Gas Pipelines

Just as vehicles and trucks move around the country on roadways, gas, oil, and some other products are moved around the country in their own underground highway system. According to statistics kept by the Federal Department of Transportation, as of 2016, there were 1,614,936 miles of gas pipelines in the United States. That’s right. There are 1.6 million miles of gas pipelines, mostly buried underground. 

 

All across the country, beneath the ground is a vast network of pipelines that pump gas and oil. These pipelines run from where the oil and gas is found to the area where it will be refined and distributed. These pipelines traverse tens of thousands of miles, pumping millions of gallons and millions of cubic feet of gas and petroleum products. As these pipelines age, they will inevitably begin to leak the contents that they transport.

 

Giant compressors along the pipelines keep the liquids and gas moving along. These compressor stations also pump out millions of pounds of hazardous chemicals into surrounding air and neighborhoods. The industry does not factor in the consequences of exposure to these over a long term because they are not required to. 

 

These compressor stations are like a small factory and utilize compressors that continuously run. Not only do they keep these compressors running, but they are constantly emitting gases as well. 

 

There are rules and regulations that are supposed to ensure inspections take place on pipelines at regular, reasonable intervals. Unfortunately, this turned out to be impossible as the number of inspectors is insufficient to even inspect a small number of the total inspections needed. After the massive explosion in San Bruno, California, wiped out part of a neighborhood, the industry had to figure something out to do. With the tremendous amount of pipelines in the network, the best they came up with was a way of prioritizing inspections for the more important pipelines.

 

The industry decided to look at all the pipelines in the system and place each one into a category depending on how much death and destruction it would cause if it leaked or exploded. The category at the top of the list was called “high consequence areas.”  This was where the San Bruno one would have been placed, and some people say the explosion would have been prevented if there had been an inspection of the pipeline. High consequence areas have a larger “potential impact circle” from a pipeline incident, as the industry group PHMSA called it. These are areas where there are more than 20 buildings used for residential living, buildings which would be hard to evacuate quickly, such as schools, nursing homes, and buildings usually occupied by 20 or more people a certain number of days per year. 

 

In an effort to prevent further disasters, pipelines with these designations are inspected every seven years if they carry gas and every five years if they carry a hazardous liquid. During the first nine years this inspection program was carried out, there were over 53,000 repairs needed and reported. Sadly, the inspection program only covers about 7% of gas lines and 43% of hazardous liquid lines. There have been many leaks, fires, and explosions that simply go unnoticed other than some paperwork that needs to be submitted. 

 

The pipeline infrastructure was installed decades ago, and while newer sections are being built, many of the older ones in the more densely populated towns and cities are over 40 years old. While newer pipelines are better constructed to prevent corrosion, older pipelines do not have a coating to prevent it.  

 

Most people have absolutely no idea if they are located near a pipeline of even living on top of one. In populated areas, the underground lines frequently are buried under the streets and houses with no signs posted to warn people. In areas where there is open space above the pipelines, there usually are signs warning about underground gas lines. The lack of identifying locations in towns and cities is exactly why utility companies always say, “Call before you dig.”

 

Back in the late 1980s, I dug, but did not call first. At that time I lived in central New Jersey in a rural community and was digging out an area for a garden. Honestly, I figured since I was only going down a foot or two, there was no need to check. Apparently, I was wrong because, as the shovel dug down deeper, I felt it hit something. At first, it felt like a rock, so I pushed the shovel down much harder the next time. Suddenly, there was a whoosh, and gas started shooting out from the hole, blowing dirt everywhere. My entire neighborhood and several others nearby were evacuated to the community center while the fire department had their hoses and equipment trained on the hole. Eventually, the gas company showed up and figured out where in the pipeline the valve was to shut off the flow while they checked out what I did. It turned out there was a heavy plastic pipeline running up my street and up the side of my house from the main road that was not marked on my deed. I certainly should have called. It was very lucky my shovel didn’t hit a rock when the pipeline started to leak as I most likely would have been an accident statistic.

 

1. Pipeline Leaks and Explosions

 

Many of the miles of underground pipelines are buried underneath housing developments and run through neighborhoods and communities. While the newer pipes are usually made of very high-strength steel to handle the high pressure running through them, older ones were not. Unfortunately, most of the pipes in urban areas are older pipes, and older pipes are showing signs of corrosion and stress from aging. In one 20 year period, federal officials had over 2,840 gas and pipeline accidents. In 992 of these, somebody was killed or needed to go to the hospital, totaling 323 people killed and 1,372 injured.

