Company Behind NC Pipeline Spill Inspected Less Than 50% In 2019, Improperly Kept Records

According to an annual inspection report filed with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Colonial Pipeline — whose 5,602 mile interstate pipeline spilled over 1,200,000 gallons of gas in Huntersville, NC last August— only inspected a maximum of 2,542 unique miles of pipe in 2019, accounting for roughly 45% of the line.

The report details the various pipe sizes, ages, and construction methods across the scope of the multi-state venture, and also accounts for the various methods and measurements used to inspect sections of the pipeline — though some of the minute details lack specificity. According to the report, 909 miles of pipeline were inspected by “Corrosion or metal loss tools" with the same number of miles listed as being inspected by “dent or deformation tools" — and while it isn’t completely definitive, it seems likely that it is the same 909 miles which was inspected by tools that function in both aforementioned capacities. Given the August spill came from a previously repaired crack, maybe the most eyebrow raising piece of information in the report is that only 650 miles of the pipeline were inspected by “crack or long seam detection tools" (a number lower than the total mileage of pipeline in North Carolina alone). Another 683 miles were listed as being…