Thousands of miles of line of varying diameter — from the fiber optics carrying telephone, television and Internet to larger metal pipes carrying water, sewer, natural gas and petroleum products — lie underground.<\/p>\n
For the most part, people and pipelines peacefully coexist. But on occasion errant digging can result in anything from water or sewer spills to deadly explosions or releases of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many pipelines underground. We want people to understand the importance of dialing 811 before digging and making sure lines are marked,\u201d said Melissa Brannon, damage prevention manager with Texas 811.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She was in Midland Friday to participate in Permian Basin Safety Day, a training and safety event at the Midland Horseshoe. Among the events were a mock natural gas line strike, presented by Chevron and a high- voltage accident scenario presented by Powerline Energy Service.<\/p>\n
The law requires anyone planning to dig to call 811, and then entities have 48 hours to mark the location of any lines where excavation is planned. Even homeowners are urged to call 811 because they could breach Atmos natural gas lines or Oncor electric lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you\u2019ve called 811, you still want to follow safe excavation practices, use due diligence and always stay focused on the job\u201d Brannon said. \u201cIf you get distracted, you can get injured or die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those safe excavation practices is the use of hydro excavation to safely remove dirt around pipelines. Other equipment includes line locators, which were on display at the Frank\u2019s Supply Co. booth.<\/p>\n
The Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission works with Texas 811 in the Permian Basin Damage Prevention Council to promote excavation safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of pipelines running through our communities and it\u2019s important for communities to be aware of what\u2019s below ground and the importance of calling 811,\u201d said Roman Alvarez, program manager for the commission. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the public, it\u2019s first responders and excavators, as well,\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s important to reach out to the rural communities in the 17 counties the commission serves and those education efforts need to be ongoing.<\/p>\n
Danny Lampe, operations supervisor with Magellan Midstream, said he just finished a series of public awareness meetings in Midland and Odessa and the company participated in Midland College\u2019s recent job fair.<\/div>\nHe agreed that raising public awareness of the issue must be a continuous effort. Pipelines have been around a long time and people may forget how prevalent they are, he said.<\/p>\n
In urban areas such as Midland and Odessa, growth has placed housing developments on the edge of town, at or near the right-of-way of pipelines, Brannon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing a lot of work with mobile home installers,\u201d she said. \u201cSome want to put mobile homes right on top of high-pressure pipelines. That would make it hard or impossible for pipeline companies to maintain or service those lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some real estate agents fail to disclose that homes have been built on top of pipelines, Lampe said.<\/p>\n
Magellan distributes flyers letting people know they have acquired property near Magellan lines and advising them how the two can coexist.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go through training all the time\u201d for potential accidents, he said.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s a homeowner in their backyard, a farmer plowing a field or an excavator, accidents can be deadly. They may cause hardship for the pipeline, which must replace damaged infrastructure but \u201cwe can make more money; we can\u2019t replace lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n