paso Natural Gas, with the assistance of the Office of Pipeline Safety, is working to make one of the lines operable as early as today. The three lines, including the one that exploded, cross the Pecos River near each other in southeastern New Mexico. "The possibility of internal corrosion on other lines in the area is a safety concern," said an order from the U.S. Department of Transportation. "Internal corrosion may have been a contributing factor in the line failure." The stretch of 30-inch steel pipe that exploded could not be cleaned by internal tools to remove debris and other potentially corrosive material, the department said. Such cleaning is often used by pipeline operators to remove contaminants such as the acid and water that can eat out pipes from the inside. The department also said the line has not been hydrostatically tested since it was built in 1950. Hydrostatic testing inserts water into a pipeline at high pressure to determine if there are any leaks. With the demand that the exploded pipe and two neighboring pipelines operated by El Paso Natural Gas be closed, the Department of Transportation said in a statement that the company has "arranged for rerouting gas supply from other storage sites." Even with the shutdown, natural gas shortages are not expected in Arizona and Southern California, where most of the gas is used for electricity generation. The electric utilities in those states have begun switching to oil and other sources of gas, according to the department. El Paso Natural Gas will now have to begin a rigorous process of testing 330 miles of the closed lines, according to the order signed by Stacey Gerard, director of policy, regulations and training at the Office of Pipeline Safety, a division of the Department of Transportation. "I find that the resumed and continued operation of El Paso's pipelines without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment," Gerard said in the order. Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, along with Kelley Coyner, head of the Research and Special Programs Administration in the Department of Transportation, will be in southeastern New Mexico for the day.

Hall heads the NTSB, an independent federal agency responsible for investigating accidents in all types of transportation. Coyner heads an agency that has regulatory responsibility for the safe transportation of hazardous materials in the United States, including responsibility for the nation's pipeline system. The two officials were scheduled to look at the site of the explosion and meet with representatives of El Paso Natural Gas. Under the federal order issued Wednesday, hydrostatic tests, X-rays and ultrasound probes must be performed on the closed pipelines to find leaks or other corrosion damage, which will have to be repaired before the lines can be put back into service. Even then, the department will only allow El Paso Natural Gas to load the pipeline that exploded to 80 percent of its maximum operating capacity.

The company will also have to devise a plan for determining the integrity of the rest of its 10,000-mile pipeline system, a network that stretches from Texas to California, crossing four states. El Paso Natural Gas was contacted to determine what kind of effort these orders would require, but the company did not respond. The pipeline that exploded Saturday crosses the Pecos River about 30 miles south of Carlsbad. Twelve members of an extended family were camped along the river near the pipeline when it exploded about 5:30 a.m. Burns killed 11 of the people in the group. The lone survivor is in critical condition.

The two other lines closed Wednesday run parallel to the exploded line and cross the Pecos River near it. One was built in 1947 and the other in 1950. The older of the two lines sustained some damage from the explosion and fire, the department said. It is unknown if the third line was affected. The corrosion found in the exploded line was internal, but the Office of Pipeline Safety in 1997 had warned El Paso Natural Gas that its methods for controlling external pipeline corrosion might not have been adequate. Company officials have said they responded to the government's 1997 concerns and that their corrosion control on pipelines was sufficient. The NTSB on Wednesday labeled the Aug. 19 explosion the deadliest pipeline accident in the continental United States in nearly 25 years. The explosion claimed the lives of her parents, Don and Glenda Sumler; her father-in-law, Bobby Smith; her husband, Terry Smith; her 5-year-old daughter, Kirsten; her 3-year-old son, Dustin; her brother- and sister-in-law, Roy and Amy Heady; and their three young daughters. A public memorial service is planned at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Carlsbad civic center, to be followed by burial at Carlsbad Cemetery.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 25, 2000