A pipeline explosion is shooting a towering pillar of flame over a Houston suburb

[Zorro]

Source: AP Via Yahoo News

A massive pipeline fire shooting a towering pillar of flame for hours over suburban Houston on Monday as first responders evacuated a surrounding neighborhood and tried to keep more nearby homes from catching fire.

The blaze involving a 20-inch pipeline carrying natural gas liquids must burn itself out, according to its operator, Dallas-based Energy Transfer. The company said the gas flow was shut off but residual material inside could burn for hours to come.

Firefighters were dispatched at 9:55 a.m. after an explosion that rattled adjacent homes and businesses in Deer Park and La Porte, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Houston, long the energy capital of the U.S. The plume of smoke could been seen from at least 10 miles away, and nearby there was a chemical smell in the air. There was no immediate word on whether anyone has been injured.

Geselle Melina Guerra said she and her boyfriend heard an explosion at around 9:30 a.m. as they were having breakfast in their mobile home. “All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Guerra, 25, who lives within the evacuation area.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/pipeline-exploded-fire-houston-suburb-160858563.html

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Another day in Abbottland.

[Clouds Passing]

1. Bushland and Kochville too

[Old Crank]

2. Low reg. Texas.

Abbott will make sure that won't happen again...

[Attilatheblond]

3. Yeah, he and Paxton will manage some new law to make reporting on gas line blowouts & resulting pillars of fire illegal

Have they blamed invasion force of 'illegals' yet?

[usonian]

4. A pipeline exploded in a California Suburb, destroying a neighborhood.

PG&E had been faking inspections for years.

There is no good excuse for these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion

PG&E received the maximum fine, went into bankruptcy after their aging and unrepaired transmission lines destroyed many towns and took many lives. They were allowed out of bankruptcy, and recently raised rates ( with the blessing of the Public Utilities Commission) in time for the hottest summer ever.

Power and gas companies are sneaky devils. They pay off regulators and screw the public. When they're not killing them.

It's not just Texas.

There will be more fires and more Enrons.

[Farmer-Rick]

17. You know this happened over 14 years ago.....

So it's not happening everyday.

Texas does seem to be more prone to utility failures and disasters though. Seems every year there is another problem with electricity, or gas or something.

Privatizing utilities was a stupid idea. They are only in it for the money and neglect basic maintenance because of costs. Then they bribe officials and over charge customers. It's all a way to move the national wealth into the hands of the filthy-rich.

[Mersky]

5. Kelcy Warren will fix this real quick

With another million dollar check to Gov Abbott.

[Traildogbob]

6. Sounds like

Time for a Cancun getaway.

[pecosbob]

7. I grew up in Seabrook which borders directly on La Porte.

If the wind was from the North I would smell the Hoescht styrene plant. If the wind was from the East I would smell the Champion pulp paper mill. If there was no wind I would smell the decaying marine life of the nearby fishing docks.

I preferred the dead fish.

[ShazzieB]

15. You have my condolences.

Last edited Tue Sep 17, 2024, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

I have no idea what a styrene plant smells like, but I have smelled a paper mill, and the rotting fish smell is (unfortunately) easy to imagine.

[Think. Again.]

8. It's just a decorative fountain, but in texas.

[duncang]

9. Trying to get a hold of a friend who lives near by.

From what I see she doesn’t seem to be in danger.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. Good thing it wasn't a windmill, according to Trump

You'd have a lot of dead birds and people with cancer.

[Scalded Nun]

11. We don't need no regulations. We don't need no Compliance. We don't need no inspections.

And IF something IS wrong, it's those fucking illegals who did it.

[LT Barclay]

12. First line of the first resident interviewed, "well I used to think environmentalists were a bunch of whackos, but..."

[lees1975]

13. I lived in Pasadena, Texas about 10 miles from there back in the 80's

Pipelines ran everywhere under the neighborhoods there, sometimes the ground would shake and stuff on the shelf would rattle from pressure in the line below. There was one spectacular explosion when I lived there, and you could always smell oil. When you'd come out to get in the car, the black dust on top from refinery burn-off had to be brushed off. I remember thinking, I'm breathing this stuff.

[Aussie105]

14. 20 inch pipeline?

And no emergency provisions, like injecting a huge blob of fire retardant or even water into it from the sending end?

'Just let it burn' really isn't much of an emergency response.

[jaxexpat]

16. It was 20 miles between isolation valves.

With those valves shut, there is no way to introduce water or retardant into the line which doesn't require burning off the material in those 20 miles of pipeline. All steel petroleum and other chemicals pipelines are time bombs with indeterminate fuses. Steel will rust and disintegrate. At some point in time, it will leak. Some of these lines have their materials under hundreds of psi pressure just to get the carried material to move at all. When pipelines get older, they require more expensive maintenance. When they're too expensive to operate, they're sold, buyer beware. Plastic lines have different issues, but they, too, are not eternally functional. The Houston area is a spaghetti of underground pipelines. The same in Los Angeles. It may be virtually impossible to find a plot of land in eastern Harris or northeast Galveston counties which is greater than 1 half mile from a pressurized pipeline.