"Their [FracTracker] analysis covered three types of pipelines: natural gas transmission lines that carry natural gas from production areas to processing plants and municipal distribution areas, liquids (including oil), and natural gas distribution lines that carry gas from plants to customers. . . .
They concluded that hazardous liquids pipelines cause the majority of incidents (64%) and damages (also 64%) even though the liquids account for less than 8% of the total mileage of the network.
Natural gas distribution lines account for most injuries (79%), deaths (73%), evacuees (62%), fires (71%), and explosions (78%)."
Two things strike me about these statistics. First, there is no comparative analysis of safety vis-a-vis other means of transporting and distributing using pipelines. And second, the lions share of injuries, deaths, evacuations, fires, and explosions were in pipelines that distribute natural gas to customers, which would primarily be private residences. There really is no other reasonable means to distribute natural gas. The only real alternative is to convert homes to all electric, which I don't see happening for a VERY long time, if ever.
I used to work at Colonial Pipeline (yeah, the same one that doesn't have very secure IT standards), and we used to regularly have leaks. Our pipeline was low pressure, refined product, so the leaks would typically not be dangerous. They'd just make a big mess. Usually Colpipe would roll up with a VERY generous offer to buy the property that we'd just messed up. In the rare case that the pipeline broke near a river, it was an all-hands sort of thing. Basically everyone at the company would go out there and help cleanup, working 8 hours on, 8 hours off, until the cleanup was over. Those were kind of the most fun times at that job, actually. But in the end, we'd clean up the mess and move on. Spilling some gasoline on some dirt it turns out isn't the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. Even if it's a lot of gasoline, it's actually pretty manageable. Rivers were a bit tougher, but not as bad as you'd think. You can actually catch it and syphon it off the top of the river, as it floats.
Specifically, they're from NRDC.org
I believe I found what you were referring to here:
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amy-mall/pipeline-incident-statistics-reveal-significant-dangers
Some excerpts:
"Their [FracTracker] analysis covered three types of pipelines: natural gas transmission lines that carry natural gas from production areas to processing plants and municipal distribution areas, liquids (including oil), and natural gas distribution lines that carry gas from plants to customers. . . .
They concluded that hazardous liquids pipelines cause the majority of incidents (64%) and damages (also 64%) even though the liquids account for less than 8% of the total mileage of the network.
Natural gas distribution lines account for most injuries (79%), deaths (73%), evacuees (62%), fires (71%), and explosions (78%)."
Two things strike me about these statistics. First, there is no comparative analysis of safety vis-a-vis other means of transporting and distributing using pipelines. And second, the lions share of injuries, deaths, evacuations, fires, and explosions were in pipelines that distribute natural gas to customers, which would primarily be private residences. There really is no other reasonable means to distribute natural gas. The only real alternative is to convert homes to all electric, which I don't see happening for a VERY long time, if ever.
I used to work at Colonial Pipeline (yeah, the same one that doesn't have very secure IT standards), and we used to regularly have leaks. Our pipeline was low pressure, refined product, so the leaks would typically not be dangerous. They'd just make a big mess. Usually Colpipe would roll up with a VERY generous offer to buy the property that we'd just messed up. In the rare case that the pipeline broke near a river, it was an all-hands sort of thing. Basically everyone at the company would go out there and help cleanup, working 8 hours on, 8 hours off, until the cleanup was over. Those were kind of the most fun times at that job, actually. But in the end, we'd clean up the mess and move on. Spilling some gasoline on some dirt it turns out isn't the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. Even if it's a lot of gasoline, it's actually pretty manageable. Rivers were a bit tougher, but not as bad as you'd think. You can actually catch it and syphon it off the top of the river, as it floats.