Mining sand near pipelines can expose the public to danger through erosion. We’ve seen this at the Triple PG sand mine in Porter where a potentially lethal combination of circumstances came together. 1) MINING 2) in a FLOODWAY 3) too close to PIPELINES 4) created EROSION 5) that undermined and EXPOSED the pipeline 6) to FLOATING DEBRIS and 7) the FORCE of floodwater.
Excavating pits in floodways causes erosion to move upstream and downstream during floods. When the pit is too close to infrastructure, such as bridges (or pipelines), erosion can then threaten their foundations.
Predictable Phenomenon
Headward erosion is a PREDICTABLE phenomenon. It’s as certain as gravity causing dirt to fall into a hole. Except in the case of the Triple PG sand mine, floodwater gave gravity an assist. It pushed the dirt into the hole. The hole, in this case, is the sand pit on the left below. The floodwater came from the top of the frame.
Headward erosion cut right through the pipeline crossing that paralleled what used to be a roadaround the mine.
This doesn’t happen every day. It’s sporadic. It happens during floods. But that makes it no less predictable.
How Triple PG Grew Toward, Between and Past Pipelines
The images below show the growth of the Triple PG Sand Mine northward into Montgomery County. In 1995, the mine was 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the pipelines.
1995
2017 Pre-Harvey
The mine kept expanding to the west and north. Just before Harvey, notice how Triple PG had mined right up the pipeline and beyond it, into the danger zone between the pipeline corridors.
Then came Harvey.
2017 Post-Harvey
During Harvey, headward erosion took out about a 200-foot wide section of earth supporting the natural gas pipeline (also seen in the helicopter photo above). Harvey also elongated the lake in the middle of the pipeline corridors.
Then in 2019, this area had a major flood in May and Tropical Storm Imelda in September. The major breach widened and the lake elongated even more.
2019 Post-Imelda
Imelda widened the Harvey breach so wide and deep that it exposed more pipeline. (See photo below).
Exposed pipeline has no protection from floodwaters carrying trees, cars, houses or other debris downstream. A major collision could cause an explosion. But that’s not even the biggest potential catastrophe at the Triple PG mine.
Now … For the Real Disaster Scenario
Looking at a wider satellite image (below), we can see that the mine is now closing in on the HVL pipelines from the south AND the north. It brackets them.
Water flows from top to bottom in the image above. Note how Caney Creek bends near the white line above. During Imelda, floodwater cut through that area into the big northern pond at this bend instead of following the natural stream bed. See below.
Without constant repairs like you see above, Caney Creek could soon reroute itself through the big pit on the left below. Erosion on both sides of the utility corridor could expose the HVL pipelines – just as it did the natural gas pipelines. Not likely, you say?
A breach on the left would reroute Caney Creek right across the pipelines buried in the utility corridor on the right.
In the last three years, the two ponds along this line have grown closer together by more than 1000 feet. The ponds now are within a few feet of actually touching the pipeline corridor on both sides. Continued erosion could soon threaten the HVL pipelines in the middle if nothing is done to stop it.
Why is This Potentially MORE Dangerous?
Compared to exposing a natural gas pipeline, exposing liquid pipelines is far more dangerous.
When a natural gas pipeline explodes it creates a fireball that could kill anyone near it.
But when HVL pipelines rupture, they spew poisonous liquids. And if those pipelines rupture during a flood, those poisonous liquids will flow right into the source of drinking water for two million people – Lake Houston. This is why sand mining in floodways near pipelines is a bad idea.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/2019 with help from Josh Alberson
830 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 79 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Pit-Capture-North-Big-Pond.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2019-12-07 18:37:282019-12-07 21:25:23From Erosion to Explosion: Why It’s Dangerous to Mine Sand Near Streams and Pipelines
Note: This post has been updated at 3:30 a.m. with information from Kinder Morgan.
The Texas Attorney General is suing the Triple PG Mine for dike breaches that allegedly discharged process wastewater into the drinking water supply of 2 million Houstonians. I photographed multiple dike breaches there in May, September, October and November. On Tuesday this week, I flew over the mine again and noticed something in one of the unfilled breaches: an exposed natural gas pipeline. Kinder Morgan, the line’s owner has had three washouts around this line in two years, according to a spokesman. Currently the line is filled with inert gas until it can be repaired, so there is no immediate danger. However, the repeated washouts raise questions about the safety of mining sand around pipelines.
