Pike County wants answers from pipeline company

Company says explosion was part of routine test

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA - The Pike County attorney made three requests in a November 11 letter to the Columbia Gas Transportation and Storage Company after an explosion of the line on November 5.

So far, attorney Thomas Farley has not gotten an answer.

On November 5, a Columbia pipeline near the intersection of I-84 and Route 6 exploded, throwing a large chunk of iron pipe a hundred yards away when the company, in a test, raised the pressure of the line. No one was injured and the gas line was quickly shut down.

Columbia technicians were walking the line at that time. None were near the site of the explosion.

Farley’s first request asked the company to explain the cause of the incident. The second asked how the company intended to repair the pipeline and the surrounding area. The third asked what procedures would be incorporated or adopted by the company to prohibit this incident from occurring again.

“The pipeline runs through a large portion of Pike County,” Farley said. “I specifically asked if Columbia Gas intends to increase the pressure to the line.”

“We are attempting to address each of these concerns,” said Kelly Merritt, company spokesman. “We are working through the U.S. Department of Transportation, who has jurisdiction in these matters, and have been in communication with the Pike County Conservation District.”

There is speculation that the pressure test is a preemptive exploration to move gas, which is potentially available in the Marcellus Shale deposit in Pennsylvania, to market. That gas would have to be transported across the river to the newly constructed Millennium Pipeline, which has a pressure higher than Columbia’s.

Merritt said that the tests were routine and were not related to the transportation of gas to any other pipeline.