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News > World

Gas Pipeline Explosion Turns Night to Day in Texas

  • Over 10,000 pipeline ruptures have occurred in the United States since 1995.

    Over 10,000 pipeline ruptures have occurred in the United States since 1995. | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 June 2015
Opinion

Texas has now seen at least five major oil or gas pipeline spills since the start of the year.

Several homes were evacuated in southern Texas after a massive fire was sparked by a gas pipeline rupture and explosion Sunday. The fire was out by early morning Monday, according to local officials.

Witnesses said the blaze lit up the night sky like “daylight” near the small town of Cuero, according to Texan newspaper The Victoria Advocate.

 

“You can feel the heat... It was pretty intense,” witness Roger Zimmerman told the newspaper. “I never saw anything like this before,” he added.

 

A spokesperson from the Texas energy company Energy Transfer Partners has stated the blaze was sparked when a gas pipeline ruptured around 8:00 p.m. local time Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

 

 

The company says it has since rerouted gas away from the ruptured line, and has vowed to launch an investigation into the cause.

The incident is at least the fifth notable oil or gas pipeline rupture in Texas since the start of the year, and just one of more than 10 such incidents across the United States since January.

One of the worst ruptures this year was an oil spill in Santa Barbara County, California in May. A ruptured pipeline spewed an estimated 2,400 barrels of crude along a California beach, prompting warnings of an environmental disaster in the region.

Last year, over 704 such incidents were reported nationwide, according to figures from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation. That averages to close to two spills a day throughout 2014.

Data from the PHMSA puts the total number of spills in the past two decades at over 10,000, which have resulted in 371 deaths and over US$6 billion in property damage.

RELATED: Massive Oil Spill Spill Into California Ocean, Beaches

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