Explosion near LAX rocks Woodside's boat, one way or the other

[Hans Laetz, Newsgroup Editor]

News and Analysis
By Hans Laetz

Yesterday's tragic explosion that killed a Los Angeles city fireman in
Westchester, near LAX, may have LNG repercussions. In fact, the
explosion on Sepulveda Boulevard just rocked Woodside's boat.

Woodside Natural Gas proposes to lay two 24-inch natural gas
transmission lines from the beach across the north side of LAX to a
receiving station on 96th Street, east of the airport. This proposed
high-pressure, major transmission line would sit about one to two
blocks away from where this explosion happened.

And explosions do happen. It must be stated that no cause for this one
has been determined yet, although it looks like some type of fumes got
into DWP's underground electrical conduits. There are major sewer
transmission lines that generate explosive gases through Westchester,
not to mention high voltage underground powerlines, petroleum
pipelines, and -- of course -- normal natural gas service.

Any one of those could be to blame. Maybe natural gas was an innocent
player here. Or ...

Not two miles away from the Westchester explosion site -- and a couple
hundred feet underground -- is the Playa Del Rey natural gas storage
area. The Southern California Gas Co., a division of Sempra,
stockpiles natural gas under pressure in a vast underground pocket
under Marina Del Rey and environs.

No one, including me, is saying yet this recent explosion was caused
by that underground storage facility. But residents of the area 8
years ago complained that migrating gas from the high-pressure
underground storage facility presented a significant hazard.

In other states, migrating gas from similar high pressure, underground
natural gas storage areas has exploded. In Texas in 1992, "gas from an
underground storage facility formed a cloud, which caused a
catastrophic explosion that devastated a square mile area. It killed
three, injured 23, and caused millions of dollars in damages," said
Bernard Endres, a PhD oil consultant and researcher.

The Playa Del Rey strata was perforated by hundreds of oil wells
drilled in the great Venice oil boom of the 1920s. Several years ago,
opponents of the Playa Vista megadevelopment documented that as much
as one percent of the millions of cubic feet of natural has escapes
from the storage area.

The PUC ruled there was no danger. The City of Los Angeles allowed
Playa Vista to be built.

Playa Del Rey is 2 miles or so from the blast site. There is no
indication the Gas Company's cavern storage area was involved. A
thorough investigation has begun.

Nevertheless, as they say in law school, res ipsa loquitor -- there it
sits.

Now, natural gas pipes are everywhere. One sits 3 feet from where I
type this.

But the Woodside pipe will be gigantic, and under much-higher
pressure, compared to the lines we are used to dealing with in the
urbanized area of Los Angeles. And there would be 21 locations where
this proposed high-pressure gas pipeline would pass within 1,500 feet
of public schools in Westchester, Watts, South Gate and Cudahy.

Hundreds of businesses, and hundreds and hundreds of houses, would be
in the "safety zone" that -- if this were out in a rural area -- would
be off limits to development.

The lines would be twin, 24-inch high-pressure diameter pipes, buried
deeply. There are such pipelines buried elsewhere in urbanized
California, many of them are along rail tracks or other rights of way
that were dedicated years ago. Some go down city streets.

The Woodside lines will go down major streets, just like Sepulveda
Boulevard, all across the city. In fact, they would cross Sepulveda
Blvd. just 1-2 blocks from where this deadly, small explosion
happened. Then, they would probably take surface streets across town.

The relatively-small blast at the LA Water and Power Credit Union that
killed the firefighter pales in comparison to the very few major
transmission line explosions that happen in the U.S.: I think there
were two big ones last year, they both wiped out an area several
hundred feet in diameter, and they burned for more than a day. Wyoming
and Interstate 20 in Louisiana come to mind.

But the proposal to install high-pressure, very-large regional gas
transmission lines down city streets just like Sepulveda Boulevard --
in fact, 2 blocks from yesterday's explosion site -- must be examined
thoroughly.

Laying the major transmission lines across the area right above the
Playa Del Rey gas storage facility needs to be thoroughly examined. If
there is ever-so-slight of a chance that gas is migrating from Playa
Del Rey, what is the zone that is possibly affected? Do the Woodside
pipes cross this zone -- highly likely, since they would sit within a
mile of the above-ground gasworks at Playa Del Rey?

And putting twin 24-inch high-pressure natural gas transmission lines
in under streets within 1500 feet of 21 schools is an idea that very
definitely needs serious examination.

It could very well be that the Sepulveda explosion had nothing to do
with natural gas. Even if that be the case, the argument can be made
that it brings to the surface some important considerations for the
Woodside project.

May you live in interesting times, goes the old Chinese curse. Things
just got interesting.