Federal officials have confirmed that they are investigating Monday's explosion and firethat killed one worker and shut down two huge pipelines that fuel metro Atlanta and much of the east coast.
The accident in Alabama on Monday, affected pipelines owned and operated by Colonial Pipeline of Alpharetta, also reportedly injured seven workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration often looks into the circumstances of workplace accidents that cause injury or death.
On Wednesday, the duty officer at the Birmingham office of OSHA said that the agency was indeed looking into the pipeline incident, but declined to offer details or to provide his name. "All I can tell you at this point is that there is an ongoing investigation."
The agency can issue fines.
The Environmental Protection Agency also investigates workplace events that potentially add pollution or toxic materials into the air, ground or water.
The EPA has not responded to the AJC inquiry.
On Wednesday, Colonial Pipeline had offered some updated information about the incident on a web site set up for incident reports.
An AJC analysis in September found that Colonial was the sixth-worst polluter among 208 companies that have spilled 22 million gallons of all kinds of fuel into the environment during the past six years.
The company operates one of the most extensive webs of onshore pipeline systems in the U.S., with 5,600 miles of underground pipe, above ground tankers and pumping stations. So when spills are calculated per 100 miles of pipeline, Colonial ranks in the middle of the pack, the AJC analysis showed.
The Associated Press reported that the EPA fined Colonial $34 million in 2003 for gross negligence after it spilled almost a million gallons of diesel in South Carolina, polluting waterways in four states. As part of that event's resolution, the company agreed to spend $30 million improving the environmental protections on its pipeline system.
Since 2006, the company has reported 178 spills and other incidents that released a combined 193,000 gallons of hazardous liquids and caused $39 million in property damage, according to federal accident records, reported the Associated Press.
Most of those accidents were caused by problems with materials, welding or some other equipment failure, AP reported: “The company paid $381,000 in penalties for violating safety rules during the same period.”
One of the lines affected by the incident handles diesel and jet fuel. That line began pumping at reduced capacity on Monday, but the gasoline line is not expected to be in service again until Saturday.
"This is very good news for motorists," said Gregg Laskoski, industry analyst for Gas Buddy. From now until the pipeline starts pumping, "I think the most change you will see is maybe five cents a gallon increase, if that."
The average price in metro Atlanta on Wednesday morning was $2.28 a gallon, up nine cents from early Monday, according to the Gas Buddy web site.
Some motorists have reported spikes of a dime a gallon or more at local stations.
Whatever stations choose to charge, the real impact of a pipeline shutdown should not hit the pumps right away, partly because so much arrives and is stored before being taken to individual service stations. Moreover, the Colonial lines aren’t the only way Atlanta gets its fuel.
There's a similar pipeline from the Gulf refineries that is owned by Plantation Pipe Line – another Alpharetta-based company. That line was unaffected by the fire Monday.
Moreover, fuel also comes to Atlanta via truck from the ports.
Widespread outages are not likely, Laskoski said. “I think there’s enough inventory to handle a couple of days.”
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