Oklahoma Natural Gas could face $8.5 million in fines after a house explosion in January. Steep penalties could come if state regulators find the utility didn’t follow pipeline safety rules.
A home in the Oklahoma City neighborhood of Whispering Hollow blew up in the early morning hours of January 2. The resident who lived there was injured and his house was destroyed. The blast damaged 50 other homes nearby.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s pipeline safety staff investigated and found the plastic natural gas pipeline had leaks just five months after it was installed, according to The Journal Record’s Sarah Terry-Cobo:
There were eight previous leaks in the neighborhood, the first dating back to 1983, five months after the plastic pipeline was installed, the agency’s pipeline safety department found. But that’s not a high number of leaks, even over a 33-year time frame, Palermo said. Metal natural gas pipelines have leak rates 10- to 20-times higher than polyethylene pipes. A metal pipe might have 100 failures in a single year, so gas utilities are typically searching for leaks in metal pipelines, he said. In the Whispering Hollow Drive neighborhood, the pipeline’s welds were inadequate, according to the agency’s investigation. The 1,273-foot-long, 4-inch plastic gas main was joined together with welds known as fusion joints. Those joints can fail, and sometimes it can take years before there is a problem, Palermo said.
The regulator alleged ONG didn’t properly investigate the cause of the leaks.
A hearing is scheduled at the Corporation Commission on October 12. The judge in the case will make a recommendation to the commissioners, who will ultimately make a ruling.
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