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FILE PHOTO BY JILL NANCE/THE NEWS & ADVANCE
Williams Gas Co. workers inspect a pipeline in Appomattox.
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The company that operates a natural gas pipeline that ruptured in September just north of the town of Appomattox received federal approval Wednesday to resume flowing gas through the line.
Williams Gas Co. submitted an application last week to restart the line. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has reviewed and approved the application.
The pipeline, which crosses Virginia 26 just north of the town of Appomattox, failed before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14. The natural gas it released blew into a fireball that scorched an area 1,125 feet in diameter, according to preliminary findings in the federal investigation.
Patricia Klinger, spokeswoman for the federal oversight agency, said the approval allows Williams to start flowing gas at 640 pounds per square inch.
“We are going to continue to monitor all aspects of this pipeline,” Klinger said. “We will be doing periodic field inspections and monitoring of this property.”
The pipeline will run at about 20 percent less than its capacity of 800 psi, said Larry Hjalmarson, vice president of operations for Williams. It will remain at that pressure through the winter, until the company returns to the safety administration for approval to increase it to 800 psi.
About 2,500 feet of the B line was replaced following the explosion. The pipe was pressure tested earlier this month at 1,000 psi, the standard for new pipelines.
The investigation into the failure revealed that the more than 50-year-old pipe was corroding from the outside and that thinning wasn’t fully revealed by the tools used to examine the pipes.
Klinger said that further approval will hinge on further inspection of the line.
Last month, Williams brought one pipeline back into full service of 800 psi of pressure and hopes to increase the pressure on a third line next spring.
The natural gas pipelines that run through Appomattox are part of the Transco line, which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to New York, including 858 miles in Virginia.
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Reader Reactions
I’d still be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs if my house were on this pipeline.
The kinds of things Williams is saying about “guaranteeing the safety” of the line is the same things they were saying before it blew up.
It’s like eating in a restaurant that was closed down because of salmonella poisoning, but now it’s back open— could be it’s the cleanest restaurant in town now since they’ve had to clean it up and satisfy the inspectors, but you’d still be nervous about it.
I wonder that the News/Advance doesn’t report on what Williams/Transco has done for the families that were burned out of their homes by Williams’ inability to test for the fatal corrosion problem. Have they done the right thing? or are the families still having to depend on charity and do it on their own?
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