UPDATE: US Safety Board Urges Changes After Connecticut Plant Blast

A federal agency is proposing a ban on the use of natural gas to clean industrial piping following an investigation of a fatal blast earlier this year at a power plant under construction in Connecticut.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board issued 18 urgent recommendations Monday calling for federal safety regulators, trade organizations and turbine manufacturers to end the practice of blowing gas through pipes to clean them of debris. It also called for an end to the purging of gas lines indoors.

The blast at the Kleen Energy Systems LLC plant in Middletown, Conn., on Feb. 7 killed six workers and injured a dozen more. The Chemical Safety Board recommendations also are driven by an explosion at a ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) Slim Jim plant in Garner, N.C., that killed four people and injured 67 in June 2009. In that incident, gas wasn't being used for pipe cleaning, but was being purged indoors.

The Connecticut explosion puts a spotlight on a common industry practice that previously eluded the focus of regulators. The board said other substances such as air, nitrogen or steam are economic and widely available, and one of the largest turbine manufacturers agrees, yet gas remains the most popular approach to clean debris from pipes before a plant starts up. The issue is pressing, as an estimated 125 new gas-fired power plants are scheduled for completion in the next five years.

"I would submit to you that the present patchwork of inadequate codes and voluntary practices does not protect America's workers from the kind of explosions that killed six at Kleen Energy, killed four at ConAgra, and threatened many others with death or injury," according to written testimony by John Bresland, a member of the Chemical Safety Board, delivered at a congressional hearing Monday.

The Chemical Safety Board, which investigates major industrial accidents but doesn't have the authority to write regulations or issue fines or citations, classified its recommendations as "urgent" because of the imminent harm the use of gas to clean pipes could pose. The recommendations were expected to be finalized at a meeting of the board later Monday.

The recommendations come at a time of increased scrutiny of energy industry safety practices following a spate of high-profile deadly accidents in recent months. A series of investigations, including a federal criminal probe, are underway to determine what led to the explosion and sinking in late April of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. An April explosion at a Massey Energy Co. (MEE) coal mine in West Virginia, which killed 29 workers, also remains under investigation.

"These accidents have a common thread--all of them were caused by methane or other flammable gasses, which were allowed to leak or build up to dangerous levels," said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat in a statement prepared for the same hearing.

The Chemical Safety Board's investigation of the Connecticut accident found workers on the day of the explosion were using natural gas to clean piping at the near-completed plant. Gas from the cleaning process was being vented into an area of the plant that, though outdoors, was filled with plant equipment. In addition, the venting pipe wasn't pointed straight up, but instead was horizontal. The area contained the gas, which was ignited by one of a variety of possible sources, from a spark caused by debris being blown out of the piping to portable heaters running in the area, according to the board.

The board investigation found a safety meeting on the pipe-cleaning process wasn't held on the day of the explosion. Also, at the construction site some workers were directed to leave during the cleaning process, while others continued to work. A few others, concerned by the smell of gas, left on their own accord, according to the board's findings.

The board in its proposed recommendations calls on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to write new regulations prohibiting the release of flammable gas both into the atmosphere and indoors for pipe cleaning. It also calls for fuel gas codes to require the use of other substances for cleaning and the inclusion of the recommended changes in technical guidance issued by major turbine makers such as General Electric Co. (GE) and Siemens AG (SI).

A spokesman for General Electric said the company "strongly encourages" pipe cleaning methods that don't use gas, adding the cost impact is minimal and the performance of a generation unit isn't affected.

Bresland of the Chemical Safety Board called initial discussions with OSHA encouraging. The agency declined to comment as it completes its own investigation of the Connecticut explosion.

Courtney in his testimony took issue with the National Fire Protection Association, which issues voluntary safety codes to prevent explosions. He said the group declined to testify at the hearing and recently rejected what the congressman described as modest changes to its gas codes. A spokeswoman for the group didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The blast in Connecticut last winter could be heard and felt for miles from the construction site. The natural-gas-fired power plant is owned by Energy Investors Funds, a Boston-based energy-focused investment firm.

-By Mark Peters, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2457; mark.peters@dowjones.com

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