EXCLUSIVE: WV explosion of TransCanada Leach XPress occured feet from adjacent NGL pipeline

I've been studying the Marshall County, WV explosion of Columbia Pipeline / TransCanada "Leach XPress" pipeline (LXP), on Nixon Ridge, just south of Moundsville WV for the last 4 days.

NO NEWS OUTLET is reporting the following facts:

1: In addition to the LXP, which was permitted Jan 2017, and went into service Jan 2018, there is another new pipeline was was recently permitted, the Mountaineer XPress (MXP), with a terminus at Nixon Ridge to the LXP. I believe it is now under construction.

2: The failure of the LXP occurred mere feet from the Blue Racer Midstream NGL pipeline, in the same ROW.

3: Also, from the published drone shots, it looks like there may have been construction activity in the area?

What has frustrated me, is that there is no one single data source to examine. These pipelines are so new (LXP, MXP), they are not yet in NPMS. So I had to assemble these
maps painstakingly from a) NPMS, b) Google Earth, c) the EIS or EA of the LXP/MXP pipelines, and d) published photographs.

I am beginning to measure the impact radius, but the failure occurred in a valley, so the blast was constrained on two sides by mountains. So while this may not set any records, it was a BIG fire.

I have a suspicion this was was "wet gas" (methane mixed with NGLs), but this is just a hunch.

ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS: (Updated 6/12/2018)

< snip >



https://williamahuston.blogspot.com/2018/06/exclusive-wv-explosion-of-transcanada.html