“Like a bomb going off,” said the evacuated neighbor. Like a waterfall, was the sound by the time I got there about 11:20 AM EST, tipped off by a friend with a 911 radio. Several Kinder Morgan trucks were parked on Bradford Road, with KM personnel standing near the leak.

The break in the ditch across from 986 Bradford Road

According to PHMSA’s NPMS Public Map Viewer, the pipeline operator is SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO (18516).

SONAT in Berrien County, GA

According to the logos on the trucks that showed up, apparently SONAT is owned by Kinder Morgan now.

Kinder Morgan trucks and personnel

Berrien County Sheriff, GDOT, city of Nashville, Kinder Morgan trucks; Lowndes County Sheriff deputies were also at the county line stopping traffic going into Berrien County.

The same pipeline runs through the Georgia Sheriffs’ Boys Ranch on GA 122, and then another mile or so south to the valves, which are on my property on Quarterman Road in Lowndes County.

Kinder Morgan employee called from Tallahassee

This is only about a 9-inch pipe at 800PSI. Sabal Trail Transmission wants to put in a 36-inch pipeline (about 16 times the volume) at about twice the pressure (so about 32 times total) near the SONAT main line you can see running through southwest Lowndes County in this map. If even this SONAT pipeline had gotten ignited during the break, it would have made quite an explosion. If that Sabal Trail pipeline got hit by a road scrape….

SONAT in Lowndes County, GA

The VDT said their crime reporter was on the case, and WCTV’s reporter is on her way to the scene as I write.

-jsq

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