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Company promising safe gas pipeline in West Roxbury has Pennsylvania pipeline explode; house destroyed, resident burned

By adamg on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 10:37am

Bloomberg reports a natural-gas pipeline run by Spectra Energy exploded outside Pittsburgh yesterday, partially disrupting the flow of natural gas into the Northeast and damaging several homes.

WPXI reports one man's home was completely destroyed and that he was rushed to the hospital with burns - some sustained even as he ran away after his house exploded around him.

Spectra is currently building a high-pressure pipeline from Westwood to West Roxbury, where it is building a transfer station to pump the gas into National Grid's smaller pipes.

Neighborhoods: 
West Roxbury
Free tagging: 
West Roxbury pipeline


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Comments

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 11:08am.

After all, the risk assessment conducted for Spectra undoubtedly concluded that there was an extremely low risk of anything like this happening. So it can't happen, right?

Right?

(note that I deal professionally with estimates of risk - and therefore know what kinds of things get ignored or cut from the analysis because they are either not easily quantifiable (such as risk of getting bad steel or welds or doubling maintenance intervals to save money) or considered to otherwise be "unrealistic" ... until things go boom).

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By bastiat on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 9:02pm.

It can't happen here
It can't happen here
So I'm telling you, my dear,
It can't happen here

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By BostonDog on Sun, 05/01/2016 - 7:27pm.

Is Spectra's CEO Suzy Creamcheese?

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By anon on Mon, 05/02/2016 - 6:22pm.

What's the risk of this kind of thing vs. the risk of getting struck by lightning?

Since I take it you oppose the pipeline in Boston, if the risk of getting struck by lightning is greater than dying in a pipeline explosion, do you recommend everyone stay indoors forever to avoid getting struck by lightning, too?

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By anon on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 11:13am.

So I guess this means that everyone will give up their gas heat and gas stoves now. Right?

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By adamg on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 11:18am.

But it maybe means gas companies should consider routes for new pipelines that don't run under major streets in front of people's homes.

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By BostonDog on Sun, 05/01/2016 - 7:31pm.

Is there *any* pathway in New England which doesn't run under or near people's homes? You'd need to submerge the pipeline in the ocean and ignore the marine damage.

All types of energy transmission is dangerous. The only solution is to use less of it.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 11:21am.

It is about moving large volumes of gas around the northeast, in this case through densely populated areas and past a quarry whose seismic loads were ignored in the risk analyses.

The current (leaking) distribution pipelines in the Boston area are pretty much fine for gas heat and cooking. They would do even better if they weren't leaking.

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By Anonymous on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 6:21pm.

It is about moving large volumes of gas ..through densely populated areas and past a quarry whose seismic loads were ignored in the risk analyses.

wxpi.com:

Man severely burned by gas line blast that destroyed Salem Twp. home

The explosion in the 36-inch pipeline was reported shortly before 8:30 a.m. along Route 22, near Route 819, in Salem Township.

A man who was inside a home that was about 500 feet away from the blast was burned and taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital. The home was destroyed.

“He told us he heard a loud noise and compared it to a tornado. All he seen was fire and started running up the road,” Forbes Road Fire Chief Robert Rosatti said.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Capture%20Spectr%20West%20Roxbury_zpsjo3wbmxn.png~original)

Gas line blast described as feeling like ‘earthquake,' ‘airplanes crashing'


GALLERY: Scene photos of gas line explosion in Salem Township

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Capture%20Spectra%20Explosion_zpsqfv3o7e0.png~original)

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By anon on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 12:01pm.

You need gas for energy to run your modern, taken for granted world? Then we need:

Pipe lines
Refineries

MA and New England NEED gas and oil. The shit doesn't just magically appear out of thin air. We have way too much NIMBISM in this part of the country.

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By bibliotequetressnotloggedin... on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 12:39pm.

I don't think you can call it NIMBYISM when the back yard in question has blown up.

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By anon on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 1:50pm.

but I did read it. Look, shit happens. How many people will die or be maimed today in all kinds of accidents? Doesn't detract from the reality that we need and run on gas/petro/oil, these things must be built even in congested places like here. The safety record for pipe lines is actually excellent, as is plane travel.

RIP to anyone who may have died in the Pittsburgh accident.

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By adamg on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 2:17pm.

Happened all the time. Then the government required car makers to add seat belts and glass that shattered into a zillion tiny pieces rather than giant lethal shards on impact and now a lot fewer people die that way.

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By Jeff F on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 3:57pm.

And I'm just old enough to remember when that happened and lots of old farts/cranks/sock-puppets complained that it was: unnecessary/ruining the auto industry/taking all the fun out of driving/making the baby Jesus cry.

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By Anonymous on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 6:25pm.

And if gas is a bridge fuel, where does the bridge take us?

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By erik g on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 7:05pm.

Adam, if "Group of bloggers in Boston write about community news and information" ever stops drawing eyeballs as a Google descriptor, I think we've found our one-sentence summary of UHub: (adjusted tenses)

Universal Hub: lots of old farts/cranks/sock-puppets complaining that things are: unnecessary/ruining the auto industry/taking all the fun out of driving/making the baby Jesus cry.

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By anon on Sun, 05/01/2016 - 6:47pm.

I'm one of those 'old farts' that posted before you; I'M NOT OLD. I also live in the city and RARELY use my car. I'm not a fan of suburban sprawl. Nice try.

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By anon on Sun, 05/01/2016 - 9:29am.

How many pipelines are built next to a quarry where blasting is still taking place and the ground shakes on a regular basis? Of course people get hurt in all kinds of accidents every day but this seems like an accident waiting to happen that could easily be prevented. Why take the risk?

Geothermal/solar/wind power is the way to go and hopefully will become more mainstream over the coming years.

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By Kinopio on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 10:53pm.

Solar panels don't blow up people's homes.

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By Anon on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 12:42pm.

This is some footage of what the explosion in PA looked like today. Keep in mind the area in question in West Roxbury is much more densely populated and across the street from an active blasting zone.

To recap, our scenario in West Roxbury involves flammable gas transfer in front of a quarry that actively uses bombs in the middle of a residential neighborhood. What could possibly go wrong...? Take a look:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/man-severely-burned-his-home-destroyed-in-gas-l...

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By mplo on Sat, 04/30/2016 - 6:44pm.

Somebody's home got burned, a resident got injured. How long will it be before somebody gets killed outright?

Not long, from the sound of this whole thing.

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