Editor: A powerful explosion of an Exxon-Mobil pipeline sent a ball of fire, shooting flames and a huge plume of dark oily smoke into the sky and forced dozens of residents of Lehigh County, PA to flee their homes Tuesday morning.
Another pipeline rupture in Kentucky spilled 63,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kentucky River last week and threatens to pollute the Ohio River.
A pipeline break is the suspected source of the oil leak polluting the San Diego area, and the natural gas explosion occurring in Walnut Creek late last year and killing or severely injuring several construction workers is another recent example of the danger associated with such pipelines.
While the necessity of pipelines is unquestionable in today’s society, the decision to build a youth sports facility directly over three of the largest concurrently running lines in the nation most certainly is. The City of Tracy continues to pursue the Antenna Farm as the location for such a facility, despite the existence of these lines traversing this site and despite the availability of a much safer parcel of land purchased by the city for this purpose over a decade ago.
It is reported that these pipelines – two crude oil lines with 18 and 26 inch diameters, and a natural gas line with a 36 inch diameter – run as close as 3½ feet from the surface on which our children would play.
Both PG&E and Chevron-Texaco, owners of these pipelines, have declared this situation as safe. How can they be so sure – and how can we blindly accept their declaration as truth. I suspect that the same type of declaration was made regarding the lines that proved not to be.
My children will never participate in any activities at such a facility. I love them too much to consider them a calculated risk. I will instead transport them to a program in another city that acts in a manner that displays more concern for the welfare of its children.
Daniel Wells, Tracy