Purple Land Mgmt Reviews Belmont County Ohio 2018

In August 2016, Beat Pipeline announced plans to develop the Falcon Ethane Pipeline System, a 97-mile pipeline network that will carry more than 107,000 barrels of ethane per twenty-four hours through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, to feed Shell Appalachia's petrochemical facility currently under structure in Beaver County, PA.

FracTracker has covered the proposed Falcon pipeline extensively in contempo months. Our Falcon Public EIA Project explored the projection in smashing detail, revealing the many steps involved in risk assessments and a range of potential impacts to public and environmental health.

This work has helped communities improve sympathise the implications of the Falcon, such equally in highlighting how the pipeline threatens drinking h2o supplies and encroaches on densely populated neighborhoods. Growing public concern has since convinced the DEP to extend public comments on the Falcon until Apr fifteen^thursday, equally well as to host three public meetings scheduled for early Apr.

Trounce'southward response to these events has invariably focused on their intent to build and operate a pipeline that exceeds safety standards, besides as their commitments to being a skilful neighbor. In this article, we investigate these claims by looking at federal data on safety incidents related to Beat Pipeline.

Opposite to claims, records show that Trounce'due south safety record is 1 of the worst in the nation.

The "Good Neighbor" Narrative

Maintaining a reputation equally a "good neighbour" is paramount to pipeline companies. Negotiating with landowners, working with regulators, and getting support from implicated communities tin can hinge on the perception that the pipeline will be built and operated in a responsible fashion. This is axiomatic in cases where Shell Pipeline has sold the Falcon in press releases equally an instance of the company'south commitment to safety in public comments.

Figure one. Shell flyer

A recent flyer distributed to communities in the path of the Falcon, seen in Figure one, also emphasizes safe, such as in claims that "Shell Pipeline has a proven track tape of operating safely and responsibility and remains committed to engaging with local communities regarding impacts that may ascend from its operations."

Shell reinforced their "adept neighbor" policy on several occasions at a recent Shell-sponsored information coming together held in Beaver County, stating that, everywhere they exercise business, Shell was committed to the reliable delivery of their production. According to project managers speaking at the issue, this is achieved through "planning and training with first responders, preventative maintenance for the right-of-way and valves, and through inspections—all in the proper name of maintaining pipeline integrity."

Vanquish Pipeline besides recently created an informational website dedicated to the Falcon pipeline to provide details on the projection and emphasize its minimal impact. Although, curiously, Beat out's reply to the question "Is the pipeline safe?" is blank.

U.S. Pipeline Incident Data

Every few years FracTracker revisits data on pipeline safety incidents that is maintained by the Pipeline and Chancy Materials Safety Assistants (PHMSA). In our last national analysis we found that there have been iv,215 pipeline incidents resulting in 100 reported fatalities, 470 injuries, and belongings impairment exceeding $3.4 billion.

These numbers were based on U.S. data from 2010-2016 for natural gas manual and gathering pipelines, natural gas distribution pipelines, and chancy liquids pipelines. Information technology is also worth noting that incident data are heavily dependent on voluntary reporting. They also do not account for incidents that were only investigated at the country level.

Shell Pipeline has only a few assets related to transmission, gathering, and distribution lines. Almost all of their pipeline miles transport highly-volatile liquids such equally crude oil, refined petroleum products, and chancy liquids such as ethane. Therefore, to go a more accurate picture of how Beat out Pipeline's safety tape stacks upwards to comparable operators, our analysis focuses exclusively on PHMSA's hazardous liquids pipeline data. We as well expanded our analysis to look at incidents dating back to 2002.

Shell's Incident Record

In full, PHMSA information show that Shell was responsible for 194 pipeline incidents since 2002. These incidents spilled 59,290 barrels of petrochemical products totaling some $183-million in damages. The below map locates where most of these incidents occurred. Unfortunately, 34 incidents have no location data and then are not visible on the map. The map also shows the location of Shell's many refineries, transport terminals, and off-shore drilling platforms.

Open up the map fullscreen to come across more details and tools for exploring the data.

