Oil/Gas Pipelines
Boil Water Advisory Issued in Detroit Area After Main Break
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) – A water main break in suburban Detroit has prompted officials to issue a boil water advisory for about a dozen communities. The break on Monday evening in Farmington Hills affected surrounding communities and closed a number of area schools on Tuesday. In parts of Nov..
Sanitary Sewer Line Spills After Bayou Embankment Collapses
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston water and sewer officials are urging residents with private water wells in part of the city’s western outskirts to boil their drinking and bathing water for at least one minute. That’s after a 42-inch sanitary sewer pipe spilled more than 300,000 gallons of domestic wastewate..
Repairs Completed on Broken Water Main in New York
NEW YORK (AP) — Public works crews have repaired a broken water main that caused a geyser to erupt from the ground in front of a New York City home. The owner of the home in Staten Island’s Todt Hill section told the Staten Island Advance that a powerful stream of water began pounding the front of ..
Judge to Hear Arguments on Tribe’s Pipeline Contingency Plan
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will accept arguments over the next month on whether the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline must stage equipment near an American Indian reservation in southern North Dakota to respond to any oil spill under the Missouri River. The ide..
Washington Neighborhood Evacuated after Mudslide Hits Gas Pipeline
EDMONDS, Wash. (AP) — A neighborhood in a Seattle suburb was evacuated after a mudslide breached a natural gas line. KOMO-TV reports that emergency officials responded to the scene at about 5:40 a.m. Thursday in the Snohomish County city of Edmonds after receiving reports of a gas leak. About 30 h..
Colorado Proposes New Rules for Oil-Gas Lines After Blast
DENVER (AP) — Colorado energy regulators on Monday proposed tighter rules for shutting down oil and gas pipelines after a fatal explosion blamed on natural gas leaking from a line that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissi..
Minnesota Judge Allows Necessity Defense in Pipeline Case
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge has taken the unusual step of allowing four protesters to use a “necessity defense,” enabling them to present evidence that the threat of climate change from Canadian tar sands crude is so imminent that they were justified in trying to shut down two Enbridge Ener..
Judge Approves $1.6 Billion Plan to Repair Baltimore Sewers
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge has approved a $1.6 billion plan to repair Baltimore’s aged sewer system and stop wastewater from leaking into the Inner Harbor. The consent agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency comes after years of negotiations between the city and regulators wh..
Nevada Regulators Fine Southwest Gas $300000 for 2 Gas Leaks in Las Vegas
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — State regulators have fined Southwest Gas Corp. $300,000 for a pair of natural gas leaks it was responsible for in Las Vegas last year. Nevada Public Utilities Commission Chairman Joe Reynolds told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the fine approved Wednesday for violation ..
Oklahoma Crude Oil Line Ruptured by Construction Crew
CUSHING, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma regulators say environmental crews are cleaning up a crude oil spill near one of the world’s largest oil storage sites. Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said Wednesday that oil spilled into a dry creek bed in Lincoln County, south of the massive ..
Sewer Overflow Blamed for Killing Fish in Indiana Creek
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — Officials say an overflow of sewage was the cause of a fish kill in a central Indiana creek. Residents noticed an undetermined number of dead fish in Kokomo’s Wildcat Creek over the weekend. Indiana Department of Environmental Management spokesman Barry Sneed tells the Kokomo Tr..
Trump Administration: Court Can't Suspend Pipeline Decision
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration says a federal court has no authority to second-guess a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. Justice Department attorneys are due in U.S. District Court in Montana on Wednesday to argue for the dismissal of two la..
Vortex Companies, Deep Trekker Form Strategic Sewer Repair Partnership
The Vortex Companies announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Deep Trekker, a developer and manufacturer of commercial-grade pipe inspection crawlers and other remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Based in Canada, Deep Trekker and Vortex will aggressively attack the trench..
North Carolina Town Dealing with Repeated Sewer Spills
LELAND, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina town is struggling to deal with repeated sewage spills in the last two years. The StarNews of Wilmington reported the latest spill in Leland occurred Sept. 12 when more than 33,000 gallons (124,915 liters) of untreated wastewater bubbled up through a manhole. T..
Dakota Access Pipeline Review to Last Until Spring
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers says it likely will take until April to finish court-ordered additional environmental study of the Dakota Access pipeline. The agency had anticipated completing the task this year. But attorneys say in court documents filed Friday that it will take ..
