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<\/a>\r\nPhoto: US Army\/Fort Benning.<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\r\n \r\nRussell Grantham, AJC, 29 April 2016,\r\n\r\nOld power gives way to new power in south Georgia<\/a>,\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nAlbany, a southwest Georgia city of about 80,000, is in a state of\r\ntransition these days — from old power to new power.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nThursday, Georgia Power broke ground on a solar power farm near\r\nAlbany that will deliver 31 megawatts of power — enough to\r\nsupply roughly 5,000 homes, at least when the sun is shining.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nMeanwhile, the Atlanta utility shut down part of a 52-year-old coal-\r\nand oil-fired plant near Albany last year, and plans to shut down\r\nthe rest of it if state regulators approve its decommissioning.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nAlbany’s old and new power generators are just the latest example of\r\nthe turnover that has been occurring at utility companies across the\r\nnation.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nMarie Cusick and Susan Phillips,\r\nStateImpact, 10:32 AM 29 April 2016\r\n\r\nMan injured after pipeline explodes near his home in western Pa.<\/a>,\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nA man has been taken to the hospital with serious burns after a\r\n30-inch interstate natural gas transmission pipeline exploded next\r\nto his home in Westmoreland County. About a dozen homes have been\r\nevacuated and a quarter mile evacuation zone remains in place. Video\r\nfrom the scene shows a raging fire lighting up the early morning\r\nsky. First responders on the scene say the man did not come in\r\ndirect contact with the flames, but it was the intense heat that\r\nscorched him and his home.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nThe explosion happened at around 8:30 am Friday morning, about 200\r\nyards behind a home in Salem Township, which lies 30 miles east of\r\nPittsburgh. It destroyed that home, torched a field and damaged\r\nseveral homes near by.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nRichard Johnston was in his house a quarter mile away.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n“It was just fire…everywhere you looked,” he said.\r\n“Debris on fire blowing across the yard here.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nFire officials say the injured man’s home was completely destroyed\r\nby the flames. His name has not been released and his condition is\r\nunknown at this point. He was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital in\r\nPittsburgh.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n“It looks like a bomb went off. As far across my windshield as\r\nI could see was just a massive fireball,” Forbes Road Fire\r\nChief Bob Rosatti told reporters at a news conference.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n“While the fire was contained and gas was shut\r\noff—residual gas in the pipeline is continuing to burn,”\r\nsays John Poister, a spokesman for the state Department of\r\nEnvironmental Protection. “A quarter mile evacuation zone is\r\nbeing maintained until further notice.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nThat story says Spectra has “activated its emergency response plan”.\r\nA little late, eh?\r\nAnd as usual “Pipeline safety experts say it could be weeks before the cause is known.”\r\nOr months, or years, or never, unless it happened to be next to a federal highway,\r\nwhen the National Transportation Safety Board will do a real report,\r\nlike it did for\r\n\r\nseveral of Spectra’s three-decade rap sheet of leaks, explosions,\r\nproperty damage, and fatalities<\/a>.\r\n \r\nThat story also has this:\r\n \r\nThe section of pipe that exploded was built in 1981. Spectra says\r\n“an inline inspection in 2012 revealed no areas requiring\r\nrepair or remediation before the next inspection.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nThe company did not say when the next inspection was scheduled.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nSpectra last inspected that pipeline four years ago.\r\nSo much for 24\/7 monitoring and speedy corrosion detection.\r\n \r\nTim Loh, Bloomberg, 29 April 2016,\r\n\r\nSpectra Gas Pipeline Explosion Cuts Flows to Eastern U.S.<\/a>,\r\n \r\nWhile repairs will start as soon as possible, it’s unclear when\r\nservice will be restored, Spectra said in a notice. The company\r\ndeclared force majeure at midday, sending natural gas futures\r\nsurging as much as 5.6 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange\r\non speculation that the outage will limit supplies to the Northeast.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nCatch that, buried in the middle of that paragraph?\r\n \r\nThe company declared force majeure<\/strong>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nThat means Act of God, not our fault.\r\nEven though they also claim they don’t know what caused it.\r\n \r\nBut if it’s force majeure, they’re probably off the hook for damages.\r\n \r\nThe Bloomberg story gets around to spelling out part of the implication\r\nat the very end of the article:\r\n \r\nThe DEP is investigating any effect on nearby gas wells and any\r\nenvironmental damage, Poister said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nForce majeure is declared to remove a company from contractual obligation because of events beyond its control.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nLike Florida Gas Transmission declared for\r\nthe infamous 25-acre sinkhole in Assumption Parish, Louisiana<\/a>.\r\n \r\nPlus this explosion according to Bloomberg could interrupt natural gas delivery to much of the U.S. east coast for some undetermined amount of time.\r\nIf somebody damages a solar panel or a solar farm, that’s all that’s damaged.\r\n \r\nToday Bloomberg says Spectra is claiming no contractual obligation even though this happened.\r\nAshlie Hardway, WTAE.com, 29 April 2016, \r\n‘It was like looking into hell:’ Natural gas explosion sparks large\r\nfire in Salem Township:\r\n1 injury confirmed, evacuations underway in area of Route 22 & Route 819<\/a>,\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n“It looked like you were looking down into hell. As far across my\r\nwindshield as I could see was just a massive fireball,” said Forbes\r\nRoad Fire Chief Bob Rosatti, describing his arrival at the blast\r\nscene near Route 22 and Route 819….\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\nRosatti said the explosion and fire “damaged all the trees, all the\r\nutilities going down the roadway — the phone, cable, electric.\r\nBurned all the telephone poles off. It kind of looks like a bomb\r\nwent off.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\nWTAE posted several videos<\/a>, including the one from which I took these two stills:\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\nSteve MacLaughlin, WTAE.com, 29 April 2016,\r\n\r\nPittsburgh’s Action Weather RADAR picks up gas pipeline fire<\/a>,\r\n \r\n\r\n![](\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/pennsylvania\/files\/2016\/04\/AP_Spectra-energy-620x801.jpg\")
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\r\nKERRY JOBE VIA AP<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n another Spectra Energy 36″ pipeline this morning in Pennsylvania, badly burning a man and incinerating his house?\r\nAfter which Spectra declared force majeure, which Bloomberg spells out as\r\n“Force majeure is declared to remove a company from contractual obligation because of events beyond its control.”\r\nSo apparently any promises Spectra or Sabal Trail made to you, your city, county, or state, it can just declare force majeure and get off the hook.\r\nEven for a 40-mile-long and 4,000-foot-high plume of smoke.\r\n<\/a>\r\n
Photo: US Army\/Fort Benning.<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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\r\nKERRY JOBE VIA AP<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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![](\"http:\/\/www.wtae.com\/image\/view\/-\/39280058\/highRes\/3\/-\/maxh\/460\/maxw\/620\/-\/12auba3\/-\/fire-house-damage.jpg\")
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![\"Aerial](\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/0f0a295a615be60b5c05f76cd7dceed2.jpg\")
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\r\n“A natural gas explosion and a fire scorched a large swath of land and left a house in ruins Friday near Route 22 and Route 819 in Salem Township, Westmoreland County.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n![\"Crater](\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/b6a60ba2b467a715c9e430a4439e8290-1.jpg\")
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\r\nCrater with pipe and flames.\r\n<\/p>\r\n![\"Plume](\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/a83a23fb8a30b3b09cfbddae65f6270a.jpg\")
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\r\nRadar showed a plume 40 miles long and 4,000 feet high.\r\n<\/p>\r\n