 

One big ongoing problem with these pipelines is the difficulty in determining when or where there is leakage or exactly to what extent the leak is because these pipelines are primarily underground. These underground transport lines cost millions of dollars to install. Most of the companies who own the pipelines anticipated that their lines would eventually leak. They built these losses into the price of their product, knowing that it would be next to impossible to locate and fix all of the leaks. The pipeline’s contents simply will continue to leak into the ground and spread its toxic cargo out in a plume. The leaking oil and gas may eventually contaminate millions of gallons in underground water supplies. Hazardous chemicals carried through these pipelines will leak as well. While not every pipeline is currently leaking, there is a high possibility along every pipeline that somewhere there is a leak or that in the future a leak of some magnitude may occur.

 

On September 9, 2010, a large gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, California, outside San Francisco. Eight people died in the blast, and 58 sustained injuries. In the end the blast totally destroyed 38 homes and did damage to 120 others. Sadly, the pipeline operator was unable to explain what happened. 

 

Multiple explosions outside Midland, Texas, in August, 2018 resulted in five people hospitalized with critical burns. In Kentucky, one person died and five others needed hospitalization when a pipeline exploded in August, 2019. April, 2016, saw a pipeline explosion in Salem, Pennsylvania, blowing up a home and evacuations. The organization, Fractracker Alliance, reviewed data from the federal government the industry sent in and totaled 1,069 incidents resulting in injuries, death, and damages. 

 

The requirements to inform people they are living near a buried, high-pressure pipeline are minimal. Hundreds of thousands of people live close enough to be affected by an accident but have no clue. Real estate disclosure laws do not have a requirement to include information about the proximity of underground pipelines in mandated disclosure rules. While pipeline operators may send notices to current owners about nearby underground pipelines, a buyer may not know about this unless there is an easement on the property deed itself. If there is a right of way on a property, it has to be on the deed as part of it. Most times, though, other than the small sign on a stick that says, “Warning–Underground Gas Pipeline,” no one would never know. 

 

2. Transmission Station Contamination

 

Gas transmission stations are all along the routes of these pipelines. These stations are usually used for monitoring the flow of product through the pipeline. Some contain equipment that can detect variations in volume between stations, which would indicate any leaks that are occurring. Many of these transmission stations also contain compressors, which are necessary to maintain the pressure and keep the flow of products continuing in the pipeline between stations. 

 

In the past, a material now known to be one of the most toxic and deadliest chemicals was used to lubricate and cool the compressors in these transmission stations: PCBs. Because PCBs work so well to cool these compressors, they were extensively used . When maintenance was done on these compressors, it was a fairly common practice for pipeline companies to clean out the PCBs and dump them there at the transmission stations. The federal government possibly knew about this practice in the early 1980s but kept quiet while dumping continued. The public first learned in 1987 that these highly toxic, cancer-causing chemicals were routinely buried in pits along these gas pipelines by certain pipeline operators. 

 

Many years of using PCBs in pipelines has led to the creation of a large number of toxic waste pits near transmission stations. Even though much of the contamination happened before the use of PCBs was phased out, many sites continue to have levels exceeding safe ranges established for exposure to PCBs. In addition, the PCBs still remain in many of the older pipelines as they were also used as a coating for the interior walls. They continue to be flushed out and disposed of. There are many disposal pits yet to be uncovered that are contaminating wells and water supplies near them. These disposal pits may very well number in the hundreds or even thousands.

 

After determining there was a high probability gas and oil pipeline operators were routinely dumping hazardous wastes along their pipelines, the EPA opened a probe into 11 of these companies, and discovered several had created dozens of these toxic waste pits stretching thousands of miles.

 

One such pipeline operator, Eastern Gas Pipeline Co., was caught and forced to clean up 89 sites in 15 states along their pipelines where these PCBs were disposed of. 

 

One of the largest pipeline companies, Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline Company, which operates 10,500 miles in 12 states. It cleaned up PCBs and other contaminants at its compressor and meter stations along the pipeline and then illegally disposed of hazardous waste in earthen pits at their compressor locations. PCBs and other hazardous materials were sometimes burned in these pits, and several compressor stations had contamination extending into the neighboring property. At the metering stations used for measuring flow in the pipeline, the company disposed of toxic mercury. Seventy one of these toxic pits were admitted to by Texas Eastern.

 

In addition to Texas Eastern, other pipeline operators, such as Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, ANR Pipeline Company and Transcontinental Pipeline Company, also reported the same practice of disposing toxic waste in pits and therefore needed to clean up some of the sites that were discovered to be polluted.