Exposed Pipeline in Danger Zone
These pictures tell the story.
Flying up Caney Creek on 12/3/2019, I took this photograph looking toward the mine (west) in the background. Note the exposed pipeline.
When I got home, I enlarged that sign in the foreground to see what it said.
Flying over the trees, here’s what you see looking northwest. Notice the exposed pipeline in the bottom right of the photo. It aims toward a massive 183-foot breach in the mine’s northern dike created by Hurricane Harvey. Obviously, moving water exerts tremendous force in this area. See below.
The most recent erosion exposing the pipeline happened during Imelda on September 19th, according to Kinder Morgan.
Here’s what a close up of the pipeline looks like.
Close up shows downed trees all around the pipeline from the Imelda flood.
One tree has fallen on the pipeline like a guillotine.
A second Kinder Morgan spokesperson characterized this as a MAJOR natural gas pipeline.
He said the first two washouts happened during Harvey in the major and minor breaches shown in the photos above. After Harvey, they buried the pipeline under the major breach and filled in the smaller breach.
Then came Imelda. The smaller breach washed out again, creating the third exposure.
Kinder Morgan has not repaired the small breach this time because they can’t get to it. It has been 78 days since Imelda and the mine has yet to repair the road leading to the exposed pipeline.
Previous photographic analysis suggested that during Tropical Storm Imelda, 42,000 cubic feet per second coming from Peach and Caney Creeks (out of frame in the upper right of the photograph above) captured this mine’s pit. That means, the creeks likely rerouted themselves through the mine during the flood.
Here’s another view from a slightly different angle.
Another angle shows more of the exposed pipeline and the erosion around it.
I feel only a little bit safer knowing that the mine’s owners have agreed to stop dredging until the AG’s lawsuit goes to trial next year.
Another Port Neches in Porter?
According to Josh Alberson, a number of major pipelines run through this area. The Texas Railroad Commission’s GIS viewer shows the Kinder Morgan natural gas line crossing the property plus the following:
Plains Pipeline – Red Oak Pipeline (20”) moving crude
The more I look at this mine, the more surprised I am that people have not gotten killed here. It reeks of danger.
These repeated breaches and the exposed pipelines remind me of pipeline incidents farther down the river. They destroyed lives and properties in previous floods when lines ruptured from collisions with floating debris. We’re just been lucky so far.
Hollywood Blockbuster in the Making
I’ve nicknamed this mine “Death Wish VII” after one of my favorite movie series. I can’t wait until the next sequel comes out. Some friends in Hollywood are working on a treatment already. “Cardiologist turned sand miner pollutes drinking water of 2 million people, burns down East Texas, and is named Citizen of the Year by TACA.” It has all the earmarks of a Hollywood blockbuster. But seriously, I think TACA has more class than that. They would probably name him Citizen of the Decade.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging. So much for satire.
Pipeline Incidents Cost 3X More Public Lives than Industry Lives
I’m dead serious now. Thank God that there’s inert gas in this pipeline for now. But what happens in the next flood when it’s flammable gas. What if its exposed for a fourth time and more trees start slamming into it.
Two things jump out at me: the public sustains roughly three times more injuries and fatalities than industry, and the costs are staggering – in the billions.
I have already notified the TCEQ and MSHA. My feeling? We shouldn’t be mining sand in floodways. And we especially shouldn’t be mining sand in floodways criss-crossed with pipelines. The mines accelerate the potential for washouts. And that exposes everyone to more danger.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/2019, with help from Josh Alberson
830 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 78 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/20191203-RJR_5657-2-e1575696133839.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2019-12-06 23:56:092019-12-07 18:51:42Is Danger Still Lurking at Triple PG Sand Mine?
The Liberty Materials Mine in Conroe on the West Fork of the San Jacinto was cited last month for allegedly discharging 56 million gallons of wastewater loaded with up to 25 times the normal amount of sediment. When we look at the issue of sediment in the river and how it affects flooding, such breaches contribute to the problem. But it’s not just what such sand mines discharge. It’s also about what the wetlands they were carved from don’t hold back any more.
