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The gas is ignited in a flare so it doesn’t become a bigger problem. At night in and around Tioga, we've seen the sky lit up in the past with flares in every direction. The number of flares is decreasing as the miles of collecting pipeline are increasing. What actually exploded or caused the explosion at this gathering station? “I’m not sure,” replied Chris. “Why don’t you stop by and check it out? I’ve seen guys working there when I’m on my way to the fish house.” The local paper, the February 12th edition of the Tioga Tribune, called it a ruptured pipeline. It reported that the explosion shook homes as far away as White Earth, that it spooked cows four miles away, that residents in downtown Tioga felt the shocks, but there was no threat to the public and no one was injured. On Monday, February 17th, Jenny and the kids and I drove to the explosion site to “check it out,” as Chris suggested. Addie and Gunnar, a 5th grader and a 3rd grader, were along because it was Presidents’ Day and there was no school. Allan and Christopher were at the fish house on Lake Sakakawea, about twenty minutes from their home. So Jenny was behind the wheel of her big new Suburban, driving across the rugged snow-covered farm field of stalks and red dirt that clung to the vehicle and then our boots like freshly-chewed gum. On this sunny blue-sky day, Addie and Gunnar picked up the red earth -- Jenny called it scoria -- and squeezed and formed it like playdough in their hands. They used their empty slushie cups to collect some of it to bring home. Kids love dirt and dogs and things outdoors. As I suspected, the reddish color of the scoria is due primarily to the presence of iron oxide, also known as common rust. It’s brighter red in color when wet, and in this case it was wet with snow. The explosion site itself was surrounded by steel fencing, part of which had melted and bent out of shape like soft licorice. An enormous crane was in the process of picking up a very large oil pipe that had a huge, rough-edged, gaping hole ripped and blown out of its middle like a spent firecracker on the Fourth of July. We watched the pipe being lifted and moved from where it exploded to a vacant space nearby. Other similar large pipes that didn’t have ruptures, but were most likely compromised in the explosion, were also then transported to the vacant area in the field. The process was like in slow motion. The four of us walked to the gate -- the gate was actually missing, having been blown somewhere -- and one of the hard-hatted workmen came over and warned us to not go past the “gate.” He was friendly and informative. What caused the explosion? Replied the worker, “There was an ice chunk in that 6-inch pipe coming from the wells, that blew off the cap. The cap struck that 36-inch steel pipe which caused a spark and an explosion. I’ve been in this business for 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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March 2014 |
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We watched the 36" diameter oil pipe with the jagged blowout hole lifted to an empty space in the field away from where the explosion happened at the Compression Station four miles from Jenny's home on Monday, February 10th, 2014. |