Tall Grass Energy Partners sees second gas line rupture in less than two months

Another incident involving natural gas pipelines operated and owned by TallGrass Energy took place earlier this month, leading to several homes being evacuated near the Nebraska – Wyoming border, and the closure of Highway 26 for an hour.

“The evacuations were precautionary,” said Kevin Philbrick, the TallGrass Energy Operations Manager for the Rocky Mountain Region. “There was no immediate danger.”

The rupture took place near Henry, NE, on the evening of June 6, and led to the need of relight operations for 64 SourceGas, LLC, customers the next day. No injuries were reported from the incident.

According to reports, there was no fire in neither the May 4 incident nor the June 6 incident, but “a lot of gas was released” during this incident, as well as an earlier one that took place in Kimball County near Bushnell in the early hours of May 4.

The earlier incident, which was first reported by the Observer, involved the rupture of a 20-inch natural gas pipeline that awoke many residents of Bushnell and the surrounding area with a loud boom that caused many of them to call their neighbors to see if someone’s house had exploded, according to statements made by Kimball County Highway Superintendent Dave Hottell.

In a report prepared by Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the May 4 rupture was caused by a “manufacturing-related” issue, and caused $496,500 in property damages.

In the latter incident, a smaller pipeline failed, according to Philbrick.

“The 12-inch pipeline failed, split open – ruptured if you prefer – releasing natural gas from the pipeline,” said Philbrick. “We don’t know the cause at this point, it’s still under investigation. We’re going to take the pipe through metallurgical tests to evaluate the cause.”

The Kimball County pipeline rupture is also still under investigation by the PHMSA in Washington D.C. - and there have not been any conclusive results released concerning the rupture.

Details of the ongoing investigation could not be released by the government at the time of press.

Despite the ongoing investigation into the cause of the May 4 rupture, the pipeline has been put back into limited use, operating at a reduced pressure, as of May 14. Federal regulators approved the repairs on the pipeline, after the company reported the incident to the government shortly after it took place.

Both pipelines were formerly owned by KM Interstate Gas Transmission Company, but TallGrass Energy Partners purchased major assets, totaling $3.3 billion, from the company last year. When asked whether or not these pipelines were evaluated before the acquisition was made, Philbrick said that TallGrass Energy performed “due diligence on all assets.”

“TallGrass and every other company in the gas pipeline industry work under stringent regulatory oversight from the Department of Transportation,” said Philbrick.

The PHMSA report shows that Kinder Morgan had been involved in just two other incidents over the past eleven years, both of which were caused by third-party evacuation damage. This was the first time TallGrass was involved in a reported incident.

TallGrass also has plans to convert the Pony Express Pipeline from a natural gas line to a crude oil line in the future, something that has raised alarm amongst local public officials, including Kimball County Commissioner Timothy Nolting.

“NOLTING QUOTE.”

Despite concerns from local leaders, Philbrick is certain there is no danger posed by the crossover, and crude oil poses no greater threat to the public, or to the pipeline itself, than its current contents – natural gas.

“It’s all based on the pressure,” said Philbrick, indicating the different contents would have similar impacts on the pipes themselves.

The concerns of local officials have only grown larger with the emergence of these two incidents, but according to TallGrass, these are completely separate events.

“These were two completely different specifications of pipe and two separate pipeline systems,” said Philbrick. “At this point, we don’t believe we have other similar circumstances. These are anomaly failures.”