GAS LINE EXPLOSION SAFETY Risk Exists With 15,000 Miles Of Gas Pipeline In West Virginia
Reported by: Associated Press
Web Producer: Bethany Simmons
Reported: Dec. 12, 2012 10:17 AM EST
Updated: Dec. 12, 2012 10:51 AM EST
Eyewitness News Photo
Charleston
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
Nearly 15,000 miles of natural gas pipeline stretch across West Virginia, and as Sissonville residents now know, accidents can happen.
Federal regulators said there have been 20 significant incidents involving deaths, injuries or major property damage in West Virginia in the last decade.
The worst was in April 2006, when four men at a Canaan Valley construction site were killed in a blast later blamed on a cracked pipe.
Four homes were destroyed Tuesday and a section of Interstate 77 was cooked when a 20-inch Columbia Gas transmission line exploded and triggered a massive fire.
No one was killed. The cause is under investigation.
The Charleston Gazette reported experts consider pipelines a safer way to move gas than rail, truck or barge, but many gaps remain in regulatory oversight.
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Associated Press