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Incidents Relative to Other Operators

PHMSA's chancy liquid pipeline data business relationship for more than 350 known pipeline operators. Some operators are fairly small, only maintaining a few miles of pipeline. Others are hard to track subsidiaries of larger companies. However, the big players stand up out from the pack — some 20 operators business relationship for more than 60% of all pipeline miles in the U.S., and Shell Pipeline is one of these 20.

Comparing Shell Pipeline to other major operators carrying HVLs, nosotros found that Shell ranks 2^nd in the nation in the about incidents-per-mile of maintained pipeline, seen in table 1 below. These numbers are based on the total incidents since 2002 divided past the number of miles maintained past each operator as of 2016 miles. Table 2 breaks Shell's incidents down past year and number of miles maintained for each of those years.

Table 1: U.S. Pipeline operators ranked by incidents-per-mile

Operator	HVL Incidents	HVL Pipeline Miles	Incidents Per Mile (2016)
Kinder Morgan	387	iii,370	0.115
Shell Pipeline	194	3,490	0.056
Chevron	124	2,380	0.051
Sunoco Pipeline	352	6,459	0.049
ExxonMobile	240	5,090	0.048
Colonial Pipeline	244	five,600	0.044
Enbride	258	six,490	0.04
Buckeye Pipeline	231	7,542	0.031
Magellan Pipeline	376	12,928	0.03
Marathan Pipeline	162	5,755	0.029

Table ii: Beat incidents and maintained pipeline miles by year

Twelvemonth	Incidents	Pipeline Miles	Total Damage	Notes
2002	fifteen	no PHMSA data	$ii,173,704
2003	20	no PHMSA information	$3,233,530
2004	25	five,189	$40,344,002	Hurricane Ivan
2005	22	iv,830	$62,528,595	Hurricane Katrina & Rita
2006	10	4,967	$11,561,936
2007	five	iv,889	$2,217,354
2008	12	5,076	$ane,543,288
2009	fifteen	5,063	$eleven,349,052
2010	nine	4,888	$three,401,975
2011	half-dozen	four,904	$2,754,750
2012	12	four,503	$17,268,235
2013	4	3,838	$ten,058,625
2014	11	3,774	$3,852,006
2015	12	three,630	$4,061,340
2016	vi	3,490	$six,875,000
2017	ix	no PHMSA information	$242,800
2018	1	no PHMSA data	$47,000	As of 3/1/xviii

Cause & Location of Failure

What were the causes of Shell'south pipeline incidents? At Shell'south public informational session, it was said that "in the industry, we know that the biggest issue with pipeline accidents is third party problems – when someone, not the states, hits the pipeline." However, PHMSA data reveal that nigh of Shell's incidents issues should have been under the company'southward control. For instance, 66% (128) of incidents were due to equipment failure, corrosion, welding failure, structural issues, or incorrect operations (Tabular array 3).

Table 3. Trounce Pipeline incidents past crusade of failure

Crusade	Incidents
Equipment Failure	51
Corrosion	37
Natural Forces	35
Incorrect Operation	25
Other	twenty
Material and/or Weld Failure	15
Excavation Damage	11
Total	194

All the same, not all of these incidents occurred at one of Shell's petrochemical facilities. As Tabular array 4 below illustrates, at least 57 incidents occurred somewhere along the pipeline'south right-of-manner through public areas or migrated off Crush's belongings to impact public spaces. These numbers may be higher equally 47 incidents have no mention of the property where incidents occurred.

Table 4. Shell Pipeline incidents past location of failure

Location	Incidents
Contained on Operator Holding	88
Pipeline Correct-of-Way	54
Unknwon	47
Originated on Operator Property, Migrated off Belongings	three
Contained on Operator-Controlled Right-of-Way	2
Total	194

On several occasions, Shell has claimed that the Falcon will be safely "unseen and out of mind" beneath at least 4ft of ground embrace. Nevertheless, even when this standard is exceeded, PHMSA data revealed that at least a tertiary of Beat out'due south incidents occurred below 4ft or more of soil.

