Bugs: Pipelines: Sept 9 gas pipeline inferno in San Bruno, California

A reporter for San Fran Chronicle, Jaxon Van Derbeken, spooks us with a very valuable news story:

[Years ago in a previous lethal explosion -- ] The colony of bacteria released gases that eventually broke down the wall of the 5-decade-old, 30-inch gas transmission line, a phenomenon called microbiologically influenced corrosion.


A decade later, the phenomenon is being looked at as a possible cause of the Sept. 9 disaster in San Bruno, in which a 5-decade-old, 30-inch gas transmission line ruptured, killing seven people and destroying 37 homes.  Read more

H+ technics now exist to combat the li'l bratardos, but older pipelines may have too many twists and turns, too many spots where water may pool, too few pipeline companies that take the problem with grave seriousness.

There awtta be a law! -- well, yes, there is one on the books now for several years.  But it didn't stop the 2k10 explosion in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  The National  Transportation Safety Board found the pipeline operator, El Paso Natural Gas, owner  had 'failed to detect, prevent or control' the internal corrosion, the board said, and federal inspectors didn't pick up on the company's flawed corrosion detection program."

-- Lawt