NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CI-IIEI~S
~dental asphyxiation, while in the year following the introduction of natural gas, these
same 20 companies reported no deaths from gas inhalation,. There ale three obvious,
major reasons why.
First, of course, is the fact that natural gas co.ntains no carbon monoxide and is,
therefore, nor~-toxic. Second, the limits of inflammability of naturaI gas are much narrower
than those of manufactured gas. Third, the uniformity of the product provides
greater ease of control and better operation .of applilnces. As you doubtless, kn.ow,
natural gas--as furnished; by Northeastern Gas Trari~mission Company--comes from
the Gulf Coast area of the United States, and is approximately 94 per cent methane
with small amounts .of ethane and heavier hydrocarbons. All of the gas from the
Gulf Coast area is surprisinigly unif~orm in chemical’ composition, specific gravity, anc~
thermal heating content. The manufactured gases Wl~ich this natural ga,s replaced all
contained varying amounts .of carbon monoxide in q~i~tntities up to 30 per cent. This,
of~ course, provided a ready avenue for suicides and Yeas responsible for a considera’ble
number of accidental asphyxiations each year..
Again, in spite of the dire prophecies of natural ~a~ performance, there have been
no pipelihe explbsions in New England’---and we do not expect any. I do not wish
to deny the fact that there have .been explosions .of natural gas pipelines in the past,
nor that i.t is impossible for similar explosion.s to occur in the future, but I do wish to
emphasize the fact that hazards connected with such explosions, have been greatly exaggerated
b) people who oppose natural gas for persQnal reasons. As a matter of fact,
there were approximately l lY,000 miles of high-pressure, large-diameter natural gas
pipelines in the Unit4d States in 19~1, and approximately 342,000 miles of natural gas
distribution mains suppl-ying approximately 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to sixteen
million gas customers, representing 21 per cent of the nation,’s fuel supply. Approxim~ttely
~00 miles of these high-pressure gas mains are located in New England. Unfortunately,
I do n.ot have statistics for all pipeline companies for recent years, but I
do have the information relative to my own company.
Tennessee .Gas, Transmission .Company and Northeastern have over 6,000 miles
of large-diameter pipelines, which have been in operation for periods from one to nine
years, at pressures from Y00 to 100.0 pounds. The total mile-years of operation repre.
sented~ by this system is approximately 20,000. This means the equivalent of 20,000
miles of pipeline operatin.g for one year or, conversely, one mile of pipeline operating
for 20,000 years. During this! period, Tennessee has had 10 expl.osions on operating
pipelines, or an average of one explosion for each 2,000 mile-years. Again, this
simply means that the probability of an explosion on any single mile of Tennessee Gas
pipeline system is one in., each 2000 years, and in all its operation there has never been
a case .of death or serious injury to anyone other than pipeline company personnel or
workmen on pipeline projecets. I quote these figures simply to call your attention to
the extremely minor extent of the hazard, so that you may properly evaluate the state~
ments which are made from time to time regarding the hazards attendant on natural
gas transmission. And to further lessen the hazard, you must realize that steel tubular
products and methods..of pipeline installation are being continually improved so that
the pipelines in New England should have an even lesser probability of failure than those
on the average of rrennessee’s ,system--some .of which are ten years old, at this time.
Na.tural gas is not a new product, but is only new to New England. It has been
frequently pointed out that natural gas was first discovered an,d used many centuries
ago. In fact, our first written reference to this gas is probably in the Old Testament;
195.