Homes Sprout Along Gas Pipeline

THE BELLINGHAM gasoline-pipeline explosion of June echoes like a bad dream in Western Washington, home to hundreds who live atop or along a gas pipeline built years ago.

When flames sprayed out from a Western Washington natural-gas pipeline twice in February 1997, the blasts occurred in remote areas where nobody got hurt.

But in Seattle-area suburbs, hundreds of people live along the lines, some as close as 35 feet. In most cases, the pipeline corridor was there first. After the original gas mainline was built in 1956-57, metropolitan Seattle's populated area spread east toward the pipeline.

Should government try to separate houses from pipelines?

Bellingham Mayor Mark Asmundson, a member of a state task force on pipeline safety, thinks so. He said this week he'd like to see a 100-foot minimum distance between pipelines and future buildings, even though pipelines are considered a relatively safe way to transport fuel.

In his city, gasoline from Olympic Pipe Line spilled into a creek in June, caught fire and killed three people.

"My experience is what has happened in real life," Asmundson said. "In real life, it's proven there is a danger related to proximity."

The Bellingham blaze spurred Gov. Gary Locke to create the pipeline task force. A subcommittee of the panel met yesterday in Burien to discuss siting and other ideas, such as establishing a state office of pipeline safety that would seek authority over interstate pipelines and enact safety rules stricter than present federal standards.

The task force probably won't suggest specific land-use limits because they appear unlikely to attract state lawmakers' support, the subcommittee said. Among other problems, landowners could demand compensation. Still, Asmundson will encourage cities and counties to consider their own safety buffers.

"I think you're going to see a lot of communities paying attention to building requirements that didn't require setbacks in the past," said Asmundson, chairman of the subcommittee that met yesterday.

The natural-gas line, operated by Williams Pipeline, quietly slips past new subdivisions without much notice. Unlike Olympic's petroleum line farther west, the natural-gas corridor isn't surrounded by urban areas - yet.

Williams actually maintains two steel pipes: the original 26-inch-diameter line from 1956-57 and a 30-inch line laid in 1971-72. They pass through Sumner, Auburn, Maple Valley, Issaquah, Woodinville and Snohomish en route to Sumas, Whatcom County, at the U.S.-Canadian border. The company hopes to build an extension west from Sumas to Vancouver Island, B.C.

Williams officials say the odds of a blast in a residential area are almost nonexistent, and they say living along the line is safer than driving a car. Suburbs are relatively flat and therefore not prone to the mudslides that ruptured the lines in February 1997 at Kalama, Cowlitz County, and Everson, Whatcom County, outside Bellingham, according to Rod Gregory, the company's regional land-use director in Redmond. Natural-gas lines are subject to additional inspections and pressure limits where they pass through populated areas.

However, Washington is crisscrossed by earthquake zones that threaten both built-up and rural areas, Asmundson said. "A big explosion of natural gas could just as readily occur in a residential neighborhood," he said.

On the other hand, Asmundson said, natural-gas pipelines are more tightly regulated and less hazardous than petroleum lines.

Company officials point out that a major gas pipe near Los Angeles withstood the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The most frequent cause of accidents is damage by construction crews. "Once the house is there, typically, the danger has passed," said Grant Jensen, Williams' district manager in Redmond.

Williams' right of way typically is 75 feet wide. Such a layout could leave 20 feet from the west boundary to a pipe, 20 feet between pipes, and 35 feet to the east boundary. In some places, pipeline easements run through back yards.

King County's administration doesn't plan to mandate a no-build zone beyond the existing right of way, although Ethan Raup, planning policy director for County Executive Ron Sims, doesn't rule out the possibility. Such an attempt would create "legal issues" over property rights, he said.

The Kalama and Everson fires in 1997 were visible from miles away, and heat from such a blaze could destroy a house next to the line. Fortunately, natural gas is lighter than air, so flames tend to rise instead of spreading great distances.

A valve leak from a Williams line in Woodinville caused the evacuation of 200 people in June 1997, but there was no blaze and no injuries.

About 1.5 million miles of gas pipeline crisscross the United States - not only the high-pressure interstate lines such as Williams', but smaller distribution lines that deliver gas to millions of customers.

From 1986 to June 21 of this year, accidents in the nation's interstate natural-gas lines killed 39 people and injured 189, according to the federal Office of Pipeline Safety. Distribution lines were the site of 241 deaths and 1,105 injuries. Thirty-five deaths and 247 injuries resulted from hazardous-liquid pipelines, federal statistics say. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the system has become safer in the past two decades.

Even today, only one-tenth of the 3,950-mile Williams transmission corridor from New Mexico to Whatcom County passes populated areas.

However, in Western Washington, the line traverses land intended for more housing under the state Growth Management Act, such as Maple Valley, Woodinville and the large Issaquah Highlands development near Interstate 90. That means whatever the safety zone, Williams' line will have more neighbors.

The property-starved Issaquah School District is now trying to buy land for a middle school that borders the Williams gas line. However, the building would be 700 feet away, and the nearest spot to the line, a baseball field, about 100 feet away.

"We've always seen it as pretty much a non-issue," said Steve Crawford, the district's construction director.

At nearby Klahanie, residents wanted to build a park over the Williams line this summer but the company wouldn't let them, said Shannon Barghols, executive director of the Klahanie Homeowners Association. The company does support trails over pipelines, and Klahanie residents walk there.

"Other than that, it isn't really part of our lives," Barghols said.

Mike Lindblom's phone-message number is 206-515-5631. His e-mail address is mlindblom@seattletimes.com