From the CIRC:

Natural Gas Line Explosion Forces Closure of State Highway Location Date of Incident Rangely, CO, United States 1/11/2000- 7:30 PM CSB Incident Number NRC Report Number Board Ref. Number 2000-4585 None Reported None Reported Current Status Date of Report Update No CSB Action 1/12/2000 - 2:30 PM Incident Types Location Types - Release to Environment In Transit (Pipeline) Evacuations Injuries Fatalities Yes - Number Unknown None Reported None Reported Chemicals Involved - Natural Gas Description or Latest Development ----- Information Added: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 - 2:34 PM ----- The 8-inch gas line operated by Public Service Co. ruptured and created a large crater on Colorado Highway 139, forcing its closure last night.

The line break happened in a remote area near Douglas Pass in Rio Blanco County.

Several homes were evacuated, but there were no reports of injuries.

The gas, which spewed from the pipeline break, did not ignite.

-- tt (cuddluppy@ao.com), January 12, 2000

Answers

Thanks for the info, tt!! This looks VERY much like a Y2K problem. Keep us informed!

-- (brian@holer.net), January 12, 2000.

Dear Cuddles-- What is the "CIRC?"

-- Pam Goodrich (jpjgood@penn.com), January 12, 2000.

An Explosion chronicle, Justpeace Link.
Robert has not updated this in a while, but it has some good historical value.

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), January 12, 2000.

tt

I don't really believe this is Y2K related. This appears to be a common type of failure on unprotected (cathodic protection) pipelines due to differential aeration related corrosion or a shorted cased crossing. For more information on pipeline corrosion and cathodic protection please visit the National Association of Corrosion Engineers at www.nace.org. For pipeline safety regulations and incident reports go to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). I don't have the site handy. Sorry.

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 12, 2000.

Ya, dese happin' all de time. I don't know how many craters I've driven by caused by natural gas pipeline failures.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 12, 2000.

Hey Guy

Quit trolling. They actually do happen "all the time". Go to OPS and read. The severe ones make the headlines. Now go along and place nicely.

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 12, 2000.

Hey PA engineer!! You piqued my ire!

"This appears to be a common type of failure on unprotected (cathodic protection) pipelines due to differential aeration related corrosion or a shorted cased crossing."

If this was common, natural gas companies wouldn't survive. How much product was spewed into the atmosphere? "Oh, not very much, just enough to warm a town of 10,000 for a week." That would be an expensive overhead cost if it was "common".

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 12, 2000.

Guy

I will be nice this time. Happens all the time means this is one of the most common causes of corrosion failures. Back in the late 60's, I believe it was 1967 the Senate passed into law a set of regulations requiring cathodic protection of all pipelines. Coated installations were on the strictest schedule for protection and existing bare steel and cast iron were allowed an extended period with other flexible protection options. This was in answer to failures that had claimed many lives previous to onset of I beleive it was CFR 194. Thirty plus years later the corrosion engineering field is still quite busy designing and testing cathodic protection installations throughout the world. Why? Because many installations still are not protected and regulation enforcement is not until after the fact (failure). I'm sure in your mind you only envision a failure as a tornado sounding cloud of death. It is not normally that fanciful due to a number of factors. There may simply be a brown out of a grassy area or a trail of bubbles at a river crossing. Large failures like gory car crashes make the news. Using your own way of thinking we could say car crashes don't occur every day because of the lack of blood stained blankets and severed limbs at a crash scene. Crashes due occur every day however the reporting is missing. Ask your insurance company. Well enough explaining to a troll. This type of leak and I suspect the cause was corrosion secondary to differential aeration corrosion was not Y2K related. If you would like to make a bet than I will be happy to take your money:) Finally, I have investigated failures domestically and internationally where deaths did occur. A corrosion failure of a gas line (HP48"X) did in fact leave everything and everyone toast at my last investigation prior to switching to a less stressful line of work.

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 12, 2000.

sorry i can't get the a better link than this. the web site doesn't seem to provide links to its subsections.

http://www.humanitarian.net/ (go to the CIRC section)

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), January 12, 2000.

Alright PA engineer, thanks for the input. That's the first time I was called a troll - sarcasm is my specialty.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 13, 2000.