Newport This Week

Past Pipeline Plan Unearthed



In the aftermath of a natural gas outage that brought Newport to a week-long standstill, lawmakers and regulators have a growing list of questions, beginning with a 2013 proposal to upgrade local gas pipelines. The project, which was designed to improve supply and reliability, never moved forward.

“I will keep asking the questions until we get answers,” said Sen. Louis DiPalma (D-Middletown), who has called for a joint meeting with National Grid and their supplier, Enbridge.

National Grid owns local infrastructure, and the natural gas is supplied through the Algonquin Transmission Pipeline, which runs through New England. Algonquin is owned by the publicly-held Canadian company Enbridge, which operates “the world’s longest, most sophisticated crude oil and liquids transportation system, with 17,018 miles of active pipe,” according to their website.

In a letter dated March 11, 2013, Tiverton natural gas customers received information about the Algonquin Incremental Market Project

(AIM). It stated the company was “currently assessing the modifications to its interstate natural gas transmission pipelines in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.”

“We are writing you today to inform you that Algonquin is currently evaluating proposals to modify its existing pipeline system in your area. We are doing this in order to provide increased natural gas supplies and improved reliability to natural gas customers,” wrote Algonquin’s Right of Way Project Manager Edward C. Harney.

Customers were informed the company was considering “the installation of approximately 1.5 miles of 12-inch diameter loop pipeline adjacent to and generally parallel to an already existing 6-inch diameter pipeline through Little Compton and Tiverton.”

If approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the project was slated to begin in 2015, the letter continued. However, the project never went forward. “Algonquin assessed modifications to its existing system that included potential facilities in Newport County, as part of our AIM and Atlantic Bridge projects,” said Marylee Hanley, Algonquin’s director of stakeholder outreach. “However, the scopes of the projects evolved as we refined the pipeline facilities to reflect changes in customer need and participation. During the projects’ evolutions, the marketplace determined that these facilities were no longer needed for either project.”

Another pressing question is if the issue that caused the outage has been resolved. Without that answer, and temperatures slipping back to single digits last week, National Grid set up two liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities to avoid a similar incident.

“While [Algonquin] assured us they had made all the necessary preparations in advance of the cold weather coming in, we took a belts-and-suspenders approach to ensure we had an additional supply of gas in the area for the cold snap,” said National Grid spokesman Ted Kresse.

Temporary facilities were installed on Old Mill Lane in Portsmouth and in Cumberland, said Kresse. Liquefying natural gas is achieved by cooling it to roughly minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, so it may be stored and moved.

“As part of the portable setup, the LNG is delivered by truck and flows into the system through a tap on-site,” said Kresse. “With the warmer temperatures now back in the area, we have since removed the LNG supply at the site.”

Despite the cold temperatures, National Grid did not use the LNG system, Kresse said.

Enbridge has assumed partial responsibility for the incident, but details about the cause remain unknown.

“The low-pressure situation was a complex event with a number of potential contributing factors,” said Hanley. “Our initial analysis indicates that the primary causes of the loss of natural gas service in the Newport area were an unusually high demand for natural gas on the Algonquin pipeline due to cold temperatures that exceeded the system’s supply capability, coupled with an equipment malfunction, which temporarily restricted available natural gas supplies.

“There appears to be a number of other contributing factors that may have exacerbated the conditions leading to the loss of service. Our team is working diligently to review each in closer detail.”

The Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (DPUC), which is the National Grid’s regulatory body, has promised to get answers. An investigation into the cause will take place over the next few months, officials said.

“We will get to the bottom of this,” said DPUC Administrator Macky McCleary.

The DPUC has regulatory authority over National Grid, but Enbridge falls under the federal jurisdiction of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The two agencies will work closely on the investigation and trade information, said officials.

Planning for the longer term, DiPalma has introduced legislation (S0194) that would create a 22-member committee to conduct a comprehensive study and evaluate Rhode Island’s electric and natural gas transmission and distribution system infrastructure.

Recent concerns include two utility poles that caught fire on West Main Road in Middletown. The first incident occurred on Oct. 15, near 1235 West Main Road, and was attributed to a rotted cross arm, said National Grid. On Jan. 17, a utility pole exploded near 1360 West Main Road. That was due to an equipment failure of the insulator, said the utility company.

“One incident is a data point, two is a line. Three is a trend. We have a line. I don’t believe this was a fluke,” said DiPalma.

National Grid asserted there is not a trend.

“The two incidents are unrelated to one another,” said Kresse. “They were due to different equipment failures and do not represent any overarching problems with the system… We have been doing some work on West Main Road as part of our OnIsland project. Neither of these incidents were associated with that work, but arose because of different failures associated with the equipment on the pole.”

State regulators were not concerned about the incidents.

“These seem rather unremarkable system faults that happen from time to time and obviously not associated with ongoing Aquidneck Island system upgrades,” said DPUC spokesman Thomas Kogut.

Rep. Marvin Abney (D-Newport), told Newport This Week that he is in “full support” of DiPalma’s proposed legislation, and is considering introducing a companion bill in the House. The lawmaker’s primary concern is underground infrastructure, such as Newport’s 100-year-old sewer pipes.

“Rhode Island communities, and particularly Newport, need to take a look at how infrastructure is put together,” he said. “The infrastructure in Rhode Island is very, very old. It is very expensive to replace it. So, when you are using old infrastructure with new techniques, who knows what could happen.”

One response to “Past Pipeline Plan Unearthed”

  1. JW says:

    Was this data current?
    This article bases on past or current data?

    Are we looking for a “falll guy” to recent events?

    I’m feeling a little disturbed with this line of inquiry?
    All the facts need sunshine…
    Concerned …

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