Columbia River gas plant blows up

[Star]

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Plymouth, WA: UPDATE: Evacuation radius near Plymouth plant to be reduced | Local News | Tri-CityHerald.com

By Kristi Pihl
March 31, 2014

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Up to 1,000 residents and agricultural workers were evacuated from a two-mile radius around Northwest Pipeline in south Benton County after the explosion, which caused slow leaks from a massive storage tank and injured five people.

Hazardous materials experts entered the liquefied natural gas facility Monday afternoon for the first time nearly eight hours after the initial explosion and fire inside a building at Northwest Pipeline, a subsidiary of Williams Partners.

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[Old Rocks]

The natural gas companies, at least the ones that are developing plants like the one that blew up, have a really shitty reputation when it comes to safety. In fact, the people that do our industrial safety films, used several of their disasters as examples of how failure from top to bottom result in fatalities and major disasters.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Time for some regulations

 

[Mr. H.]

The natural gas companies, at least the ones that are developing plants like the one that blew up, have a really shitty reputation when it comes to safety. In fact, the people that do our industrial safety films, used several of their disasters as examples of how failure from top to bottom result in fatalities and major disasters.

Swaner said Williams Partners goes above and beyond what is required and spends a lot of time and money on making sure that the company’s pipelines are well-maintained and inspected on a regular basis.

But of course this is a lie spoken by a paid industry mouthpiece.

And Mr. R. never exaggerates.

 

[OnePercenter]

Time for some regulations

Existing regulations need to be followed. No wonder the profit before anything Chevron, PG&E (killed people), Koch Brothers (killed people) want deregulation.

 

[whitehall]

Is that good news to the radical environmentalists? I seriously wonder if some or most of these energy related "accidents" are related to left wing sabotage.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Time for some regulations

Existing regulations need to be followed. No wonder the profit before anything Chevron, PG&E (killed people), Koch Brothers (killed people) want deregulation.

More than that, it needs to be a lot more expensive when they break the law. As it is, these giants can pay the puny little fine and move on.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Damn. Does this mean the solar plant will get shorted the extra nat gas it needs to operate?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Time for some regulations

Existing regulations need to be followed. No wonder the profit before anything Chevron, PG&E (killed people), Koch Brothers (killed people) want deregulation.

More than that, it needs to be a lot more expensive when they break the law. As it is, these giants can pay the puny little fine and move on.

Right. Because charging them money for accidents when they occur will certainly lower the prices for consumers. You are kind of slow, aren't you?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Time for some regulations

The Northwest Pipeline facility has two storage tanks, each about 90 feet tall, and four vaporizers on about 72 acres, according a recent inspection by the Utilities and Transportation Commission. The facility began operating in 1975 and was expanded in 1979.

The commission last inspected the facility in November 2013, said Amanda Maxwell, the commission’s communications manager.

“It was a clean inspection,” said David Lykken, the commission’s director of pipeline safety. Inspectors found no violations of pipeline safety regulations.

Inspections, which occur annually, include a review of operation and maintenance records and a check of the plant itself to make sure it is maintained according to safety regulations, he said.

Swaner said Williams Partners goes above and beyond what is required and spends a lot of time and money on making sure that the company’s pipelines are well-maintained and inspected on a regular basis.

“Pipelines are highly regulated and safety is of utmost concern,” Swaner told the Herald. “We work with emergency responders and have mock emergencies so that we know what the duties are and the hours are, so we work as a coordinated team.”

Read more here: Plymouth, WA: UPDATE: Evacuation radius near Plymouth plant to be reduced | Local News | Tri-CityHerald.com


You're rather slow as well, aren't you?

 

[martybegan]

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Plymouth, WA: UPDATE: Evacuation radius near Plymouth plant to be reduced | Local News | Tri-CityHerald.com

By Kristi Pihl
March 31, 2014

<snip>

Up to 1,000 residents and agricultural workers were evacuated from a two-mile radius around Northwest Pipeline in south Benton County after the explosion, which caused slow leaks from a massive storage tank and injured five people.

Hazardous materials experts entered the liquefied natural gas facility Monday afternoon for the first time nearly eight hours after the initial explosion and fire inside a building at Northwest Pipeline, a subsidiary of Williams Partners.

<snip>
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Sigh. The plant did not blow up. There was an explosion that damaged a storage tank. The risk is the gas leaking from the tank igniting thus obliterating everything within 3/4 of a mile (that would be the plant blowing up).

And according to your article the plant passed safety inspections in 2013. Will have to wait for a root cause analysis to see what went wrong.