PIPELINE EXPOSED: KXAN investigation uncovers safety concerns over pipes used in Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline

BLANCO, Texas (KXAN) – If you stand and wait near the 90 degree turn along Lindeman Lane, the Blanco Police Department will quickly get you a visit. They protect one of Kinder Morgan’s five pipeline storage locations across the state.

This Blanco County warehouse is one of five Kinder Morgan warehouses in all of Texas. (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)

Sometime in mid-2019, a turquoise pipe lake took over the empty field at Ranch Road 32 near Blanco. Within a few months, the lake turned into a raging ocean of hundreds of pieces of pipe.

The pipeline will form the 428 mile Permian Highway Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that extends from the Texas-New Mexico border to Katy, west of Houston. Pipeline builder Kinder Morgan is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. According to the company’s website, natural gas pipelines move around 40 percent of the gas consumed in the United States.

Deda Divine, a member of the anti-pipeline group “Blanco Stop the Pipeline,” said her organization first noticed the pipe segments piling up last June. Divine’s organization is one of many civic groups trying to prevent children of Morgan’s pipeline from running through the hill country.

The The group “Blanco Stop the Pipeline” documented the first batch of pipe segments that were delivered to the Blanco shipyard in this Facebook post from June 2019.

Many of the members own land along the pipeline route.

Divine is particularly concerned about the integrity of the pipe segments and whether they could be compromised from months of exposure to the harsh Texan elements and the sun.

“If it’s your church and those old pipes sit here, it doesn’t make us feel safe,” said Divine, who lives in Blanco and spoke to KXAN outside the camp in March.

The group posted photos of the Blanco bin on their Facebook page in June 2019, telling KXAN that the post was the earliest documentation they showed when the pipe segments were placed in the Blanco bin. You didn’t know then, but the date on that Facebook post would become an important part of a KXAN investigation.

“They are coated in the subsurface to prevent corrosion. Those pipes have been out here since June, ”Divine said.

The pipe segments are coated with a melt-bonded epoxy corrosion protection product which, according to the manufacturer, deteriorates after prolonged exposure to the sun. It is recommended that these coatings should not be stored above the ground for more than a year.

Several court battles over the past year have halted construction of the Texas Hill Country pipeline.

“It was through the hottest part of summer, all of July, August, September and still isn’t in the ground and won’t be in the ground for a while,” Divine said.

Deda Divine describes the width of the pipe segments that will be welded together to form the 428 mile Permian Highway Pipeline.  The pipeline will carry natural gas from the Permian Basin in west Texas to just outside Houston.  (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)Deda Divine describes the width of the pipe segments that will be welded together to form the 428 mile Permian Highway Pipeline. The pipeline will carry natural gas from the Permian Basin in west Texas to just outside Houston. (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)

Take care of the UV degradation

KXAN photographed pipes in the Blanco shipyard with coating dates from May, June and July 2019. The coating date does not indicate the date the pipes were delivered to the shipyard, but indicates the date the coating was applied by the manufacturer to the Tube was applied.

The Blanco storage area is not the only one where Kinder Morgan stores pipe segments. Our investigation found five stopping points between Fort Stockton in West Texas and Victoria – including locations in Blanco and San Marcos.

When the pipe segments are coated by the pipe manufacturer, the purchaser’s name and other manufacturing information are embossed on the inside and outside of the pipe. The outer coating also shows the date each pipe segment was coated. (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)

KXAN visited a bin in Junction, a small town off Interstate 10 about 140 miles west of Austin. Photos taken while we were monitoring this storage location show pipes with coating dates dating back to March 2019.

The tubes with older coating dates appear faded compared to tubes with newer coating date stamps.

“I’ve seen enough problems with pipeline system failures to know that these situations will occur. So when you see pictures of that chalk effect where the epoxy is literally weathering and chemically degrading – that’s the evidence you can see before your eyes that this protective coating has worn off – it’s definitely a serious problem. “Dr. Nathan Phillips told KXAN.

These pipe segments, which were photographed on March 5, 2020 in the Blanco yard, show discoloration of the fused epoxy anti-corrosion coating.  (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)These pipe segments, which were photographed on March 5, 2020 in the Blanco yard, show discoloration of the fused epoxy anti-corrosion coating. (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)

Phillips is a professor of environmental science at Boston University. In addition to studying the environmental impact of pipelines, Phillips also investigates accidents and causes of pipelines. We sent Phillips photos of the pipe yards from our investigation.