Before there was a Liberty Materials in Conroe, the area they now occupy contained many densely forested wetlands. Now there is nothing to slow down the water during heavy rains. Much more sand and sediment are exposed. And the wetlands are no longer there to filter it. It’s a double whammy. We get it coming and going.
Visually, it appears that wetlands once covered roughly half the area of this mine. But what was actually there?
US Geological Survey (USGS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) use a five character alpha-numeric code to classify wetlands. Liberty Materials operates in areas that were classified as PFO1A and PEM1A.
P stands for the class: Palustrine. Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland that lacks flowing water. The word palustrine comes from the Latin word palus or marsh. Wetlands within this category include inland marshes, swamps and floodplains covered by vegetation.
The second two letters in each case stand for the subclass: FOrested or EMergent. Forested means it had broad-leaved, deciduous trees or shrubs taller than 6 meters. Emergent means it had aquatic plants.
These were areas that could store large volumes of water during floods. Plus, they had vegetation that could suck it up.
Trees Soak Up Water, Too
Trees can soak up 50 to 300 gallons of water in a day depending on their size, age and type. They send it back into the atmosphere; let’s use 100 gallons as a conservative average and do some simple math to calculate their contribution to flood reduction.
The Liberty sand mine complex comprises more than a thousand acres. That’s 500,000 trees each soaking up 100 gallons of water per day. Or 50 million gallons of water per day.
That’s about the same amount that the TCEQ estimates the Liberty Mine discharged downstream in one breach.
Personally, I’d rather have the trees and wetlands than white water and a river that’s so silted up it contributes to flooding.
Influence of Wetlands on Flooding
Imagine a sand box that’s 1.5 miles wide and 2.5 miles long. Here’s what it looked like the day after the peak of Hurricane Harvey.
Image from 8/30/2017 of Liberty Mine one day after the peak of Harvey.
And here’s why. Note how closely the extend of flooding matches the extent of the flood plains. Like almost all mines on the West Fork, this one lies substantially within the floodway and floodplain.
Cross-hatched = floodway; aqua = 100 year; tan = 500 year floodplain.
Is Liberty’s Luck Running Low?
If these people had the strongest dikes in the world, maybe you could cut them some slack. But they don’t. They breach repeatedly.
About a month after allegedly discharging 56 million gallons of process wastewater into the West Fork, the only thing holding back another discharge at the Liberty Mine is a couple feet of sand. Photo taken on 12/3/2019.
We need sand, but not at the expense of floods and the environment. Maybe it’s time for TACA to run some of its members out of Texas. That do-good routine they stage in Austin every other year could be in jeopardy with members like Liberty. See below.
11/4/2019. The Day the West Fork Turned White.Confluence of Spring Creek and West Fork. TCEQ alleges that Liberty Mines discharged 56 million gallons of white waste water into the West Fork.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12.5.2019
828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Liberty-Breach-12.3.19.jpg?fit=1200%2C913&ssl=19131200adminadmin2019-12-05 21:59:212019-12-05 22:04:40Liberty Materials Mine Carved Out of Many Wetlands
From Erosion to Explosion: Why It’s Dangerous to Mine Sand Near Streams and Pipelines
Mining sand near pipelines can expose the public to danger through erosion. We’ve seen this at the Triple PG sand mine in Porter where a potentially lethal combination of circumstances came together. 1) MINING 2) in a FLOODWAY 3) too close to PIPELINES 4) created EROSION 5) that undermined and EXPOSED the pipeline 6) to FLOATING DEBRIS and 7) the FORCE of floodwater.
Excavating pits in floodways causes erosion to move upstream and downstream during floods. When the pit is too close to infrastructure, such as bridges (or pipelines), erosion can then threaten their foundations.
Predictable Phenomenon
Headward erosion is a PREDICTABLE phenomenon. It’s as certain as gravity causing dirt to fall into a hole. Except in the case of the Triple PG sand mine, floodwater gave gravity an assist. It pushed the dirt into the hole. The hole, in this case, is the sand pit on the left below. The floodwater came from the top of the frame.
