A valve leak led to the deadly explosion of a methane gas pipeline in North Texas in June 2021, a federal investigation determined. The National Transportation Safety Board’s report concluded the two workers who were killed and the two others injured were not sufficiently trained for the dangerous circumstances. Though they rarely receive national coverage, methane gas pipeline explosions are relatively common. About once every three days, a “significant” incident — one causing a “fatality or injury requiring in-patient hospitalizations” or “$50,000 or more in total costs, measured in 1984 dollars” — has occurred along a gas distribution or transmission pipeline since 2010. (AP)