“Why didn’t you cover these pipes in the warehouse from the start? Is that a chore just to ventilate on the security side? “Said Phillips. “I think the significance of this finding is national. We have new pipelines in this country and I think this story is really important both locally and nationally. “

Phillips’ opinion is supported by a bulletin published by the National Association of Pipe Coating Applicators. The association is made up of pipe coating manufacturers and, according to the group’s website, is working on the standardization of the coating guidelines.

“The intended use of these coatings is to provide corrosion protection for buried piping. Above-ground storage of coated pipes for 6 months without additional UV protection is not recommended, ”says the NAPCA bulletin.

According to this standard, none of the pipe segments we photographed in the Blanco or Junction shipyards followed NAPCA’s instructions.

The stamps also contain the name of the respective coating: “Pipeclad 2000.” The coating is manufactured by Valspar, a “wholly owned subsidiary” of the Sherwin-Williams Company.

KXAN received a letter from Dr. Jeffrey Rogozinski, Valspar’s Global Technical Director, outlining how long the company believed its coating could be exposed to UV radiation without “extra protection from UV degradation from outdoor storage” for less than a year .

This letter will be posted online on a file held by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. It’s a letter from Valspar to an energy company answering questions about the deterioration of the company’s Pipeclad 2000 pipe coating from prolonged outdoor exposure.

“Valspar’s estimate of the degradation, if any, would be extremely low and would not affect the performance of the coating,” wrote Rogozinski.

The 2015 Valspar letter was part of a South Dakota public utility case where an energy company asked Valspar similar questions about UV exposure and deterioration schedules.

The stamps on the pipe segments show Pipeclad 2000 as the type of fused epoxy used to coat the Kinder Morgan pipe segments that are stored in the five warehouses across Texas.  (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)The stamps on the pipe segments show Pipeclad 2000 as the type of fused epoxy used to coat the Kinder Morgan pipe segments stored in five warehouses across Texas. (KXAN Photo / Jody Barr)

Sherwin-Williams – now owned by Valspar – has failed to provide any information on the company’s recommendations on UV exposure deadlines after exchanging multiple emails between the company and KXAN.

Kinder Morgan disapproved of being interviewed or answering specific questions about the company’s policies on UV exposure schedules. The company also didn’t answer specific questions about how long pipe segments were stored in the five Texas Holding Yards without additional UV protection – or whether there was any UV protection at all.

The company issued this prepared statement to KXAN through a PR firm:

“We are actively involved in the construction of [the Permian Highway Pipeline] and expect it to go live in the first quarter of 2021. PHP is created according to industry best practices and Kinder Morgan design specifications that meet or exceed state and federal requirements. We perform several levels of inspection of the pipeline during and after the manufacturing process. We also have a thorough installation process that focuses on testing and ensuring the integrity of the pipe coating before installing the pipe. “

Allen Fore, vice president of public affairs for Kinder Morgan

At the federal level, there are no regulations limiting the exposure of pipe coatings to UV radiation, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration – the federal agency that regulates and enforces pipeline safety standards nationwide.

The agency is responsible for inspecting the pipe coatings and the condition of the pipe coatings during construction. The agency doesn’t inspect every pipe segment in the country’s 2.8 million mile pipeline, however.

“It’s not quite the way inspections work,” PHMSA spokesman Darius Kirkwood told KXAN. “It wouldn’t be fair to simplify it this way and say that every inch is inspected.”

“That means these pipes were sitting here during the hottest part of the year in Texas Hill Country,” Divine said. “I’m worried about that. Everyone in my church worries about this. “

State regulators received a complaint from the anti-pipeline group about the issue of UV exposure. In part two of this KXAN investigation, we’re investigating the Texas Railroad Commission’s inspection. We uncover what the state oil and gas regulator did – and what not – to handle the complaint.

Senior investigative producer and digital reporter David Barer, news director Chad Cross, investigative photojournalist Ben Friberg, graphic designer Rachel Garza, director of investigation and innovation Josh Hinkle, editor Eric Lefenfeld, drone operator Bob Osborn, and digital executive producer Kate Winkle contributed to this investigation.

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