Page 4
The Battalion
Wednesday, December 13,1i
Repair expense
hinders safety
of Gulf pipelines
HOUSTON (AP) — The Na
tional Transportation Safety
Board heard I uesday that rec
ommendations to improve gas
pipeline safety in the Gulf of
Mexico were ignored because
they would have been too expen-
sive.
The testimony came on the ti-
nal day of a two-day N 1 SB hear
ing into an Oct. 3 explosion that
killed 1 1 crewmen on the North
umberland, a fishing boat that
ruptured a pipeline in shallow
Gulf waters near the Sabine Pass.
The NTSB Tuesday reviewed
a 1987 memo from Robert Au-
bry, former head of the South
west Region for the Office of
Pipeline Safety, an agency in the
Department of the Interior.
In the memo, Aubry suggested
that pipeline operators be re
quired to review lines in shallow
water every three years, and re
bury lines that have become ex
posed.
His recommendations followed
a July 24, 1987 accident on the
boat Sea Chief that killed two
near New Orleans.
But those recommendations
were never implemented because
it would have cost operators too
much, Cesar DeLeon, assistant di
rector for Pipeline Safety Regula
tion, told the NTSB Tuesday.
DeLeon read from a memo he
wrote to Aubry in response.
“These changes would be a
substantial cost in order to pro
tect imprudent vessel operators
with little benefit to the public,”
DeLeon said in the memo. “I be
lieve the problem can be handled
at less cost with buoy markers and
I hese changes
would be a substantial
cost in order to protect
imprudent vessel
operators with little
benefit to the public.”
— Cesar DeLeon,
Pipeline Safety
Regulation
charts than require pipeline com
panies to continually lower their
lines.”
He told the NTSB hearing
Tuesday that, “We viewed that as
a navigational problem that a
boat captain should assure him
self of knowing where these pipe
lines are whether they’re buried
or unburied. He should take
prudent action to avoid them.”
Edward Swindell, vice presi
dent of operations for the Zapata
Haynie Corp., owners of the
Northumberland, asked DeLeon
Tuesday why he did not read the
final paragraph in his memo for
the investigative panel.
DeLeon said he thought he
had answered the question com
pletely without reading the final
paragraph.
After direction from Lee V.
Dickinson, who is conducting the
two-day hearing, DeLeon read
his final paragraph.
“In addition, a pipeline with
out sufficient cover in shallow
offshore waters are considered
unsafe. The existing regulations .
. . further require that the opera
tors take appropriate, immediate
action.”
In other testimony Tuesday,
Dan Bourgeois, Cull of Mexico
regional supervisor for the Min
erals Management Service, said
his agency does not inspect oil
and gas pipelines to make sure
they remain buried in the Culf.
When asked how pipelines re
main buried, Bourgeois said, “We
don’t know if that is actually oc
curring.”
The pipeline struck by the
Northumberland in nine to 1 1
'rv mutual trust and loyalty we have shared with our customers over
h C ast one hundred years is the cornerstone of First City’s growth
e , P , Our customers have been and continue to be a major
art of the backbone of the Brazos Valley which is a justifiable source
of pride for all concerned.
we begin a new decade and a second one hundred years at First
nty 7 we are optimistic about the future and poised to meet the
challenges ahead. We believe that strength, stability and leadership
are more than mere words-, they are the legacy of our past, and the
foundation upon which we face the future.
please join us in celebrating our first century of service. We will be
hosting an informal reception in the First City lobby during normal
banking hours the week of December 18-22.
We look forward to seeing you here.
Very truly yours,
/Q^C<3
Bookman Peters
Chairman
Mervin D. Peters
President
Mervin D. Peters and Bookman Peters
■ ■■I believe the
problem can be handled
at less cost with buoy
markers and charts tol
require pipeline
companies to continua||
lower their lines.”
— Cesar DeLeoJ
Pipeline Safety
Regulatid
feet of water was supposed l
buried three feet beneath
Gulf bottom, but was not, ti
mony has shown.
Bourgeois said there arefj
active oil and gas pipelines
Culf of which 2,467 fall ui
the jurisdiction of the US.
partment of Interior and I
are the responsibility of the
partment of Transportation,
said.
The interior department
constitute 4,550 miles of
while the DOT has 13,305 rail
of pipe, he said.
-- ■*—
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* C. J. Allen
President
Allen Olds-Cadlllac. Inc.
* Delvin R. Barrett
President
Feather Crest Companies
* Dr. Howard W. Cargill
Ranching & Investments
* Dr. A. Benton
Cocanougher
Dean of the College of
Business Administration
Texas A&M University
Board of Directors
mmm
'■mi m
A.W. Davis
Partner
Davis & Davis Attorneys
Ronald E. Hale
Executive Vice President
Arthur A. Herwald
General Manager
Herwald Pest Control
Dr. Stephen A. Holditch
Professor, Petroleum
Engineering Texas A&M
President, S_A. Holditch, Inc.
* James D. Ingram, HI
President
Ingram. Wallis & Company. P.C.
* Dr. Sara Jarvis Jones
Clinical Psychologist
* Johnny S. Lampo
Partner
Pizza Huts of Brazos Valley, Inc.
* Leonard E. Morehead
President
Acme Glass Company
George L. Nelson
Executive Vice President
Louis M. Newman, in
President
Newman Printing Company. Inc.
Bookman Peters
Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer
Mervin D. Peters
Chief Operating Officer
* Advisory Directors
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President
Caldwell Banker
Richard Smith, Realtors
* Phil Springer
Owner
McDonald's Restaurants
James W. Stegall
Executive Vice President and
Senior Trust Officer
Kenneth A. Telg
Executive Vice President and
Senior Operations Officer
Secretary, Board of Directors
* T. Parten Wakefield, Jr.
Vice President
Wakefield Corporation and
Dreamer's Oil, Inc.
* Jerry Windham
President
Be math Concrete Products Company
* Freddie A. Woiters
Ranching & Investments
Member F.D.I.C.
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