PRESTON – Better late than never, Preston residents said that earlier this week work crews finally began re-burying an exposed underground propane pipeline – almost relieving a situation that has left town officials and citizens fearful of a possible explosion since June.
“(Tuesday) they went right to work covering that gas line,” said Preston Highway Department Superintendent Charles Stein, who lives less than one tenth of a mile from the site. “They’ve been there every day, all day.”
However, officials with the Town of Preston Fire Department confirmed that just before efforts were underway to cover the 40-foot exposure on the Fly Meadow Creek near county Route 4, a much smaller, but similar exposure on the same pipeline was discovered over a stream located between county Route 18 and Griffin Road.
“It’s located right underneath a high voltage transmission line,” said town Safety Officer Chris Lavancha. “That’s what makes me nervous.”
The newly-discovered pipe is roughly above ground for five to six feet, and like the original exposure, Lavancha and others fear that moving debris or fallen trees moving down the creek bed could rupture the pipe, causing a leak and possible explosion.
An official with pipeline’s owner and operator, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company LLC, said repair work on the first site at Fly Meadow should be finished either today or early next week, and that filling in the second exposure should start soon.
“We’ll be working on that soon too,” said Tim Dobler, an operator from TEPPCO’s office in Oneonta.
The first and larger exposure was created by the flooding in late-June, and was not repaired until this earlier week because, according to TEPPCO, the company had been waiting on a permit from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to excavate in the protected Fly Meadow Creek. However, the DEC said they did not receive a permit application from the Texas-based corporation until Dec. 5.
“It took a little time, but they got to it as quick as they could,” Dobler said. “We’ve been monitoring it, and we know what is going on.”
When asked if the petroleum distributor would have to obtain permits to do work on the second unearthed site, Dobler responded, “I’m not sure if that is in a protected stream or not.”
According to TEPPCO, the diameter of the exposed liquefied petroleum (propane) pipeline is 8 inches, and carries about 1,000 pounds per square inch of pressure. The L.P. conduit is part of a 4,600 mile long pipe system that encompasses two parallel lines with one branching off at Seymour, Ind., that heads to the northeast near Albany.