Do you or your loved ones attend these spend time at any of these schools, daycare centers, nursing homes, places of worship or other particularly vulnerable facilities?
You might think that schools, hospitals, day care centers, and places of worship are well-prepared for any emergency, but normal procedures don’t apply when a high-pressure natural gas pipeline leaks. The people inside aren’t supposed to use cell phones, alert each other via PA systems, or even set off fire alarms, due to the potential to spark an ignition. Imagine how difficult evacuation can be when communication is severely restricted.
Burns are a big risk
If an ignition does occur, the damage can be catastrophic. The heat of an explosion, called the thermal flux, is incredibly intense, and anyone within a quarter-mile could be burned, according to guidelines from the Pipeline Association for Public Awareness.
Surprising frequency of pipeline incidents
Pipeline incidents happen two times a day on average in the United States, and more than 11,000 such incidents have occurred over the past 20 years. Backhoes, weld failures and even Mother Nature compromise pipelines, regularly. While significant damage is rare, so to are high-pressure, large-diameter lines in densely-populated areas, like the one Duke Energy has proposed in greater Cincinnati. If this pipeline isn’t truly necessary to meet this area’s energy needs, why should residents bear the risk?