Many of the aboveground incidents occurred at sites like pumping stations and shut-off valves. For case, a 2016 ethylene spill in Louisiana was caused past lightning striking a pumping station, leading to pump failure and an eventual burn down. In numerous incidents, valves failed due to water seeping into systems from frozen pipes, or large rain events flood facility sump pumps. Table 5 below breaks these incidents down by the kind of commodity involved in each instance.

Table 5. Crush Pipeline incidents by article spill volumes

Article	Barrels
Crude Oil	51,743
Highly Volatile Liquids	6,066
Gas/Diesel/Fuel	i,156
Petroleum Products	325
Full	59,290

Impacts & Costs

None of Shell's incidents resulted in fatalities, injuries, or major explosions. Even so, there is evidence of significant ecology and community impacts. Of 150 incidents that included such information, 76 resulted in soil contamination and 38 resulted in h2o contamination bug. Furthermore, 78 incidents occurred in loftier outcome areas (HCAs)—locations forth the pipeline that were identified during construction as having sensitive environmental habitats, drinking water resource, or densely populated areas.

Table half dozen below shows the costs of the 194 incidents. These numbers are somewhat deceiving as the "Public (other)" category includes such things equally inspections, environmental cleanup, and disposal of contaminated soil. Thus, the costs incurred by individual citizens and public services totaled more $lxxx-million.

Table half-dozen. Costs of damage from Shell Pipeline incidents

Private Property	Emergency Response	Ecology Cleanup	Public (other)	Damage to Operator	Total Cost
$266,575	$62,134,861	$11,024,900	$7,308,000	$102,778,856	$183,513,192

A number of pregnant incidents are worth mention. For example, in 2013, a Vanquish pipeline rupture led to as much as 30,000 gallons of rough oil spilling into a waterway near Houston, Texas, that connects to the Gulf of Mexico. Shell's initial position was that no rupture or spill had occurred, merely this was afterward plant not to be the case later on investigations by the U.S. Coast Guard. The image at the top of this folio depicts Shell's cleanup efforts in the waterway.

Another incident found that a Shell rough oil pipeline ruptured twice in less than a year in the San Joaquin Valley, CA. Investigations institute that the ruptures were due to "fatigue cracks" that led to lx,000 gallons of oil spilling into grasslands, resulting in more $half dozen 1000000 in environmental harm and emergency response costs. Concerns raised by the State Fire Align'south Pipeline Safety Segmentation following the second spill in 2016 forced Shell to replace a 12-mile stretch of the problematic pipeline, as seen in the prototype above.

Decision

These findings suggest that while Trounce is obligated to stress safety to sell the Falcon pipeline to the public, people should have Shell's "expert neighbour" narrative with a caste of skepticism. The numbers presented by PHMSA'due south pipeline incident data significantly undermine Shell's merits of having a proven runway record every bit a safe and responsible operator. In fact, Shell ranks about the tiptop of all U.s. operators for incidents per HVL pipeline mile maintained, as well as damage totals.

In that location are inherent gaps in our analysis based on information inadequacies worth noting. Incidents dealt with at the state level may not brand their way into PHMSA's data, nor would problems that are non voluntary reported by pipeline operators. Issues similar to what the state of Pennsylvania has experienced with Sunoco Pipeline's Mariner E 2, where horizontal drilling mishaps have contaminated dozens of streams and private drinking water wells, would likely not be reflected in PHMSA's information unless those incidents resulted in federal interventions.

Based on the available data, however, near of Vanquish's pipelines support one of the company's many refining and storage facilities, primarily located in California and the Gulf states of Texas and Louisiana. Unsurprisingly, these areas are also where nosotros see dumbo clusters of pipeline incidents attributed to Shell. In improver, many of Beat out'southward incidents announced to be the result of inadequate maintenance and improper operations, and less and so due to factors across their control.

As Shell's footprint in the Appalachian region expands, their safety history suggests we could see the same proliferation of pipeline incidents in this area over time, as well.

NOTE: This article was amended on four/9/eighteen to include table 2.

Header image credit: AFP Photo / Joe Raedle

Past Kirk Jalbert, FracTracker Alliance

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Source: https://www.fractracker.org/page/19/?feed&avia-element-paging=30

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