TALTY, Texas — Pipeline concerns continue to mount in wake of a town hall meeting last week between Talty-area residents, Atmos representatives, and Kaufman County emergency management personnel.
TALTY, Texas — Pipeline concerns continue to mount in wake of a town hall meeting last week between Talty-area residents, Atmos representatives, and Kaufman County emergency management personnel.
Area residents initially became concerned about an above ground natural gas pipeline facility near the intersection of Farm-to-Market (FM) 148 and FM 2932 when, during Thanksgiving week, a relief valve at the site activated more than once, for several hours on one occasion, and prompted an evacuation preparatory statement to be sent to area residents.
Neighbors described the release of natural gas from the relief valve as alarming, extremely loud, sounding like a jet engine, and discomforting.
Atmos, in a statement to inForney.com, said the issue was not a gas leak, as many had feared, but a controlled release of natural gas into the atmosphere from a relief valve, in accordance with applicable guidelines and regulations.
Atmos Vice President of Operations Jeff Martinez, in the town hall meeting last Thursday night, said the root cause of the issue was identified at the time and a permanent repair was made to the facility.
“We identified the root cause late Friday night and we repaired the regulator that actually caused the relief valve to open,” stated Martinez. “On Friday night, after identifying root cause, the permanent repair was made.”
“We don't anticipate that relief valve is going to open up again because we did identify the root cause,” he said.
Martinez said the relief valve was triggered by weld slag, a small piece of material byproduct produced during welding, which was lodged in between the relief valve’s boot and core.
Early Thursday morning, December 8, 2016, just a week after the town hall meeting, the relief valve again triggered, awaking a nearby resident who called 911.
This instance would only last a couple minutes, according to officials, but it was another valve activation later in the morning that would go for approximately an hour before a technician manually shut down the pipeline that continues to cause concern with area residents.
A request for additional comment on the latest incident from Atmos has been made by inForney.com and was not available at the time of this report.
Residents during the town hall meeting cited additional concerns over initial lack of communication the line was placed in service, something Martinez says Atmos could have done a better job communicating.
To compound the residents’ concerns, the affected area falls in between two 911 call centers — Forney and Kaufman County — which resulted in area residents receiving conflicting information on whether to evacuate, the current condition of the line, and the precautionary measures they should take in the event of an emergency.
Not only were residents receiving conflicting information from the two dispatch centers, but residents say Atmos representatives were also providing conflicting information with each phone call.
Martinez assured those in attendance of the town hall meeting that the release of natural gas into the atmosphere “does not cause a safety issue” or “unsafe condition” because natural gas is lighter than air and dissipates quickly into the atmosphere.
Residents were encouraged to sign up, or opt in, for the county’s emergency notification system to ensure delivery of emergency notifications. Kaufman County Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Howie says the system currently is only able to contact numbers which are listed in white and yellow pages as well as those who have opted-in to receive notifications.
To sign up for emergency notifications, visit the county’s website, here: https://member.everbridge.net/index/892807736721941#/login
Those unable to access the website can contact the Office of Emergency Management for assistance opting in to the program at (972) 932-9695.
Howie says the county is working on a system which utilizes Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) which will enable the county to send emergency notifications directly to mobile devices in range of a cell tower in an affected zone of emergency. The notifications will be sent to any phones in the zone of emergency which are using the particular cell tower.
Howie says the county has the equipment in place and is awaiting approval from the federal government. He says he anticipates the county will be able to utilize WEA notifications by spring of 2017.
