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 Pipeline
owner vague on break's cause
LAKE
WORTH -- The energy company that owns a pipeline that broke
last week -- releasing noxious, flammable plumes 30 feet high
and sending more than a dozen Lake Worth High School students
to the hospital -- isn't exactly sure why the pipe broke. 
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Pipeline
results are in; inspections could have prevented explosion
that killed 12
WASHINGTON
- Federal investigators recommended on Tuesday a nationwide
regimen of pipeline inspections that they said could have
prevented an explosion near Carlsbad, 2 years ago that killed
a dozen campers - an extended family. The National Transportation
Safety Board said the explosion resulted from water and other
corrosives that had eaten through a section of the pipeline,
which had not been appropriately cleaned or inspected.
The corrosion
should have been detected by El Paso Natural Gas Co., the
pipeline's operator, and the company's failure to monitor
corrosion in the line properly should have been discovered
by government inspectors, NTSB investigators said.
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President
Signs Pipeline Safety Act:
Reformers Gain Ground
 President
George Bush and Congress ended a nearly three-year standoff
between reformers and the pipeline industry about reauthorizing
the Pipeline Safety Act on December 17, when he signed the reauthorization
bill into law, without comment or other fanfare. "For the
first time in a decade, Congress has put people and environmental
protections before the profit of pipeline companies," said Rep.
John Dingell (D-Mich.), who with Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.),
were primary authors of the bill, H.R. 3609, titled "The Pipeline
Infrastructure Protection to Enhance Security and Safety Act."
The Senate last year approved S. 235 by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.),
which was less stringent than what reformers wanted, and a similar
bill passed in April 2002 as part of the Senate energy bill.
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 PROPERTY
OWNERS UNITE TO STOP DUKE ENERGY'S PIPELINE
Duke
Energy plans to build a 24-inch-diameter gas pipeline through
a state park, a river and within 25 miles of residential homes
in Carroll County, VA. Carroll County's Blue Ridge Coalition,
a grass-roots organization, is trying to stop the project. But,
time is not on the pipeline opponents' side. The project could
receive final federal regulatory approval by the end of the
month, and Duke plans to break ground soon after that. |
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 REGULATORS
FAIL TO SANCTION OR STOP LEAKING ALASKA PIPELINE
Some 1,000 miles of oil and gas
pipelines in the Alaska's Cook Inlet Watershed, an area the
size of Virginia, had an average of one accident per month from
1997 to 2001. They spilled 261,620 gallons of crude oil... |
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OLYMPIC
PIPELINE COMPANY WANTS CASE DISMISSED
 Facing
federal criminal prosecution for the deaths of two children
and a young man in the Bellingham WA explosion of its pipeline
on June 10, 1999, Olympic Pipeline earlier this year moved to
dismiss charges... |
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PARENTS
WIN $75 MILLION SETTLEMENT
 The
parents of Wade King and Stephen Tsiorvas, killed in Olympic
Pipelineís Bellingham WA 1999 explosion as they played in
their neighborhood, won $75 million in a settlement on April
10 that sent a strong message to the industry about their
unsafe practices.
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 2001
PIPELINE COMPANY PROFITS: ANOTHER BREATHTAKING YEAR!
"Breathtaking"
is word that comes to mind in describing the pipeline industry's
profits in 2001 – and even the last two decades.
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SMALLEY
FOUNDATION SAFETY INITIATIVES
 Teenage
friends Danielle Smalley and Jason Stone died tragically when
a Koch Industries Inc. butane pipeline in Kaufman County,
TX exploded in flames and burned them to death in August 1996.
Some of the proceeds of the $296 million dollar jury verdict
are funding the Smalley Foundation...
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INDUSTRY
AND REGULATORS LAX
 The
series consists of nearly 20 articles, editorials and columns,
as well as numerous letters to the editor -- documenting several
recent pipeline disasters, lax federal and state regulators,
and careless industry practices.
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EL
PASO PIPELINE DISASTER UPDATE
 Enforcement
proceedings are moving slowly two years after an El Paso Natural
Gas pipeline exploded near Carlsbad NM in August 2000, killing
12 members of an extended family that were camped nearby.
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