{"id":23430,"date":"2025-02-20T22:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T05:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/details-scant-as-operators-remains-tight-lipped-about-pipeline-failure-south-of-durango\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:36:23","slug":"details-scant-as-operators-remains-tight-lipped-about-pipeline-failure-south-of-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/details-scant-as-operators-remains-tight-lipped-about-pipeline-failure-south-of-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Details scant as operators remains tight-lipped about pipeline failure south of Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Two
Two months later, Heather and Wayne Houk are still living in a short-term rental, courtesy of Enterprise. Contractors are busy drilling test wells on their property to monitor the contamination. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It remains unclear what caused the Dec. 5 pipeline failure south of Durango, which sent 23,000 gallons of gasoline percolating through the substrate, contaminating nine drinking water wells.<\/p>\n

Enterprise Products, the company that owns and operates the intrastate pipeline that discharged gasoline on the Florida Mesa, has divulged no details about what may have led to the spill and has refused to answer any questions on the matter.<\/p>\n

The spill of 544 barrels left at least one family along County Road 219 displaced<\/a> from their home because of hazardous fumes, and tests of three drinking water wells have come back with levels of cancer-causing benzene that greatly exceed the maximum allowable level.<\/p>\n

In a mandatory report to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration \u2013 the federal agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates pipelines \u2013 Enterprise listed the cause of the leak as \u201cother,\u201d and wrote only \u201cTBD\u201d in the section that called for elaboration.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessarily uncommon for operators to take some time to determine what went wrong, said Robert Hall, a senior technical adviser at the Pipeline Safety Trust.<\/a> He used to direct the Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations at the National Transportation Safety Board<\/p>\n

However, the Jan. 27 report and other Enterprise filings do reveal some details about the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Enterprise\u2019s Mid-America Pipeline System runs in a \u201cV\u201d shape from a hub near Hobbs, New Mexico. Between 2022 and 2024, Enterprise converted the western portion <\/a>of the pipeline to carry gasoline and other refined fuel products, rather than natural gas liquids, north through New Mexico, and into Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.<\/p>\n

\"Enterprise
Enterprise Products\u2019 gasoline pipeline runs from Texas through New Mexico, and into Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The line burst near County Road 219, just west of where it crosses U.S. Highway 550. (Courtesy of National Pipeline Mapping System)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The section of the pipe that burst in the Four Corners Lateral Loop is 12 inches in diameter and 3\/8 of an inch thick. The carbon steel pipe is coated with fusion bonded epoxy<\/a> to prevent corrosion.<\/p>\n

Although the pipe only recently began to carry refined products, the hardware itself was installed in 1980, according to Enterprise\u2019s filing with PHMSA. Neighbors\u2019 suspicions have been aroused because they observed work being done on the same section of pipeline that failed in spring 2024.<\/p>\n

According to Hall, a 45-year-old pipeline is not unusually aged and wouldn\u2019t necessarily predispose the pipe to failure, although the condition can depend greatly on the history of inspections and repairs. It is unclear when that section of pipeline was last inspected.<\/p>\n

The pipeline had a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, allowing operators to manage the system from afar, and a computational pipeline monitoring leak detection system <\/a>in place. Both were operational and fully functional at the time of the accident, Enterprise reported.<\/p>\n

However, neither system notified Enterprise of the spill. This is also not uncommon.<\/p>\n

Even one of the largest gasoline spills on record, which occurred when a pipeline in North Carolina discharged 2 million gallons of gasoline into a nature preserve near Charlotte, went undetected for 18 days and was discovered<\/a> by teenagers playing in the area, not leak detection technology.<\/p>\n

Leak detection systems typically have a sensitivity threshold of about 1% of the flow rate. The pipeline in question has a flow rate of 60,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a>, meaning the spill of 544 barrels would\u2019ve been less than 1% of its daily capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a relatively small leak, they\u2019re typically not picked up by leak detection,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

The first report of the Durango spill came from a neighbor, who saw a small river of gasoline flowing across Riverview Ranch Road and called 911 at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

At 4:56 p.m., Enterprise issued a request to shut down pumps, close valves and isolate the leaking section of pipe. The pipe was fully shut down one hour later, likely by someone on-site, given when operator responders arrived on the scene.<\/p>\n

The estimated relative pressure in that section of pipe at the time of the accident was 617 pounds per square inch, and did not exceed the maximum operations pressure of 1,607 psig.<\/p>\n