Sabal Trail officials say pipeline is safe, needed

 

Story by Andrew Caplan / The Gainesville Sun

Opponents of the Sabal Trail pipeline for months gained inspiration from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, which ultimately attracted enough attention to temporarily suspend construction.

Picketers like to think of their Sabal Trail protests as “the next DAPL” in hopes of shutting down the Florida project. But that tide quickly shifted as President Donald Trump in his first week in office signed a pair of executive orders permitting the continuation of Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines, both halted under the previous administration.

Sabal Trail protesters still gather in the hundreds — mostly on weekends — to desperately raise awareness for what they believe is an environmentally harmful project. But despite the group’s growing numbers and 24 arrests in Florida, protesters have done little to slow construction of the 515-mile pipeline.

Andrea Grover, a spokeswoman for Spectra Energy, the pipeline’s parent company, said the pipeline is still on track for its target in-service date of summer 2017.

“All things considered, I think we’re doing really well,” she said.

Grover has heard it all.

She is continually explaining how the project is not for export, how it will not affect the Floridan aquifer and how people are not within a set radius commonly referred to as an “explosion zone,” despite rumors to the contrary.

“A lot of different checks and balances go into the operations of the pipeline to make sure it stays safe,” she said.

The need

Some question why the pipeline is even being built. Why not alternatives like solar or wind?

Grover said the natural gas that will flow through the 3-foot-wide pipeline is the safest and most reliable source of energy. It will bring more than a billion cubic feet of liquid natural gas through a dozen counties in Florida.

Additionally, it will be used for in-state residents, which projections show will be needed by 2024.

Florida is already heavily dependent on natural gas, as nearly two-thirds of the state uses it for electricity. Last year, Florida was second to Texas in net electricity generation and third nationally in consumption.

The two other major pipelines in Florida are the Gulfstream and the Florida Gas Transmission pipelines. Gulfstream, Grover said, already has its gas “totally subscribed.” A majority of the other pipeline’s supply is spoken for, as well.

The Sabal Trail pipeline will go to Florida Power and Light, which first called for a modernization of its facilities by shutting down its oil and coal plants, and Duke Energy, which is building a gas and fire facility.

Neither existing pipeline would be able to feed those plants’ needs, Grover said.

Affecting the environment

The pipeline will start in Alabama off the Transco pipeline, go into Georgia and through Central Florida before branching off to Citrus County’s Duke Energy and down into Martin County for FP&L.

A total of 699 bodies of water will be crossed in the process, 372 by Sabal Trail specifically.

This has “water protectors” fearing a contamination of springs or the aquifer is inevitable. But Grover says that’s not the case.

If there was a leak or malfunction in the line, Grover said workers have the ability to monitor the temperature and pressure of the pipeline’s gas in real time and can remotely shut off portions of the line. Further, she said, if natural gas did leak, it would float up through water and soil and dissipate in the air.

Most of Southern Georgia and North Florida have the same karst terrain.

Grover said to those who fear Sabal Trail is damaging it, consider the fact that highways, buildings and cities have been built on that terrain, as well.

“Those are things that are a lot more invasive than a pipeline is.”

Officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission once shared concerns over the pipeline’s effect on the environment and karst terrain, but later flipped and approved it.

“The Commission’s environmental staff concluded based on its review of the project, Sabal Trail’s implementation of impact avoidance and minimization measures, and its consultations with the Florida Geological Survey and other resource managers that the potential for the Sabal Trail project to initiate or be affected by damaging karst conditions has been adequately minimized,” wrote Craig Cano, a FERC spokesman, in an email.

Much has also been made of water trucks being spotted pulling water from some springs. But Grover said the water is being used for multiple purposes at construction sites.

Aside from assisting in the horizontal drilling, water is pushed through the pipeline at 1.5 times the maximum pressure the pipeline would experience, to ensure there are no leaks or damages.

“It’s really part of a safety precaution before they put the pipeline in service,” Grover said.

