Looks like a high pressure gas pipeline ruptured to me and caught fire.
Why? No idea, but usually either someone tried to dig it up and put a hole in it either now or several years ago
Corrosion is another likely source of failure. Many HP US gas networks were built over 50 years ago and may not have been well maintained and coatings just kind of wear out.
Maybe fatigue, but unless combined with a previous ding unlikely
Maybe some other fitting or flange failed, but I would go with 3rd party damage or corrosion at the moment.
Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
KM's statement to media says it was a pipeline failure. Although that's a broad term, I think if it was a 3rd party damage (not from previous ding), the evidence would still be there and KM would have said that was the cause specifically. If it was a previous ding, they would have found it through pigging, right? Sources tell me the pipe is only 20 years old.
could have been caused by an active fissure or subsidence which was exacerbated by recent torrential rainfall. that area is highly prone. Lightning would have been the ignition source once it started leaking.
It may have been built to supply the gila river power plant, built 20 yrs ago about 40 miles away. There was a massive flood at Gila River 3 days ago, not sure if that played a role. The flood could have led to a fast shutdown of the plant, leading to a surge in pipeline gsa pressure if the overpressure stop valve slammed shut.
"...when logic, and proportion, have fallen, sloppy dead..." Grace Slick
It basic purpose is to supply gas from Tx to southern California, but there might be a branch to the power station. I'd have to look at the maps.
I didn't see a power station on the route, although there are 13 of them in Pinal, County AZ.
Yellowed in lines are ElPaso pipelines in the county.
The LtBlue dot is the location of the incident.
The incident happened on a branch line from the SE-NW main lines. The branch runs NE to supply the AZ National Guard Shooting Area and some mines near Superior, AZ
That might be the correct pipe, and might even be the correct location, but the blue (yellow below) dot indicates it is not the incident being discussed. I almost posted this dot yesterday, and then read the metadata for the dot. This dot is an incident from 2002.
I think the public viewer delays incident reporting. The tutorial indicates that incident and pipeline data will be updated at least once every 2 months. GIS is a very useful took, but all maps lie, sometimes - like here you need to look under the hood and find out more about the data.
I do not see a NTSB Docket entry yet, but they are reported to be involved.
I did think it was a little early for them to get the dot on the map, but I didn't have time to go any further. I should have believed my doubt. Thanks for the correction.
I feel better now because remote metallurgist Don Deaver is on the job ....
Don Deaver has investigated pipeline safety for years. He hasn't examined the Coolidge pipeline in person, but 12 News showed him the Coolidge Police Department's video footage of the pipeline.
"What this shows is, this was definitely a brittle pipeline rupture," Deaver said.
Public information I can find backs up my source's claim that the pipe is 20 years so. It was put into service in 2002 according to EIA so it's actually less than 20 years old.
Edit: actually, looking at the data from EIA again, it says the pipeline was "conversion" instead of "expansion" or "new pipeline" so it may be older than 20 years?
it happened in Coolidge south of SR87 which is about 10 miles southwest of the 2002 incident. if the pipeline was built 20 years ago, it would make sense that it might feed the Gila Generating station in Gila Bend which was also constructed 20 years ago.
Parts of their system can handle up to 3 BCFD (80 MM3D), so they or their LDC customers are powering quite a lot of stuff.
Customer list
Location Data and capacities
on the spreadsheet
