On the front page of the newspaper of record in the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin, yesterday in the Valdosta Daily Times, is a story by Terry Richards about the GA-PSC report on the AGL pipeline and the August 2018 Homerville, GA explosion that destroyed a coffeeshop and sent three women to the hospital with third-degree burns.
![[Front Page]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report/frontcrop.jpg)
The VDT did a bit of reporting by contacting AGL and its contractor: Continue reading
Update 2019-04-04: Actually the gas did go through a sewer pipe; AGL didn’t locate or mark that pipe, either. And the GA-PSC report was on the front page yesterday of the newspaper of the largest city in the Suwannee River Basin.
Maybe the gas didn’t go up a sewer pipe to the coffee shop after all. And in its long-awaited report, Pipeline Safety at the Georgia Public Service Commission is not letting AGL hand the blame to its contractors. This recommended fine does not look like the previous slap on the wrist.
![[Filed]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report/2019-03-29--ga-psc-agl-report-filed-0001.jpg)
GA-PSC says AGL failed to locate and mark its pipeline in use
and failed to locate “their abandoned natural gas facility at 107 Courtland Ave.,”
which is the address of the Coffee Corner which blew up in August 2017 2018
and sent three women to the hospital with third-degree burns.
PROBABLE VIOLATION: AGLC failed to consider the use of a valve to stop the flow of gas, or to check the surrounding buildings and confined areas, during the response to this incident, as required by their procedures.
But those are just in the first two items, which only got a $15,000 recommended fine each. The same $15,000 level of fine is recommended for AGL’s failures to test its personnel for drug or alcohol after the incident.
The big item, with a $2,245,000 fine, is for AGL failing Continue reading
Two more months have passed, so I called Bill Edge to ask about progress on the GA-PSC’s investigation of the August 17, 2018, Homerville coffeeshop explosion resulting from AGL pipeline gas. Answer: still investigating, because so many parties are involved, and everyone has attorneys and disclosures to negotiate. He is quite aware many people would like to see a report.
I thanked him sincerely for his organization following up on this incident. He said it was their statutory duty. I said keep up the good work.
Meanwhile, here’s an example of the type of thing to expect:
Whereas, AGL enters into this Settlement Agreement without admitting Continue reading
What happened since the August 17th Homerville, GA coffee shop explosion resulting from a leak from an AGL natural gas pipeline, reported as far away as New Orleans, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia? The three women airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida got skin grafts and are recovering, according to occasional updates by one of them on facebook. Let’s all be thankful for their continued recovery.
The Georgia Public Service Commission is investigating the explosion, which may be a good thing, considering this is what the federal Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) knows about that AGL pipeline in Clinch County:
PHMSA NPMS Public Viewer, Clinch County, Georgia, accessed 2018-11-05.
That’s right: PHMSA still doesn’t even show that pipeline exists, there’s no incident displayed, and apparently PHMSA’s map viewer no longer can even talk to google maps correctly.
Terry Richards, Valdosta Daily Times, 29 August 2018, PSC probing Homerville explosion, Continue reading
The main point:
“I’ve got an independent route: let’s cancel this pipeline, and the Sunshine State should go directly to solar power.”
Here’s the video: Continue reading