SEARSMONT, Maine — The loud emergency venting at a natural gas pipeline compressor station that frightened many in Searsmont on New Year’s Eve was caused by a plug of ice that had blocked one of the valves, officials with Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline told concerned residents Tuesday night.
But the explanation, and a question-and-answer session that lasted more than two hours, did not seem to assuage all the fears of the 75 or so area residents who attended the informational meeting at the Searsmont Community Building.
“It’s not good enough,” said Stephen Porter of Searsmont. “You said that ice caused the problem. Here in Maine, we have temperatures that go below zero. Is the system not designed to go below zero?”
Don Thompson, Maritimes and Northeast area manager, told the crowd that it was the first time in his long career in natural gas that an ice ball had plugged a valve, which at Searsmont caused the emergency shutdown and the noisy venting of more than 70,000 cubic feet of gas into the atmosphere.
“It’s extremely rare to have any liquid in the system,” he said.
The natural gas along the 390-mile pipeline is carried from ports in Atlantic Canada to customers in New England and connects with other pipelines that extend throughout the United States. Compressor stations are located roughly every 70 miles along the pipeline and serve to push the gas through. The Searsmont station is the only one along the pipeline to have experienced the ice-related problem, according to officials from Houston-based Spectra Energy, the majority owner of the pipeline.
On that bitterly cold night, a piece of industrial heat tape used to insulate the pipeline had failed, causing a small plug of ice to form, which prevented one of the station’s isolation valves from closing. The automated system sensed a problem and, as it was designed to do, allowed some gas to be vented safely to control the situation, Thompson said.
Low-pressure alarms alerted engineers in Houston, who isolated the compressor station from the pipeline. A 24-mile bottleneck of highly pressurized natural gas vented into the cold, clear night.
“The [emergency shutdown valve] stack is designed to handle this kind of stress,” Thompson said.
However, residents who live within several miles of the station — many of whom were startled awake by the roar of the venting gas — did not know what was going on. The venting lasted for 47 minutes, during which time houses shook, the area smelled of rotten eggs and a visible plume shot into the sky.
The gas only stopped venting after a company employee drove more than half an hour to get to the station and close the faulty valve, which shut off the gas supply and reduced pressure on the line, Thompson said.
During those noisy 47 minutes, some terrified residents packed their cars and left their homes for the night. Others overwhelmed Waldo County dispatchers with emergency calls, some Searsmont residents reported at the information meeting. And those who called the pipeline’s emergency number during the venting were not met with reassurances, either, as company workers in Houston and who were on call in other parts of Maine scrambled to figure out exactly what was going on in Searsmont.
The day after the event, a spokesperson from Spectra Energy said that company officials had been in touch with eight of the abutting landowners and told the BDN that no evacuation was necessary.
Thompson said at Tuesday night’s meeting that the company kept the compressor station out of service for a week and a half while it underwent rigorous clearing and testing of the lines.
“Just today, we brought the system back into production,” he said Tuesday.
Thompson and another official present told the crowd that although they understand that the midnight noise, described by many as akin to a jet airplane hovering over their house, was scary, in the end the automated system worked as it should have done.
“The system took care of itself,” area supervisor Steve Leary said. “I know it’s hard to believe.”
It was hard to believe for many in the room, some of whom said they were worried about their safety or their children’s safety, should there be an explosion or gas leak. Others questioned whether the chemical odorant added to the gas which lingered in their homes for days would pose a health risk. Some said they mistrusted corporations telling communities that there was nothing to worry about, citing the recent chemical spill in West Virginia and last summer’s deadly train explosion in Lac-Megantic among other disasters.
“These guys didn’t hear what we heard,” Jesse Gogan of Searsmont said, referring to the officials. “They didn’t jump out of bed. They weren’t frightened for their lives. They need to step up to the plate and take care of the community. … The system won’t be good enough until we demand that this is going to change.”
Many in the room asked, demanded or pleaded that the company staff the station 24 hours a day. Matt Totman asked if it would take a federal regulation or if a local ordinance requiring the station be manned would do the trick.
“I’m listening and I don’t want any ambiguity about it,” Thompson responded. “We’re not staffing the station 24-7.”
In the end, he did verbally consent to ask company executives about staffing. He also said that the company needed to work on communication.
Some at the meeting suggested the company send out text alerts in case of emergency. Others wondered if they could set up a phone tree.
“I think one of the points of tonight is communication,” Thompson said. “If we’re not the best at it, we have to get better.”
A few residents seemed to be reassured by the company’s presentation.
“So, to recap — it was an isolated incident, your emergency plans worked, and things went as planned,” one woman said before leaving.
But a vocal majority did not seem convinced.
“I’ve still got some really deep concerns,” said one woman, who refused to share her name with the BDN. “This is a corporate venture. I have an inherent distrust of corporations.”