Deer Park pipeline fire report finds ‘no violations’ of safety regulations
The Railroad Commission of Texas has completed its investigation into the Deer Park pipeline fire and found no evidence of safety violations linked to the incident.
The commission determined in its report that the operator of the above-ground pipeline valve, Energy Transfer Company, was not at fault, the Houston Landing first reported.
The Sept. 16 explosion occurred after an SUV crashed into the natural gas pipeline, killing the driver, and setting off a fire that burned for four days, forced an evacuation of nearby homes and businesses and damaged property.
The pipeline was encircled by a chain link fence and situated in an open field off Spencer Highway between a Walmart Supercenter and residential neighborhoods, which in the aftermath of the explosion, raised concerns from residents.
Energy Transfer Company’s investigation determined that the direct cause of the fire was the SUV crashing into the pipeline valve, which caused its rupture and led to the fatality, according to the report.
To “minimize the possibility of recurrence,” the company installed concrete barricades around the pipeline’s perimeter, the report states. The damaged three-inch pipeline valve was replaced and had resumed services by Sept. 22.
“The Railroad Commission did its job and the findings are in line with current pipeline safety rules. Perhaps its time for state officials to revisit how best to keep communities safe," said Scott Spiegel, a spokesperson for Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia's office.
The pipeline is one of many buried below ground in the Houston region.
The railroad commission’s conclusion that no safety violations contributed to the explosion is a frustrating one for public safety advocates, said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a national watchdog nonprofit that promotes pipeline safety.
Caram cites a section in the pipeline safety code that says valves should be protected from — in the code's terms — “damage and tampering."
“The fact that the valve was able to be damaged is proof that (Energy Transfer) was out of compliance with the code, that it wasn’t properly protected,” Caram said.
Residents in the East Meadow Drive subdivision told the Chronicle in the days following explosion about major damage to their properties from the intense and smoldering heat from the burning fire, including melted cars and decimated houses. The fire caused more than $1.3 million in property damages to the nearby community.
“This is exactly why a lot of people don’t want pipelines in their backyards or through their communities,” said Caram.
The report, Caram said, lacks detail about how the commission came to its findings, and ultimately leaves residents dealing with the personal and financial fallout to"fend for themselves."
"You would certainly hope that if that pipeline did fail, the operator would take care of you,” he said. “From what I understand of what’s happening around that failure (in Deer Park), that’s not happening."
Pipeline operators, Carem said, have a "responsibility to keep the people around their pipelines safe", whether the threat is direct — such as erosion or the quality of the well, or indirect, such as excavation damage or vehicle damage.
While the concrete barriers that replaced the chain link fence does give nearby residents an improved degree of protection, said Carem, the railroad commission's report provides a weak incentive for other pipeline operators throughout the U.S. to follow suit.
"There are a lot of pipeline operators in the Houston area, and I don't think that Energy Transfer not being found liable by the railroad commission is going to instill a lot of motivation to other operators to be looking at their infrastructures ... and seeing where could this could happen and getting ahead of it by putting in concrete barriers."
Energy Transfer did not respond to requests for comment.
Three weeks after the incident, the Houston Chronicle reported that ETC’s pollution analysis of the incident incorrectly stated that the fire lasted 10 hours when it lasted several days, prompting state officials to investigate the company's report.
In late January, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the cause of death of the driver of the SUV, 51-year-old La Porte resident, Jonathan McEvoy Sr., to be suicide.