The natural gas pipeline rumbled like a jet engine before it spewed a snow-white plume of fuel during the pre-dawn hours Monday.

The rupture in Martin County halted traffic on two of the state’s busiest highways, showered one of them with debris, triggered a car accident and sent a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy to the hospital.

But it could have been much worse.

“When an ignition source is found … it’s a cataclysmic event, bring on the mushroom cloud, the fireball, the whole thing,” said Jon Belding, a Martin County Fire Rescue spokesman.

Belding and his colleagues should know. Less than two weeks ago, the company that operates the 50-year-old pipeline - Florida Gas Transmission - flew in from Houston to train them to handle pipeline accidents.

They talked about how to gauge air quality and stop leaks - basics for the cities and counties that are home to the 2.2 million miles of natural gas pipelines in the country.

Pipelines ferrying the clear fuel crisscross the nation, but they’re rarely noticed until they cause problems. Every year, dozens of natural gas pipeline accidents are reported to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration .

Since 1986, 65 people have died and 259 injured by natural gas transmission lines, according to the agency.

The smaller distribution lines that link natural gas to homes and businesses have caused even more casualties: 364 deaths and 1,556 injuries.

The worst of the mishaps read like horror stories.

In 2000, a natural gas blast at a campground near Carlsbad, N.M., killed 12 campers, shooting flames more than 30 stories high and melting parts of several cars.

In 1994, a natural gas pipeline explosion in Edison, N.J., killed one person and injured 100 others. It destroyed eight apartment buildings.

Monday’s blast did not ignite. The wind was calm, so the natural gas dissipated into the air after valves on both sides of the rupture were sealed, Belding said.

But any rupture of a natural gas pipeline is unusual.

“These are very rare when something like this happens,” said John Barnett, spokesman for Florida Gas Transmission. “And we just don’t know what the cause is yet.”

The company sent its investigators from Houston on Monday to find answers.

If any federal regulations were violated, the company could face fines, said Damon Hill, spokesman for the PHMSA.

The segment of pipeline that broke Monday was built in 1959 and last inspected in 2004.

The most common cause of damage to pipelines is heavy digging equipment, Hill said.

“If there’s an excavator, they might hit a pipeline and they might put a little dent in it and think nothing of it,” Hill said. “As time goes on, corrosion and other factors involved eventually create a problem.”

Barnett said he didn’t know if excavation work had been done near the rupture recently.

“I’m just not going to speculate on what the cause was,” he said.

Florida is home to two major natural gas pipelines - Florida Gas Transmission and Gulfstream Natural Gas - and Florida Power & Light Co. wants to build a third.

Last month, FPL proposed a 300-mile, $1.5 billion pipeline that would run from Palm Beach County to Bradford County in north-central Florida.

That pipeline would run mainly along FPL’s existing power-line corridor - where it would be protected from excavation work - and the 30-inch pipe would be made of high-grade steel with a two-part coating to protect it from corrosion, said Monty Collins, director of U.S. gas assets for the utility.

“We go to great lengths to make sure there is not a single nick or blemish in that coating as it is being put into the ground and backfilled,” Collins said.

Pipeline operators must check their pipeline segments for corrosion at least every 7 years, according to federal regulations. Safety threats must be examined at least every 10, 15 or 20 years, based on industry consensus standards - and more frequently if conditions warrant.

The goal, Hill said, is to have no pipeline ruptures.

“We’re still working to get there,” he said.
Staff researcher Neils Heimeriks contributed to this story.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 12:30 am and is filed under Hobe Sound, Indiantown, Martin County, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.