Fed Agency Recommends Pipeline Coordination

In a just-released report on the rupture of a liquid propane pipeline near Carmichael (Miss.) in 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited insufficient training for Clarke County sheriff’s dispatchers on pipeline emergencies, and said the pipeline operator didn’t include public safety comm centers among its emergency preparedness stakeholders. Two persons who lived near the 12-inch, 46 year-old pipeline were killed, seven were injured and a 71-acre area was incinerated when 430,000 gallons of liquid propane escaped after a weld seam failed. The liquid immediately vaporized into an enormous cloud of flammable gas and was ignited. In its preliminary findings, the NTSB stated, “At the time of the accident, the Clarke County Central Dispatch emergency 911 personnel were not sufficiently knowledgeable about the dangers of a large release of propane and the appropriate actions to take.” But the board also said that Dixie Pipeline Co. failed to include comm centers among those participating in its public awareness campaign, as outlined in industry standards. Download (pdf) the industry’s awareness campaign standard here. Read the NTSB’s findings here.