 

The Tennessee Gas Pipeline is being held responsible for cleaning up PCBs at the compressor stations where they dumped waste along their pipeline between Texas and New England. They had more than 60 waste sites, costing between $20-30 million. While most of the contamination is on their property, there had been toxic contamination onto other properties by runoff over the years. The true extent may never be known, found, or totally cleaned up. 

 

American Natural Resources admitted to creating 29 of these hazardous waste sites in thirteen states. The company spent $10 million to clean up the extensive contamination at those locations. 

 

Transcontinental Pipeline used unlined pits at its compressor stations to dispose of materials including chemicals such as benzene and PCBs, both known cancer-causing substances. The company operated a pipeline network stretching over 10,500 miles across the United States from Texas to New York. Many times the waste was simply burned in these pits and the remains just left there. Some of the compressor stations had waste that spread onto neighboring properties as well. At some of Transcom’s metering stations, mercury used in the equipment contaminated the soil and surrounding areas as well. The Justice Department and EPA fined the company $1.4 million and ordered them to clean up hazardous waste at 26 of its compressor stations. It is unknown how many additional locations the company polluted where the waste remains. 

 

The risk of PCB contamination deserves serious consideration when people look at a property that is located near a compressor or transmission station along these rights of way.

 

3. Blowdowns at Compressor Stations

 

A blowdown, a typical occurrence for the industry, occurs when the pressure inside the pipeline exceeds the safe level. The blowdown at the compressor station relieves the pressure off the pipe. The typical blowdown can vent several thousand pounds of methane gas directly to the atmosphere in addition to hundreds of other potentially toxic chemicals. These blowdowns can last up to two hours or longer. Due to the tremendous pressure the gas pipelines are kept at, when blowdowns occur the level of noise can be ear-splitting. 

 

Blowdowns are also used when pressure needs to be adjusted in the line for maintenance work. Again, thousands of pounds of chemicals may be emitted, and these releases can last several hours. The industry usually calls these routine emissions, which unfortunately is a true statement. Almost all compressor stations have these routine emissions, filling the air surrounding them with varying levels of toxic chemicals for the neighborhood and residents to breathe. 

 

Methane in particular has a range of effects on the human body. Chronic exposure to methane causes respiratory and neurological problems, problems with the heart, and memory loss.

 

4. Compressor Station Leaks and Emissions

 

This is by far the greatest threat to people from these pipelines. The industry technically is in compliance with regulations and frequently claims to be below acceptable levels. Unfortunately, these regulations are based on a single exposure, and many scientists would argue the acceptable levels are set way too high. For many of these chemicals that are emitted, there is no safe level for the human body to be exposed to on a continuous and long-term basis. 

 

The total quantity of the emissions from these compressor stations is not small by any calculation. In New York state, a report done by the Institute for Health and the Environment reviewed emissions data reported to the NYS Department of Conservation and to the EPA. The report stated the total emissions over a seven year period for only 18 of these compressors totaled 40.2 million pounds. Of that total, 7.9 million pounds are known carcinogens. They cause a range of cancers including kidney, liver, prostate, bladder, and lung cancers, as well as several forms of leukemia. In addition the report stated the amount of chemicals related to health issues of the cardiovascular system was 17 million pounds. The report concluded with a memorable statement:“Without hesitation, we can say not only that the volume and known health effects of these pollutants increase the risk of disease, but that they will result in actual illness.” 

 

Leaks occur at these stations at a fairly high rate. Methane leaks are common from the valves and aging gaskets. Corrosion and stress from the enormous pressure weaken the seals and corrode the pipes. 

There are also regular emissions that occur continuously. These stations are not just emitting steam; they are a source of harmful chemicals being allowed to pollute the air and slowly poison nearby residents. Compressor stations emit several other toxins in very large amounts, including benzene, nitrous oxide, toluene, sulfuric oxide, and formaldehyde. 

 

On one permit application for a single compressor station, the company stated it would be releasing 46.2 tons of nitrous oxide a year directly to the air. People living within a quarter mile of these compressor stations say they get headaches, nosebleeds, rashes, sore throats, and nausea. Many of the chemicals emitted by the compressors have also been linked to serious health problems such as respiratory issues, cardiovascular illness. Even health problems like cancer and birth defects can occur if there is enough exposure to the chemicals continuously being emitted. Like other industrial facilities, their permits allow them to emit limited amounts of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulates, among other pollutants. Energy companies say the facilities are safe and well-regulated. The people living there and environmentalists say the dangers posed by these emissions are understated and inaccurate, adding that long-term exposure to these chemicals is going to be a great danger to the people. 