Federal Judge Reinstates Obama-Era Rule on Methane Emissions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rebuffing the Trump administration, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Interior Department to reinstate an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands. The order by a judge in San Francisco came as the Inte..
Gas Line Explosion Destroys Equipment in California Desert
BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — Southern California authorities say nobody was hurt when a natural gas line caught fire and exploded, destroying heavy construction equipment in the western Mojave Desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The San Bernardino Sun reports (http://bit.ly/2yjriLr ) the blas..
Boise State University Sinkhole Causes Flooding, Traps Fire Truck
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Boise State University officials say a water main break caused massive flooding to stream through a main artery on the campus and trapped a fire engine inside a sinkhole. According to the university, a water main broke Monday evening near the Student Union Building. A fire engin..
Harvey Knocked out Dozens of Texas Water, Sewer Systems
DALLAS (AP) — State and federal environmental agencies report Harvey knocked out five drinking-water systems and seven sewage systems in the 58 Texas counties covered by Gov. Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration. In a joint statement issued Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tex..
Brine Spill Heightens Tribe Concern About Pipeline Material
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota American Indian tribe no longer wants fiberglass-based pipelines on its reservation after recent spills. Last month, a pipeline spilled more than 33,000 gallons of brine in a pasture on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The spill occurred on a segment of pip..
Colorado Regulators: 430 Pipelines Failed Leak Test
DENVER (AP) — Colorado regulators say about 430 oil or gas pipelines near occupied buildings failed a leak-detection test that the state ordered after a fatal explosion blamed on a gas line. The results were posted on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website Wednesday. It wasn’t im..
Tiny Holes, Faulty Parts to Blame for Failed Pipeline Inspections
DENVER (AP) — Colorado regulators say tiny holes or faulty parts could be the reason that about 430 oil or gas pipelines failed a leak-detection test after a fatal explosion blamed on gas seeping from a severed line. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said Thursday the number of pipel..
Jumpsuit Flushed Down Jail Toilet Causes Raw Sewage Flood
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey justice complex has sustained significant damage after an inmate flushed a jumpsuit down a toilet, causing the main sewer line to burst and flood the building. The incident occurred Sunday night at the Ocean County Justice Complex in Toms River. The Asbury..
'Fatberg' Found in Baltimore Sewer System After Overflow
BALTIMORE (AP) — A massive “fatberg” made up of congealed fat, wet wipes and other waste has been named as the culprit in a sewer overflow in Baltimore. The overflow discharged about 1.2 million gallons of sewage into the Jones Fall stream last week. The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the fatb..
London Studying Ways to Reduce New Fatberg Under Chinatown
LONDON (AP) — British engineers are studying ways to dispose of yet another oversize “fatberg” threatening London’s aged sewers. Stuart White of Thames Water says the latest fat blob is located in a busy area beneath Chinatown near London’s famed Leicester Square. He said Monday it’s not causing..
Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Public Hearings Set to Start
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota kicks off public hearings this week on whether regulators should allow Enbridge Energy to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota. The replacement would have higher capacity than the existing pipeline and run along a new route in some areas..
U.S. Shale: Water Is the New Oil
Texas has a water problem, and this one isn’t due to Hurricane Harvey… Rising U.S. shale output has led to increased amounts of the water that inadvertently flows out of wells together with oil. For now, drillers use trucks to transport this dirty water—which exceeds the amount of oil produced—to d..
Pipeline Board: Let Campus Experts Analyze Enbridge Line 5
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An advisory group is recommending that Michigan universities analyze the worst-case scenario of an oil pipeline failure in the Straits of Mackinac. The effort would be led by Michigan Tech University, which would collaborate with experts at other universities. The recommendati..
Sewer Spills Add to Misery in Hurricane-Battered Florida
(AP) — As if loss of air conditioning and refrigeration weren’t bad enough, widespread power outages in hurricane-battered Florida are teaming with structural failures to cause another headache: sewage overflows. Local governments have submitted well over 100 “notices of pollution” to the state Dep..
Grand Canyon Water Pipeline Breaks Again
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) – Several locations within Grand Canyon National Park will be without water or on stored water until at least Monday while crews repair another pipeline break. Phantom Ranch will be on stored water with standard water restrictions while Cottonwood Campground a..
- OSHA cites Florida contractors for trench safety violations at sewer and excavation sites
- Cadiz to reuse steel from terminated Keystone XL pipeline for California groundwater project
- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Biden-Harris administration invests $849 million in aging water infrastructure, drought resilience
- The EPA announces $6.2 billion in funding for Iowa and Kansas water infrastructure