Friday, April 29
3:15 p.m. EDT
HOUSTON – Spectra Energy personnel are responding to an incident in Salem Township, Penn., on its Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline, the company announced today. The incident occurred at 8:13 a.m. ET.
Our first concern is for the safety of the community and our employees, and we are cooperating and coordinating with state and local authorities in our response.
There was a fire, which has been extinguished. Authorities have established a one-quarter-mile evacuation radius from the site of the incident.
Everyone in the evacuated area has been accounted for. We can confirm that there was one injury and two homes damaged.
There are four parallel Texas Eastern lines in this right-of-way. All of the lines were isolated within an hour of the incident. Out of an abundance of caution, Spectra Energy is conducting a controlled release of the gas in the lines.
This section of pipe is 30 inches in diameter, and was built in 1981. An inline inspection in 2012 revealed no areas requiring repair or remediation before the next inspection.
Spectra Energy will provide updated details as available, and will post those to this website