TALTY, Texas — Talty-area residents are holding a town hall meeting on Thursday night to address concerns they have with a newly constructed Atmos natural gas pipeline which caused alarm more than once this past week.
TALTY, Texas — Talty-area residents are holding a town hall meeting on Thursday night to address concerns they have with a newly constructed Atmos natural gas pipeline which caused alarm more than once this past week.
The meeting will be held Thursday night, December 1, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Talty Baptist Church located at 5210 North Farm-to-Market (FM) 148 — a stone’s throw away from the pipeline.
On at least three occasions, beginning Thanksgiving morning and the following days, emergency personnel were dispatched to the pipeline in reference to a reported gas leak. Atmos, in a statement to inForney.com, says the pipeline never experienced a leak but instead released natural gas into the atmosphere by way of a relief valve which was operating as designed.
The area of concern is a portion of the pipeline which is above ground on FM 148 near the intersection of FM 2932.
Area residents, frustrated with the number of incidents in the pipeline’s short-lived operation, are unsure of the dangers and are asking emergency officials to discuss those, among other things, at Thursday night’s meeting.
“I am not comfortable with this here at all,” stated Coy Hirth who lives down the street from the facility. “And to know that it is possible for it to leak or blow off that loud at any giving time is not comforting.”
During one of the incidents, residents were asked to prepare for an evacuation without the use of vehicles, cell phones, or other electronic devices as to not cause a spark, per evacuation guidelines, according to emergency management officials.
"First and foremost, safety is our top priority at Atmos Energy and we did not experience a natural gas leak on this pipeline," stated Atmos representative Jennifer Altieri in response to an inForney.com request.
"Last week at this location a relief valve activated at an above ground facility," she said. "It operated and safely released natural gas to the atmosphere as designed and compliant with applicable regulations."
"Our employees addressed the relief valve and associated equipment," she said.
"We recognize that this caused a concern in the area with the noise and smell of natural gas," stated Altieri. "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."
"We want to thank all the residents for their quick actions in calling authorities when they smelled natural gas," she said.
Hirth started a Facebook group, Talty/Crandall pipeline issues, for area residents who share similar concerns in an effort to get much-needed answers and to prepare and educate themselves in case of an emergency.
Meanwhile, area residents are encouraged to opt-in to a county-wide emergency alert system by registering online, here.
inForney.com will continue to follow developments on this story.
