Energize the East Side
Energize the East Side is an effort by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to upgrade the electrical system on the east side of King County for approximately 18 miles through Redmond, Bellevue, and Renton. New transmission lines will replace old, after studies conducted by PSE and the City of Bellevue pointed to a need to shore up the electrical grid with a more reliable system. The proposed route follows the route of the existing electrical transmission lines. Much of the corridor is also shared with the Olympic Pipeline system — two pipelines, one 16 inches and the second 20 inches buried between three and four feet deep —which carries diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline. According to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared for the East Side project, approximately 4.5 billion gallons of refined petroleum products are transported through the system each year. PSE’s own gas distribution pipelines also intersect the corridor.
One of the primary concerns for pipelines and electrical transmission co-locating is electrical interference causing corrosion on the pipeline. According to the DEIS, Olympic states it has mitigated this potential issue by utilizing an Integrity Management Program to monitor the pipeline right of way where it is shared with electrical transmission lines. Olympic conducts weekly patrols of the right of way and “periodically inspects” the pipelines “using in-line inspection tools, pressure testing, and other direct inspection methods.” Olympic conducted the last in-line inspections in April 2014 and the lines are not scheduled for re-inspection until 2019.
LNG Terminal — Tacoma
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) proposes constructing a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Tacoma. LNG is mostly methane that as cooled to -256 degrees Farenheit. The facility is intended to provide local transportation companies (e.g. cargo ships) with a fuel alternative, and “provide residential and commercial customers with natural gas reserves” according to the project’s website.
In addition to the terminal, the project includes five miles of new pipelines through Pierce County. One mile of distribution pipeline will connect to two existing distribution pipelines in unincorporated Pierce County, and four miles of distribution pipelines will extend from Fife into Tacoma to reach the proposed liquefaction facility. Project proponents have secured most of the permits for this proposal already. Only a few building permits remain, including WUTC’s review and approval of the pipeline component of the project with authority granted them by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) as a state agent. In Washington State, the Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) has authority over some pipelines, as described in the attached report. In April 2014, EFSEC informed the project proponent that the proposed facility is not subject to EFSEC jurisdiction.
Island Gas Connector Pipeline (Sumas, WA to Bamberton, BC)
The Island Gas Connector project is the result of partnership between Williams (operator of Northwest Pipeline) and Steelhead LNG. It is proposed to be an 81-mile natural gas pipeline that would supply a proposed LNG facility — Malahat LNG — on the southern end of Vancouver Island. The proposed pipeline would travel 34 miles in an onshore pipeline segment between Sumas and Birch Bay and then 47 miles under the Strait of Georgia. This project was proposed in late 2015 and appears to remain in the very early stages of public involvement and coordination with Native peoples in both the United States and Canada. The last update to the project’s official website was in September 2015.
Greenwood Explosion Aftermath
On March 9, 2016, an abandoned PSE gas line caused an explosion that injured nine firefighters, destroyed three businesses and damaged several others. Since then, the businesses that were impacted by this explosion have been working to seek compensation from PSE to rebuild their businesses. In March 2017, PSE claimed that they had worked directly with 10 businesses and at that time had been able to settle with seven of them. And, WUTC settled at $2.75 million for violations of pipeline safety rules on the condition that PSE complies with some conditions regarding inspection and remediation. As of May 2017, the three businesses that were destroyed in the explosion were still not rebuilt and the cleared lot that once housed them was behind a cyclone fence.
In response to the lack of action by PSE on behalf of these businesses in her district, Representative Noel Frame of the 36th Legislative District proposed a bill that would establish a mitigation fund for businesses that are affected by pipeline incidents (House Bill 2135). It would authorize the WUTC to transfer up to $500,000 in money collected from penalties assessed under RCW 81.88 from the pipeline safety account to a pipeline accident mitigation account. The bill did not make ittothe floor for a vote in the last session, but it is automatically carried forward to the next session and will be considered again in 2018.If it does not make it to the floor in 2018, it must be reintroduced during the next biennium.