This doesn’t happen every day. It’s sporadic. It happens during floods. But that makes it no less predictable.
How Triple PG Grew Toward, Between and Past Pipelines
The images below show the growth of the Triple PG Sand Mine northward into Montgomery County. In 1995, the mine was 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the pipelines.
1995
2017 Pre-Harvey
The mine kept expanding to the west and north. Just before Harvey, notice how Triple PG had mined right up the pipeline and beyond it, into the danger zone between the pipeline corridors.
Then came Harvey.
2017 Post-Harvey
During Harvey, headward erosion took out about a 200-foot wide section of earth supporting the natural gas pipeline (also seen in the helicopter photo above). Harvey also elongated the lake in the middle of the pipeline corridors.
Then in 2019, this area had a major flood in May and Tropical Storm Imelda in September. The major breach widened and the lake elongated even more.
2019 Post-Imelda
Imelda widened the Harvey breach so wide and deep that it exposed more pipeline. (See photo below).
Exposed pipeline has no protection from floodwaters carrying trees, cars, houses or other debris downstream. A major collision could cause an explosion. But that’s not even the biggest potential catastrophe at the Triple PG mine.
Now … For the Real Disaster Scenario
Looking at a wider satellite image (below), we can see that the mine is now closing in on the HVL pipelines from the south AND the north. It brackets them.
Water flows from top to bottom in the image above. Note how Caney Creek bends near the white line above. During Imelda, floodwater cut through that area into the big northern pond at this bend instead of following the natural stream bed. See below.
Why is This Potentially MORE Dangerous?
Compared to exposing a natural gas pipeline, exposing liquid pipelines is far more dangerous.
When a natural gas pipeline explodes it creates a fireball that could kill anyone near it.
Most of us have seen news footage of pipelines that ruptured on the San Jacinto River. Floodwaters swept away barges that collided with pipelines and caused them to explode. Could something comparable happen here with trees or cars floating downstream?
Enter James Cameron stage right.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/2019 with help from Josh Alberson
830 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 79 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Is Danger Still Lurking at Triple PG Sand Mine?
Note: This post has been updated at 3:30 a.m. with information from Kinder Morgan.
The Texas Attorney General is suing the Triple PG Mine for dike breaches that allegedly discharged process wastewater into the drinking water supply of 2 million Houstonians. I photographed multiple dike breaches there in May, September, October and November. On Tuesday this week, I flew over the mine again and noticed something in one of the unfilled breaches: an exposed natural gas pipeline. Kinder Morgan, the line’s owner has had three washouts around this line in two years, according to a spokesman. Currently the line is filled with inert gas until it can be repaired, so there is no immediate danger. However, the repeated washouts raise questions about the safety of mining sand around pipelines.
Exposed Pipeline in Danger Zone
These pictures tell the story.
When I got home, I enlarged that sign in the foreground to see what it said.
Flying over the trees, here’s what you see looking northwest. Notice the exposed pipeline in the bottom right of the photo. It aims toward a massive 183-foot breach in the mine’s northern dike created by Hurricane Harvey. Obviously, moving water exerts tremendous force in this area. See below.
Here’s what a close up of the pipeline looks like.
A second Kinder Morgan spokesperson characterized this as a MAJOR natural gas pipeline.
He said the first two washouts happened during Harvey in the major and minor breaches shown in the photos above. After Harvey, they buried the pipeline under the major breach and filled in the smaller breach.
Then came Imelda. The smaller breach washed out again, creating the third exposure.
Kinder Morgan has not repaired the small breach this time because they can’t get to it. It has been 78 days since Imelda and the mine has yet to repair the road leading to the exposed pipeline.
Previous photographic analysis suggested that during Tropical Storm Imelda, 42,000 cubic feet per second coming from Peach and Caney Creeks (out of frame in the upper right of the photograph above) captured this mine’s pit. That means, the creeks likely rerouted themselves through the mine during the flood.
Here’s another view from a slightly different angle.
I feel only a little bit safer knowing that the mine’s owners have agreed to stop dredging until the AG’s lawsuit goes to trial next year.
Another Port Neches in Porter?
