La Porte/Deer Park pipeline fire is a reminder of how many pipelines run underneath us
HOUSTON - After the Deer Park pipeline fire, a number of residents were surprised to learn there was such a flammable resource right underneath them. They may be more surprised to learn there are hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines crisscrossing the state.
Houston Energy Analyst Art Gelber, of Gelber & Associates, is a proponent of the pipeline industry, "They're everywhere. Houstonians shouldn't be surprised; they're down there; they're safe."
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The numbers may be hard to argue with. Online maps maintained by the Texas Railroad Commission, which has jurisdiction over the state's pipelines, show how they crisscross all over the Houston metro area. Across Texas, there are more than 488,000 miles of highly-regulated pipelines in and through state lines.
The Texas Pipeline Association boasts the industry has an economic impact of more than $60 billion annually, that is more than 99% incident free.
When incidents 'do' occur, as La Porte and Deer Park residents are learning, it can be dramatic. But advocates say the business remains safer than rail or roads, and essential to daily life.
"It would be dark; it would be cold; and we wouldn't be wearing or using half of the things that we use (without pipelines)," says Gelber. "There is more oil and gas transported by pipeline: materials, fibers, plastics, feedstock, all transported by pipeline, that's all critical infrastructure."
The U.S. Department of Transportation notes there are 2.6 million miles of pipelines across the country, carrying much more than rail or road ever could. For comparison, DOT says it would take a line of 750 tanker trucks, with a fresh load moving out every two minutes, for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to move the same volume of medium-sized pipeline.