Texas regulators in mid-June revoked the operating permit of an LPG storage cavern where three people died in a fiery blast in April 1992 (Apr. 4, p. 36).
Following recommendations of its hearing examiners, the three member Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) also denied an application to reopen and expand capacity of the underground salt dome storage site near Brenham, Tex., about 40 miles northwest of Houston.
Seminole Pipeline Co., a unit of Mapco Natural Gas Liquids Inc., Tulsa, and owner of the Brenham NGL storage facility, can ask TRC to reconsider or change the ruling. Failing a modification or reversal, the company can appeal in state district court.
The 350,000 bbl Brenham LPG salt dome storage cavern has been filled with brine and inactive since the accident, which killed a young boy and two adults, injured 21 persons, and caused an estimated $9 million in damage. Seminole had sought permission to expand capacity of the site to 1 million bbl but planned to store no more than 300,000 bbl of LPG there.
TRC hearing examiners in March had recommended the expansion request be denied and the facility's operating permit, issued Aug. 10, 1981, be revoked.
"Seminole failed to prove that the Brenham storage facility is a safe facility that will be operated in a safe and prudent manner to protect fresh water, the public welfare, and physical property," examiners said in their report.
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