 

In Farmville, Virginia, residents reviewed a permit application for one of these compressor stations and saw amounts of pollutants potentially being emitted into the air they would be breathing. The permit application for the Buckingham compressor station proposes an annual release of 70.9 tons of methane, 43.2 tons of particulate matter, 34.3 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 5.3 tons of hazardous air pollutants as part of the 221 tons of total emissions proposed. Exposure to these pollutants can increase the risk of respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, and developmental diseases. Examples include everything from minor ailments like headaches and eye, nose, and throat irritation to more serious conditions like difficulty breathing, worsening of asthma, high blood pressure, and heart attacks. 

 

The residents mobilized and spent several years fighting the project. They put together research showing the damaging health effects this compressor would have in the surrounding area. In addition, the residents filed legal challenges to the permit based on illegal actions the company had taken. As of May, 2020, a court issued a ruling revoking a critical permit the pipeline needed to continue with the construction. The battle goes on. 

 

In Arlington, Massachusetts, a group called Mothers Out Front searches for compressor stations in town that are leaking gas and other chemicals into the air. When they find one, and there are quite a few, they tag the area with a sign saying, “Fix the Leaks.” People are at least aware these compressor stations are emitting chemicals into the air. The sad part is, they are still forced to breathe those harmful chemicals. 

 

In New York state, a study of compressor stations counted almost 70 chemicals released into the air, including formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and particulate matter.. Many of the chemicals emitted at these stations are already linked to different diseases, especially with chronic, long-term exposure, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, developmental and neurological diseases, and cancer.

 

5. Noise from Compressor Stations

 

When there is a blowdown, which can last for hours and emit noise levels comparable to a jet plane or train locomotive, there is a continuous sound similar to a humming or buzzing that the compressor station emits. People living nearby have said it is impossible to get it out of their heads and not hear it. A constant background noise to an otherwise fairly quiet place could drive you crazy after a while.

 

Studies examining the effects of this noise on nearby residents has been turning up a host of issues. The noise associated with compressors and these pipelines is a major environmental health concern. Long-term exposure to chronic noise levels higher than usual background noise is associated with hypertension, sleep disorders, and vibroacoustic disease. Additional adverse health effects, such as a range of hearing loss, increased risk of diabetes, and stress on cardiovascular systems, have been reported. In addition, it also leads to issues of poor concentration and lower attention ability, especially in children. Cognitive issues like memory problems, behavioral issues, and decreased performance have also been noted as effects. 

 

A recent study of homes in West Virginia funded by the Maryland Department of Health near a compressor station found that average noise levels for the homes exceeded EPA and WHO recommended limits for both outdoor and indoor noise. Noise is not just a nuisance to many people. It is a health hazard. 

 

6. Rights of Way

 

The gas company needs to make certain the areas on top of the buried pipelines remain clear for access and to ensure vegetation does not disturb the buried pipes. As is the practice with all industries, the only effective way to do this is to apply large amounts of herbicides. In many areas it is common practice for the line maintenance crews to load fifty five gallon drums of chemical defoliant onto the backs of trucks and drive along the right of way, spraying this chemical agent onto the vegetation. Sweeping their pressure hoe back and forth, they cover everything in their path. Herbicides drifting onto adjacent properties and backyards is unavoidable. 

 

In the past, before being banned, tens of thousands of gallons of these chemicals have been applied, including total vegetative killers, such as 2,4,5,D. Some toxins lie in the ground in high concentrations, leaking into the ground bit by bit over the years. While a large dose of a toxin over a short period of time may be detrimental to your health, so may a small dose of a toxin continuously over a large period of time. Some toxins accumulate in the fatty tissue of the human body and keep accumulating until they reach levels that have a negative effect on the person’s health.

 

Even today thousands of gallons of chemicals continue to be applied on vegetation over these rights of way. While the chemicals that are being used today are considered safe at the level they are being applied, long-term exposure to small amounts may have detrimental effects that are not going to be known for years to come.  

 

If you have a right of way behind you and it is regularly maintained with herbicides, do what you can to find out what they are using and when they spray. Avoid the area during spraying and stay away for several days afterward if possible. 

 

Underground pipelines, if we look at the entire network as a whole, may represent a small risk. Look at specific parts of it, though, and it becomes a different picture. Living near a compressor station or a transmission station places the risk into a much higher category. Exposure to toxic chemicals released in fairly large quantities as part of the operation are a hazard to your health. Proximity to an old transmission station located out in the rural areas may very well still be contaminated with hundreds of pounds of PCBs buried right where the company left them years ago. 

 

The first step towards addressing this potential hazard is finding out if there are any stations near you. There should be a map of them with your local environmental health agency. For what it’s worth, I would not live anywhere within a half mile of these places. Noise and chemical emissions make them a risky place to live.