'This line terrifies me': Deadly pipeline explosion stokes Bullitt homeowners' fears
JONATHAN BULLINGTON | LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL
12:35 p.m. EDT Aug. 6, 2019
Fly over the site of the gas pipeline explosion in Lincoln County
One person was killed and several others were injured in a gas pipeline rupture overnight in Lincoln County. Take a look at the scene from overhead.
BY MICHAEL CLEVENGER/COURIER JOURNAL, LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL
Last week’s deadly gas pipeline explosion in Lincoln County lays bare the fears of Vanessa Allen and other Bullitt County residents fighting to stop Louisville Gas and Electric Co. from running a natural gas pipeline through their land.
“This line terrifies me,” Allen, 46, said of the power company’s planned pipeline project. “It’s not safe. Period.”
Allen is among 10 landowners sued last week by LG&E in its effort to secure the rights to build a 12-mile natural gas transmission pipeline connecting a distribution line in eastern Bullitt County to a line near Interstate 65.
LG&E is using eminent domain to force the homeowners and Bernheim Forest to allow the new pipeline across their land.
LG&E officials have said the new coated steel pipeline, which will be 12 inches in diameter, is needed to meet the growing demand for natural gas in Bullitt County, which is projected to add 8,800 residents over a 10-year period from 2015 to 2025, according to figures from the county’s Economic Development Authority.
The county’s residential and commercial growth — including a planned expansion project at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont — have taxed the utility’s existing natural gas distribution system, LG&E officials said, and any new service requests are being evaluated case by case.
“We are at that point, and to be able to serve those new and expanded requests, this is an effort to move the project forward,” LG&E spokeswoman Natasha Collins said of the condemnation lawsuits.
Read more: Federal investigator says there will be no quick answers for gas explosion
Holdouts don't want a pipeline on their land
All but 10 of the 60 landowners along the proposed pipeline route have reached agreements with LG&E for construction of the pipeline.
Among the holdouts is Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, which in October 2018 purchased a 494-acre property that includes about 8 acres in the pipeline’s path. The purchase included conservation grant funds that restrict the land’s use and prohibit pipeline construction.
While the nonprofit’s leaders have saidthe pipeline project could adversely impact land inhabited by endangered Indiana bats and two species of rare snails, what happened last week in Lincoln County represents a far greater concern.
“Someone asked us at a meeting: ‘What’s the worst-case scenario?’” said Bernheim Executive Director Mark Wourms. “The worst-case scenario is a pipeline explodes in the summer and sets thousands of acres of our land on fire, or the very worst, the loss of life or injury. It’s rare these things happen, but they do happen.”
See also: Bernheim Forest will fight to stop LG&E from using land to build pipeline
Bernheim property threatened by LG&E plans to build pipeline
Fatal pipeline accidents happen every year
Gas pipeline explosions are relatively rare given the roughly 2.5 million miles of underground pipelines that crisscross the United States.
Still, gas pipelines incidents have killed roughly 15 people a year over the last five years, according to data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the agency within the Department of Transportation chiefly responsible for regulating the industry.
Federal authorities have not pinpointed the cause of last week's explosion in a 62-year-old pipeline owned by Canada-based Enbridge.
The blast killed Lisa Denise Derringer, 58, injured five others and damaged at least nine homes in the Indian Camp mobile home park in Stanford. One of those residents, Connie Crews, 61, told the Courier Journal she had been afraid of the pipeline near her house.
Collins, the LG&E spokeswoman, said the company's pipeline will be built and tested following all federal safety regulations before being placed in service.
Once in service, it will be monitored through a central control room capable of alerting staff around the clock to any abnormal operating conditions.
Pipelines are regularly inspected for signs of leaks or corrosion, she added, and an odor is added to natural gas to aid in leak detection. She said the company also works closely with state and local leaders to make sure members of the public follow Kentucky’s 811 law in notifying the utility before doing any digging near pipelines.
“It all goes back to safety being our No. 1 priority,” she said.
Collins said staff will walk the line’s path or fly over its route at least once a year, using special equipment designed to detect leaks or other issues in the pipeline. Some stretches of the proposed pipeline could receive more frequent inspections, she added, based on their proximity to higher population areas.
Those assurances do little to ease Allen's mind. Longtime residents of Bullitt County, she and her husband bought the land eyed by LG&E three years ago and built their home in the hopes of finding peace and quiet.
The pipeline dispute, she said, has robbed them of that wish.
Allen said the land near her home and her neighbors’ homes seems poorly suited for a pipeline. There are sinkholes near one spot on the proposed route, and caves on her land.
Another area is prone to flooding or near existing utilities — some of them aging.
She also noted a 2014 explosion in an LG&E gas line in Oldham County.
Three people were injured in that explosion, and the state’s Public Service Commission later levied a $395,000 fine against LG&E for failing to properly install mechanical coupling between two pipe sections.
“For me to say 'What if this line explodes?' it’s not a far-fetched idea,” she said. “It very well could.”
Related: Gas pipeline explosion killed a 'real good woman,' her neighbors say
Reach Jonathan Bullington at jbullington@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4241 or on Twitter @jrbullington