The spill occurred near the Chalmette Refinery in St. Bernard Parish. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Late in December, a corroded pipeline spilled 315,000 gallons of diesel fuel into an environmentally sensitive area just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. The pipeline, which was nearly 50 years old, was found to have a corroded section in 2020, but the pipeline’s owner, Collins Pipeline Co. chose to delay repairs.
According to the Associated Press, a rupture in the Meraux Pipeline was first discovered at the Chalmette Refinery in St. Bernard Parish. The pipeline moves diesel fuel from New Orleans to Mississippi, a distance of 125 miles. While most of the fuel spilled into storage ponds, some escaped into habitats nearby, killing thousands of animals. As of this reporting, most of the spill has been cleaned up and Collins Pipeline Co. is still working to contain it.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) conducted a safety inspection in October of 2020, which found that 75 percent of the metal on a 22-foot section of pipe was corroded — a percentage that under most circumstances would warrant immediate action. Gizmodo reported that “Collins decided to keep the pipeline operational and delay repair after another inspection reassessed the damage and allowed it to stay in service.”
In 2011, federal regulators accused Collins Pipeline Co. of failing to adequately test their pipelines for corrosion. “It’s especially maddening to learn that Collins Pipeline’s initial analysis deemed the pipe in such poor condition that it warranted an immediate repair,” Bill Caram, the executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, told the AP.
The repairs have cost the company $500,000 so far, and regular operations have resumed. An environmental damage report is expected in the coming months.
