Gas reps offer tour of compressor station

SARAH HITE

shite@timesleader.com

HOP BOTTOM – Representatives from Chief Gathering LLC hosted a tour of the Susquehanna East compressor station for local legislators Friday afternoon, and the facility’s safety was the key issue for both parties.

Steve Hamilton, operations manager at Chief Gathering, LLC, explains that two gas compressors and a 16-cylinder engine are the guts of this gas compession unit newly installed at Hop Bottom by the company.

CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Photos/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

State Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, and state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, attended the tour with their staff members to get a better understanding of the facility that is being proposed in Dallas Township.

The station located on Korban Road in Hop Bottom spans about 5 acres and features two “slop” tanks, which store mostly water and some oil released from the gas, several filters and interconnected piping, an insulated building with three compressor engines, a metering station and a control center.

It receives gas from wells about 5 miles from the site and pressurizes it to be sent through the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which then sends the gas to market.

At the time of the tour the station was not running because the volume of natural gas traveling through the pipeline was at its peak compression and did not need use of the engines.

Ted Wurfel, vice president of Environmental, Safety and Regulatory Affairs at Chief, and Steve Hamilton, Chief’s operations manager of the Appalachia region, emphasized more about what usually doesn’t happen at the site.

“This station is built more to shut down than it is to run,” said Hamilton.

Manual and automatic shut down equipment is part of every process throughout the compressor station. If pressure or temperature reaches a certain level before an operator can perform manual shut down, automatic release valves kick in to ensure the safety of the facility.

“Slop” and other tanks are double insulated to prevent leaks, and they are lined with material underneath them and surrounded by a 2-foot fence made of corrugated steel to contain potential leaks.

Wurfel said that in emergency situations, such as when there is too much pressure buildup in the pipes or if a small fire breaks out, natural gas is released from valves and rises into the air.

“Natural gas is lighter than air,” he said. He said that venting is the safest procedure because it removes the gas from a potential emergency situation.

Tom Yoniski of Baker’s office wanted to know what the worst that could happen on site.

“Worst case scenario? Catastrophic plant failure,” Hamilton said. “If there was a pipeline break, all of the gas would be vented at one time.”

He stressed the facility’s failsafe design and said that he has never encountered an explosion or leak in his 40 years in the industry.

Chief Gathering LLC applied for special exceptions to the township in its quest to build a natural gas compressor station off of Hildebrandt Road, about 1,150 feet from the Dallas School District property line. A hearing was held on Feb. 9 to discuss the matter.

The tour was initially intended for the Dallas Township Zoning Board members, but Chief recently decided to review and resubmit its current application.

Wurfel said the application will be resubmitted some time next week, and the board will need an additional two weeks to review the revised document. He also said the Dallas Township officials will be invited to tour a compressor station on a future date.