Accidents

There are more than 200 natural gas pipelines that stretch 300,000 miles across the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In the last 20 years, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has reported almost $7 billion in costs due to pipeline issues, including 1,376 injuries and 360 deaths, across the United States. At least 23 deaths were reported in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

In Florida alone, where 268 miles of the Sabal Trail pipeline will be installed, at least 678 “serious incidents” have been reported due to all pipeline and hazardous materials accidents over last 20 years.

However, few are from natural gas pipelines.

Protesters often refer to the Sabal Trail pipeline as a “bomb,” citing other connected pipelines as evidence, but talk little of the track record on natural gas pipeline accidents or of those directly connected to Sabal Trail.

The Transco pipeline, owned by Williams Companies Inc., stretches 10,200 miles from South Texas to New York and is the largest natural gas pipeline in the United States.

It will feed Sabal Trail fracked gas in Alexander City, Alabama.

A spokesman with the Williams Companies, Chris Stockton, said the pipeline is like “a giant interstate highway system” and will supply natural gas — largely from the Haynesville Shale, a nearly 300-foot thick rock formation in parts of Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas that lies about 13,000 feet below land surface. Natural gas is extracted from the area for a low cost due to the rise of fracking and directional drilling.

The gas will enter the pipeline as methane, Stockton added.

“The majority of our gas does come from onshore production, and hydraulic fracking is one means to onshore production,” Stockton said.

The majority of gas consumed from onshore production is due to to hydraulic fracturing, Stockton added.

And like any highway, accidents are bound to happen.

Federal records show Williams Companies and the Transco pipeline have numerous incidents dating back to 1988. Issues ranged from corrosion, the pipeline’s construction, defective material and damage from outside force.

In the last 10 years, the Transco pipeline has had 56 incidents, including the deaths of four pipeline operators in Gibson, Louisiana in October 2015, totaling $52.4 million in property damage, according to federal data.

In September 2008, a part of the pipeline ruptured in Appomattox, Virginia and destroyed two homes. Corrosion was the cause of the pipeline failure. In May 2013, a compressor station exploded in Branchburg, New Jersey injuring 13 workers.

Back in 1989, Spectra Energy was fined more than $15 million by the Environmental Protection Agency for the improper disposal of waste from toxic materials at 89 sites. The company has also been responsible for about $8 million in property damages. Spectra Energy operates several pipelines across the U.S. and has seen just 42 incidents over the past 10 years, a PHMSA database shows. At least 36 of the incidents were from its Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline, with most the issues coming from corrosion.

Over the last 10 years, Florida Gas Transmission has experienced 18 incidents which resulted in five injuries and $9.4 million in property damage, the database shows.

Still, Grover said, data backups that underground travel is the safest way to transport natural gas. It can also significantly cut hours and miles off truck and train delivery routes.

Over the last 10 years, federal records show roughly 150,000 incidents occurred during moves of oil and gas along highways and railways while transporting. Over the last 20 years, all types of pipeline incidents totaled nearly 11,500.

“We want to operate a safe pipeline,” she said.

Security

Sabal Trail contractors pay law enforcement for security purposes, a long-held assumption by protesters who have said they are treated unjustly when demonstrating at sites.

Protesters have been going to various sites, provoking law enforcement and construction workers. Police are usually there waiting for them to arrive.

Chief Deputy Jeff Manning with the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office said his office has been compensated for law enforcement security by Sabal Trail’s contractors, much like they would be for any other event where organizers request off-duty officers as security. Manning said his office charges $30 per hour per deputy for service. Manning said his agency has also responded to numerous events after receiving tips of large protests and were not compensated for those efforts by Sabal Trail contractors.

Grover said it’s standard practice for all seven contractor companies that work for Sabal Trail to hire security for safety reasons, to prevent theft from its sites and to ensure protesters aren’t trespassing. The responsibility of security falls solely on contractors and not Sabal Trail, she said.

At least 24 protesters have been arrested at Sabal Trail sites in Florida. Most were released from jail within hours and warned not to trespass at other construction sites or else stiffer penalties will follow.

“It’s no different than having any secure facility or event or anything like that,” Grover said.

Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com or on Twitter @AACaplan.