Bergen County, NJ – With more than 1,500 miles of aging natural gas pipelines already crisscrossing New Jersey, and five new projects to expand the network’s capacity being proposed or recently completed, federal authorities are raising concerns about the safety of such pipelines nationwide, especially in densely populated areas.
A recent study by the National Transportation Safety Board which focused on pipelines in high population areas pointed out weaknesses in inspection plans and federal oversight of the pipelines. A particular concern is the risk of accidents due to corrosion in lines installed before 1970.
N.J. expansion projects
Five projects to expand New Jersey’s natural gas pipeline capacity have been proposed or recently completed:
— Kinder Morgan recently completed several projects in North Jersey to expand capacity of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which runs 13,900 miles from Texas to Boston. The expansion included new loops that run for 7.6 miles in Bergen and Passaic counties and nearly 11 miles in Sussex County. The project required drilling beneath the Monksville Reservoir.
— Williams’ Transco line, which runs for 10,200 miles from Texas and Louisiana to New York, hit record daily peak demand in January, in part because of cold weather but also because the company has increased the pipeline’s capacity in 22 expansion projects along the line. In New Jersey, Williams recently completed a project that increased the pressure by 13 percent in a 10-mile section of the line called the Northern New Jersey Lateral, which runs close to homes in River Vale, Old Tappan, Harrington Park, Emerson, Oradell and Paramus.
— Williams also has proposed the Leidy Southeast Expansion, which would add 30 miles of pipe parallel to the Transco line in Pennsylvania and Somerset, Hunterdon and Mercer counties.
— Spectra Energy has proposed the PennEast Pipeline Project, which would run for 108 miles from the Marcellus region into Central Jersey. It would transport enough natural gas to serve 4.7 million homes.
— In 2013, Spectra completed the New Jersey-New York Expansion Project, a 20-mile expansion of its existing lines to provide more gas to North Jersey and New York City.
The report was spurred by major pipeline accidents in Florida, California and West Virginia in the past five years. The explosions and fires killed eight, injured more than 50 and destroyed 41 homes.
The NTSB provided dozens of safety recommendations and called for expanded resources for the federal agency that oversees the inspections conducted by the pipeline companies. Improving pipeline safety is a critical human safety issue that can and must be improved now, said Christopher A. Hart, the acting NTSB chairman.
The report comes amid numerous proposed or recently completed projects to expand the network of gas pipelines in New Jersey to move more natural gas from Pennsylvania and elsewhere to the New York market.
The state has more than 1,500 miles of transmission pipelines most of which were installed at least a half-century ago that bring natural gas from its source. It also has more then 33,000 miles of distribution mains and service lines that bring the gas to homes and buildings.
The major companies that operate pipelines in New Jersey said their inspection procedures are already more stringent than the federal guidelines. Safety is the most important aspect of our operations, said Christopher Stockton, spokesman for Williams, the energy infrastructure company that operates the Transco pipeline through New Jersey and provides more than half the natural gas consumed in the state. With regard to inspections, we go well above the regulations.
Still, the state has had its share of incidents. In 2008, a natural gas explosion killed a Teaneck resident, destroyed his home and damaged five nearby houses. Public Service Electric and Gas Co. was fined $200,000 by the state Board of Public Utilities because it said the utility missed several opportunities to prevent the explosion neighbors had complained of smelling gas in the days before.
In 2005, contractors removing an underground storage tank at an apartment building in Bergenfield ruptured a distribution pipeline, setting off an explosion that destroyed the building and killed three. PSE&G was again fined, along with the contractor.
In 1994, a ruptured gas pipeline in Edison sent a fireball into the sky, destroying eight apartment buildings and injuring more than 100 residents. A federal investigation concluded that the line had likely been gouged several years before by excavation equipment and that metal fatigue increased a crack in the pipe. The accident was worsened because the pipeline owner, Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., couldn’t shut off the gas flow quickly, officials concluded.
Nationwide, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has about 145 monitors to oversee nearly 3,000 companies that operate 2.2 million miles of gas pipelines, 400,000 miles of oil pipelines, 130 liquefied natural gas plants and more then 6,800 hazardous liquid tanks. Congress has authorized the hiring of 100 more inspectors.
The agency said its oversight programs led to a 45 percent reduction in pipeline incidents since 2009.
The pipeline agency primarily reviews paperwork filed by the companies to make sure they are following the regulations, said Damon Hill, an agency spokesman. The companies have the resources to make sure their lines are inspected and maintained and repaired, he said. Our agency doesn’t have the resources to go out and do that kind of work.
Lynda K. Farrell, executive director of the Pennsylvania-based Pipeline Safety Coalition, said her group has long been concerned about the inspections. They rely on the operators to test their lines for safety, she said. That’s always been a concern for us. It’s like the fox watching the henhouse.
From 1994 to 2014, there were 1,011 significant onshore gas transmission line incidents in the U.S. that caused 40 deaths, 189 injuries and $1.3 billion in property damage, according to federal data. In New Jersey during that period, there were 10 incidents and $26 million in property damage.
About 1,000 miles of the transmission pipelines in New Jersey cut across several states. The federal agency oversees these lines. New Jersey also has about 430 miles of intrastate transmission pipelines operated solely within the state by the local utilities, such as PSE&G, that provide gas to customers. The Board of Public Utilitiesoversees these lines, with four full-time inspectors who review company paperwork and do inspections.
New Jersey follows federal rules on pipeline safety, but in some cases has even more stringent regulations. For instance, the federal rules require more stringent construction standards for pipelines in heavily populated areas, and allow weaker standards for undeveloped areas. New Jersey mandates the most stringent standards for all intrastate pipelines.
The state also requires inspection patrols of intrastate pipelines at least one a month in high-density areas along the pipeline right of way for indications of leaks and construction activity. Companies are required by both New Jersey and federal rules to perform leak detection surveys on pipes in developed areas at least once a year and those outside such areas once every three years.
Federal rules require companies to assess the condition of pipeline sections in highly populated areas, which would only be about 10 percent of the Transco line. Williams, which operates the Transco pipeline, assesses 90 percent of the line, Stockton said.
Assessments are made by inserting a torpedo-shaped device, called a smart pig, into the line to determine if there are problems with seams or corrosion. The company performs valve inspections annually, among other assessments. Williams inspects pipeline right of way daily by vehicle, weekly by air and annually on foot, Stockton said.
Richard Wheatley, spokesman for Kinder Morgan, which operates the Tennessee Gas Pipeline across North Jersey, said the company also uses smart pigs to inspect its lines.
Though portions of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline were first installed in the 1940s, Wheatley said a pipeline’s age is not necessarily a determinant of safety if the pipe is inspected and maintained properly.