Inspections on a major natural gas pipeline that runs through Snohomish County discovered no problems, but the line will remain idle until at least this summer.
Bev Chipman, spokeswoman for Williams Northwest Pipeline Co., said the company was pleased with what it found on about 16 miles of pipeline between Mount Vernon and north Seattle.
"We didn’t have a single crack or break," Chipman said, adding that the tests involved running water through the pipeline.
In Snohomish County, the 26-inch-wide, high-pressure line runs through Snohomish, west of Lake Stevens and northward through more rural areas.
Overall, Williams is only about a third of the way through its tests of pipeline segments between Oregon and Canada. Over that 268 miles of pipeline, more than 50 tests will be done this year, Chipman said.
Alan Rathbun, a pipeline safety official with the state Utilities and Transportation Commission, said state officials are observing the tests.
"Williams had to submit a testing protocol in advance, and they’re following that," he said.
The tests follow a rare shutdown order issued by the federal Office of Pipeline Safety in December. After the line ruptured twice during an eight-month period — in Pierce County and in Lewis County — the agency said the entire 47-year-old pipeline was at risk of cracking.
The shutdown didn’t interrupt natural gas delivery to homes and businesses; a newer 30-inch pipeline still is operating along the same route. Both the lines serve utilities, including Puget Sound Energy, and industrial customers.
Once Williams completes its testing, it hopes to repair portions of the old pipeline where needed.
If the Utilities and Transportation Commission and federal regulators allow it, Williams may temporarily reopen some parts of the old pipeline, including the part through Snohomish County, later this year.
"We hope to have some segments back in service this summer," Chipman said.
But the company’s long-range plan calls for building all-new pipeline segments over about 75 miles between Oregon and Canada.
Those new segments, which would open three years from now, would be enough to meet demand while allowing the old pipeline to be taken out of service, Chipman said.
That plan is not cheap, however, with the estimated cost starting at $330 million. Williams would pass that cost along to Puget Sound Energy and others, which would likely pass at least part of the cost on to consumers.
The future of the north-south pipeline will hve no effect on Williams’ plan to build a nine-mile line from Lake Stevens to Everett. Construction on that pipeline, which would help Puget Sound Energy meet demand in the Everett area, is scheduled to begin in June, Chipman said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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