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Hillsborough Report Gives Ideas For Pipeline Security

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Emergency workers try to contain the ammonia leak.

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 05:07 pm

Two months after a toxic cloud chased people from 300 Riverview homes, a Hillsborough County report is out with suggestions for how a similar disaster could be averted or addressed.

The Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center has prepared a summary report after a handful of meetings with dozens of agencies involved and the pipeline owner, Tampa Pipeline Corp., spokeswoman Holly Wade said. It offers several ideas to increase pipeline security and help agencies deal with future leaks.

The county's seven-page summary offered a pat on the back to the emergency agencies for a fast response to the Nov. 12 leak and for the quick establishment of a unified command center.

However, it offered the following suggestions to the pipeline's owner:

- Harden any exposed points in the line to prevent vandalism or other intentional acts.

- Provide Hillsborough County Fire Rescue with updated maps and diagrams that depict all flanges and valves on the pipeline.

- Install additional valves on each side of any section of pipe that is exposed to allow easier isolation of that portion of line.

- Provide at no cost specialized responder training and equipment designed to secure an ammonia leak.

Work with an engineering group to develop computer models that will give more accurate estimates to release amounts and durations.

The company's general manager, Glenn Howell, said most of the suggestions have been completed.

Two small portions of Tampa Pipeline's 80 miles of pipe are exposed above ground – one being the section under the bridge. After the leak, that 6-inch pipe was recently encased by a 10-inch pipe as an outer shell of protection, Howell said.

The other exposed portion will be encased next week, he said. The company is still reviewing where it could add additional valves.

"The security of the pipeline is our responsibility," he said. "But you have limitations on what you can do."

In July 2003, a man caused a leak near the FishHawk subdivison that took 72 hours to close after he tried to tap into a pipeline valve box to steal ammonia to make drugs, officials said. He was sentenced to 30 years for the incident and related drug charges.

"We changed locks on the valve boxes and made more frequent inspections," Howell said. "We thought we had it conquered. After this, I'm not sure."

The company is working to provide more detailed maps to fire rescue and is in talks with that agency and the sheriff's office to set up a timeframe for safety training, Howell said.

He estimated the costs of making the changes and providing the training to be "well into six figures."

No deadlines have been established for implementing all the improvements, Wade said.

"It depends on who it's being asked of," she said. "Each agency has to determine what they can do and what they can't do."

One injury resulted from the leak. The 16-year-old boy authorities say was drilling into the pipeline was burned by the chemical. He punctured the line under a U.S. 301 bridge over the Alafia River.

Authorities say he told them he was looking for a stash of loot. He had second-degree burns from his neck to his groin.

For about two days, the cloud prompted a half-mile evacuation of residents. Businesses and schools in the area also were closed. After initial efforts to stop the leak failed, Tampa Pipeline Corp., which owns the pipeline, flew in a specialist from Houston to help plug the leak.

The criminal investigation is still active and no charges have been filed, Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said.

The ammonia that fell into the Alafia resulted in a nitrogen accumulation above normal levels for a few days, but the river did not see an aggressive algae bloom as had been feared. Such a bloom could have depleted oxygen and killed fish.

Of the major agencies involved, none have submitted Tampa Pipeline with a bill for services, and only the sheriff's office has released its personnel costs associated with the incident. Sixty-one deputies worked a total of 692.1 hours at a cost of about $19,917, spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Other Problems

The report also said the county's Citizen Action Center did not get enough detailed information in the first few hours after the initial notification of the incident.

To address this, the summary asks all county departments and agencies to review notification protocols and the county communications department was suggested to assign staff to help with internal information flow.

Manpower at the sheriff's office was strained by maintaining traffic control. Mutual aid should be considered in such large-scale incidents, the report said.

Public Works' transportation maintenance division could have set up more cones and barricades, and the traffic division could have conducted a traffic analysis to determine the most efficient detours, the report said.

While the media was broadcasting public safety information, a joint information center was not established until late into the morning of Nov. 13.

The report suggested that this should be done as soon as possible and that the county communications department could deploy a spokesman to the scene.

'Wake Up Call'

Steve Leske, the owner of Peck's Chicken on U.S. 301, which was closed for two days, wondered why pipeline security is still an issue.

"This is a wake up call, finally," he said. "All this should have been addressed four years ago when the same thing happened in FishHawk."

Leske said any recommendations would be easy to boil down.

"Better security and quicker response," he said.

Leske's sister Debbie, who manages the Riverview Sandwich Shop for their mother, also questioned why it took so long to close the leak.

"You would think that Tampa Pipeline would have someone here with the knowledge to make the repairs," she said. "Then we wouldn't have had to go through two days of torture and closed businesses."

Debbie Leske also questioned why any portion of the pipeline was left exposed.

"It should all be underground, not up in the air for someone to mess with," she said.
Both Leskes are wondering who is going to compensate business owners and residents for losses the leak caused.

She praised the recommendation to upgrade traffic control, especially determining the most efficient detours when roadways are shut down.

"That is a really good idea," she said. "If that had been in place maybe it wouldn't have taken me 45 minutes to complete what was usually a few minutes drive."

Reporter Tom Brennan contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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