Cause Of Gas Explosion Still Unknown

About a month and a half ago, a natural gas pipeline fractured near the rural town of Bushland in the Texas Panhandle. There was an explosion that sent flames over 700 feet into the air, and a nearby home was burned to the ground. The explosion rattled windows in Amarillo several miles away, and it took two hours to get the pipeline shut down and the fire under control.

It is still unclear just what caused the pipeline to fracture and explode. El Paso Natural Gas, who owns the pipeline, said there was no corrosion involved, no leaks and no defects in a weld connecting the pipes at the junction. In other words, they just don't know how or why the pipeline exploded.

They are moving the pipeline a little farther from the town though. After they have updated the pipeline, it will not be closer than 400-600 feet from any residence in Bushland (population 1500).

Are you listening Fort Worth? Do you think this can't happen to you. Driven by greed, the Fort Worth City Council has approved the drilling for natural gas in its newly renovated downtown area. Making matters even worse, many property owners inside the city and its suburbs have also signed leases to allow the gas companies to drill.

These politicians and citizens have virtually set off a ticking time bomb inside their own city. I'm sure they all believe nothing can happen. After all, the gas companies have assured them they will be safe and all precautions will be taken. But don't you think the people of Bushland were told the same thing?

Not only will there be gas drilling in the city limits, but to transport that gas there will be miles of pipelines criss-crossing the city. It's not a matter of if, but when an explosion similar to the one in Bushland happens in Fort Worth. And that explosion will be a lot worse and cause a lot more damage in an urban or suburban area.

Wake up Fort Worth! The few dollars you are putting into your pockets now are small payment for what the future destruction will be. It's time to throw the gas companies out and outlaw drilling within the city limits.

Gas Explosion In Potter County

Things got a little dicey here in Potter County early Thursday morning. A gas pipeline ruptured at a pumping station near the rural community of Bushland (about 14 miles east of Amarillo), resulting in a huge explosion and a 700 foot high fireball.

The explosion was heard and rattled windows in Amarillo. At least three people were injured and one house was completely destroyed. It took nearly two hours to get the main gas pipeline shut down and control the fire.

The lucky thing was the explosion happened in a rural area, and injuries and property damage were kept to a minimum. What if this had happened in the middle of a highly populated urban area?

The people of Fort Worth should consider this as a warning for what could happen to their city in the future. I have posted before about how the citizens of that city are signing leases that will let the gas companies drill within the city limits of the urban area. Even if the drilling goes without a calamity happening, it will leave miles of pipelines and pumping stations within the city.

If (or when) this happens in Fort Worth, there will be a lot more than one house burned down or three people injured.

Palin Rigged Pipeline Builder Selection

Sarah Palin has repeatedly referred to her approval of a $40 billion natural gas pipeline as evidence of her competence and ability to help solve America's energy problems. The pipeline would bring natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states. But now it looks like it is just more evidence of old-style Republican favoritism.

Before the selection process, Palin had said the process would be fair and without government pre-conditions, but then she set some conditions on the bidding that cut out the gas producers and most other companies. It turns out that those conditions actually favored only one company -- TransCanada, the company that was awarded the contract.

Palin had also promised not to talk with any of the bidding companies, but broke that promise by having phone conversations and meetings with several companies, including TransCanada. But then, how can you rig a process for something you don't understand without talking to the bidders?

In addition, a former executive of TransCanada served as a consultant to the pipeline team put together by Palin. A member of that pipeline team was a woman who had done some lobbying for a subsidiary of TransCanada, and her former partner in the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead lobbyist on the pipeline deal.

And it looks like Palin's pipeline plan is a really sweet deal for TransCanada. Four years earlier, the company had said it would build the pipeline without a government subsidy. But the Palin plan will give the company up to $500 million in subsidies.

Palin has been telling the American public that she is a maverick -- a different kind of Republican that wants to clean up government and make it fairer. It looks like she was lying. This deal smells like the same old Republican policy of enriching their friends at the expense of American citizens.

It's time to stop listening to Republican lies and boot them out of office.