Slashdot Mirror
Thousands of Gas Leaks Discovered Under Streets of Washington DC
First time accepted submitter gallifreyan99 writes "Researchers from Duke revealed today that they had discovered nearly 5,900 gas leaks under the streets of Washington DC, including 12 that posed a serious risk of explosion. And it's not just Washington: a gas industry whistleblower who is part of the team showed this was happening in cities all over America."
take care of the massive rat problem at 1st & Capitol NE?
Good to know that private enterprise is taking such good care of their infrastructure - so much better than anything the government might operate *snort*.
I am sure they will ask for a rate increase to perform the maintenance that they should have been doing all along - can't take that kind of money from the shareholders (owners.)
Keep the profits private and the losses public - that's the ticket.
This happens all over the place, including serious enough leaks that can cause explosions. Occasionally you hear about a building/house/etc blowing up because gas has leaked in from a line out front, or was run under a building, or something else. The only solution is checking, that and running new pipe. In my area back about 15 years ago Union Gas replaced all of the old turn of the century cast iron pipe with plastic. There was no shortage of the old stuff cracking and having developed leaks over the last 100 years. And of course, they checked every house along the way to the meter and if need be they dug up your front yard and replaced the pipe.
I'm actually not sure why the whistleblower thing is "needed" being that anyone who went to highschool(at least in Canada), knows that this is an issue. And yet, we have NG all over the place, or propane if you're too far off the line, or oil. And of course there's still plenty of people who don't have any of those, and are pure electric or wood.
Om, nomnomnom...
"The latest teenage prank is to throw lighted matches and cigarettes down manholes in Washington, DC."
"Gas company announces it needs to raise rates to fix leaks."
...A few months go by of more efficient gas lines - meaning less wasted into the atmosphere.
"Gas company CEO gets bonus for increased profits. Writes book on how to be a great CEO."
He then appears on CNBC and is introduced as Blow Hard Jack and pontificates on how a business should be run. CNBC talking heads fawn all over him and blame Democrats for the poor business climate.
DC residents stuck with higher rates while CEO and shareholders rake it in. But hey, they worked HARD for it - they had to READ a news headline in the paper about their operational stupidity. The thought of proactively looking for leaks never crossed their mind.
Back when I lived in DC (late 1990s) there were regular reports of exploding manholes ... with the best guess of the cause being a combination of gas leaks and electrical shorts. Of couse, in the report on the problem blamed PEPCO (electrical) not Washington Gas.
About 10 years ago, they had a solution -- install manholes with vent holes in them, so the gas pressure can't build up as easily. Of course, you instead get extra water underground, which can lead to faster corrosion of pipes.
Last year, when the methane levels were first reported, the estimate was 38 exploding manholes per year ... so I'm guessing the vented covers have been less than successful.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Do you hear that? That's the sound of the US crumbling under unregulated greed and power.
Brave Sir Robin ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!")
I always knew WDC was full of gas.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
There isn't anything ere to be worried about folks.
There are thousands and thousands of miles of 60 plus year old cast iron and steel pipe. These pipes expand and contract over time and wiggle themselves loose. Typically these leaks are very small and are no danger to the public, which is why they are allowed to persist. Every natural gas utility in the United States is required to have a leak management program which is monitored by the state they reside in and the Department of Transportation. Most natural gas utilities have capital infrastructure projects in place to replace these old pipes with new plastic pipe, which is more flexible and creates a very strong joint. The creation of these programs is directly related to the regulatory agencies mandating a reduction in leaks each year.
If you do ever smell natural gas (which actually doesn't smell, mercaptain is added for the fart smell) please call your utility and report it.
I am an engineer at a natural gas utility and it is my job manage the installation of plastic pipe and deal with these leaks.
That's Ok! I don't see any need for job-killing regulations for the energy industry in Washington! If anything they need LESS regulation, or someone will outsource all those gas jobs to China! Congress doesn't want to kill jobs do they?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It's not about the danger of gas explosions ; larger gas leaks that pose safety concerns are usually addressed if they are detected. It's about the thousands of small leaks, that the gas industry often ignores as being too small to pose any risk. In this the second link is very informative: not only are these small leaks killing trees and vegetation in the vicinity of where they occur, but collectively they are leaking a large amount of methane into the atmosphere that contributes to global warming. And given that methane is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas, it means if the estimates of the leaks were to be correct, natural gas would actually be worse for global warming than coal. This would have powerful implications for US energy policy, given that natural gas is being sold as a cleaner burning fossil fuel, when the leaks completely undermine it's "clean" premise.
Riiiiiiight. And it has nothing at all to do with big businesses doing everything they can to hoard profits, and idiot apologists like you that think that there is nothing wrong with that fact.
Electricity was deregulated in California. What happened? Prices shot up, service deteriorated. Do I need to mention Enron?
How many times have you opened up the paper to see stories about companies laying off thousands of workers, not because the business is losing money, but because they arn't making *enough profit*. There is no such things as an honest public company as long as they are required by law to put their investors above all others. The sheer number of examples is virtually limitless.
If Washington Gas (for example) was such a benevolent little angel, why did they have to be *ordered* by the commission to upgrade pipes? How many times has there been a massive ecological disaster because an oil company was too cheap to implement basic precautions?
So spare me your bullshit. Libertarian is synonymous with "I've got mine, fuck you!", for good reason, whether you like it or not.