According to Josh Alberson, a number of major pipelines run through this area. The Texas Railroad Commission’s GIS viewer shows the Kinder Morgan natural gas line crossing the property plus the following:
These are major pipelines!
I hope the Mine Safety and Health Administration addresses this before we have another Port Neches disaster in Porter.
The more I look at this mine, the more surprised I am that people have not gotten killed here. It reeks of danger.
These repeated breaches and the exposed pipelines remind me of pipeline incidents farther down the river. They destroyed lives and properties in previous floods when lines ruptured from collisions with floating debris. We’re just been lucky so far.
Hollywood Blockbuster in the Making
Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging. So much for satire.
Pipeline Incidents Cost 3X More Public Lives than Industry Lives
I’m dead serious now. Thank God that there’s inert gas in this pipeline for now. But what happens in the next flood when it’s flammable gas. What if its exposed for a fourth time and more trees start slamming into it.
There’s danger associated with this. Here’s a list of all the public and industry injuries, fatalities and costs related to pipeline incidents in the US since 2005.
I have already notified the TCEQ and MSHA. My feeling? We shouldn’t be mining sand in floodways. And we especially shouldn’t be mining sand in floodways criss-crossed with pipelines. The mines accelerate the potential for washouts. And that exposes everyone to more danger.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/2019, with help from Josh Alberson
830 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 78 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Liberty Materials Mine Carved Out of Many Wetlands
The Liberty Materials Mine in Conroe on the West Fork of the San Jacinto was cited last month for allegedly discharging 56 million gallons of wastewater loaded with up to 25 times the normal amount of sediment. When we look at the issue of sediment in the river and how it affects flooding, such breaches contribute to the problem. But it’s not just what such sand mines discharge. It’s also about what the wetlands they were carved from don’t hold back any more.
Before there was a Liberty Materials in Conroe, the area they now occupy contained many densely forested wetlands. Now there is nothing to slow down the water during heavy rains. Much more sand and sediment are exposed. And the wetlands are no longer there to filter it. It’s a double whammy. We get it coming and going.
Before Liberty, Abundant Wetlands
Visually, it appears that wetlands once covered roughly half the area of this mine. But what was actually there?
US Geological Survey (USGS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) use a five character alpha-numeric code to classify wetlands. Liberty Materials operates in areas that were classified as PFO1A and PEM1A.
P stands for the class: Palustrine. Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland that lacks flowing water. The word palustrine comes from the Latin word palus or marsh. Wetlands within this category include inland marshes, swamps and floodplains covered by vegetation.
The second two letters in each case stand for the subclass: FOrested or EMergent. Forested means it had broad-leaved, deciduous trees or shrubs taller than 6 meters. Emergent means it had aquatic plants.
These were areas that could store large volumes of water during floods. Plus, they had vegetation that could suck it up.
Trees Soak Up Water, Too
Trees can soak up 50 to 300 gallons of water in a day depending on their size, age and type. They send it back into the atmosphere; let’s use 100 gallons as a conservative average and do some simple math to calculate their contribution to flood reduction.
It’s difficult to estimate the number of trees per acre; it depends on the factors mentioned above plus more. But some people use 500 trees per acre as a good average for estimating purposes.
The Liberty sand mine complex comprises more than a thousand acres. That’s 500,000 trees each soaking up 100 gallons of water per day. Or 50 million gallons of water per day.
Personally, I’d rather have the trees and wetlands than white water and a river that’s so silted up it contributes to flooding.
Influence of Wetlands on Flooding
Imagine a sand box that’s 1.5 miles wide and 2.5 miles long. Here’s what it looked like the day after the peak of Hurricane Harvey.
And here’s why. Note how closely the extend of flooding matches the extent of the flood plains. Like almost all mines on the West Fork, this one lies substantially within the floodway and floodplain.
Is Liberty’s Luck Running Low?
If these people had the strongest dikes in the world, maybe you could cut them some slack. But they don’t. They breach repeatedly.
We need sand, but not at the expense of floods and the environment. Maybe it’s time for TACA to run some of its members out of Texas. That do-good routine they stage in Austin every other year could be in jeopardy with members like Liberty. See below.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12.5.2019
828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.