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| equity =
| equity =
| num_employees = ~ 11,000 (2014)
| num_employees = ~ 11,000 (2014)
| subsid = [[Kinder Morgan Energy Partners]]
| homepage = {{URL|http://www.kindermorgan.com}}
| homepage = {{URL|http://www.kindermorgan.com}}
| intl = yes
| intl = yes
}}
}}
[[File:KindermorganbuildingHouston.JPG|thumb|Company headquarters]]
[[File:KindermorganbuildingHouston.JPG|thumb|Company headquarters]]
'''Kinder Morgan''' is a company headquartered in [[Downtown Houston]].<ref>"[http://www.kindermorgan.com/contact_us.cfm Contact Us]." Kinder Morgan. Retrieved on October 29, 2014. Click "General Questions": "Questions for us Corporate Headquarters: Kinder Morgan 1001 Louisiana St, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77002"</ref> It is the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and is a publicly traded company (NYSE: KMI).<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.kindermorgan.com/about_us/about_us_corp_profile.cfm/|title=About Us|website=http://kindermorgan.com|accessdate=25 Aug 2014}}</ref>
'''Kinder Morgan''' is a company headquartered in [[Downtown Houston]].<ref>"[http://www.kindermorgan.com/contact_us.cfm Contact Us]." Kinder Morgan. Retrieved on October 29, 2014. Click "General Questions": "Questions for us Corporate Headquarters: Kinder Morgan 1001 Louisiana St, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77002"</ref> It is the fourth largest [[energy company]] in North America.<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.kindermorgan.com/about_us/about_us_corp_profile.cfm/|title=About Us|website=http://kindermorgan.com|accessdate=25 Aug 2014}}</ref> The Kinder Morgan group publicly traded companies include Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB).


Kinder Morgan owns about 180 terminals that store and handle products such as [[gasoline]], [[coal]], and [[petroleum coke]]. Kinder Morgan's CO2 division provides [[carbon dioxide]] ({{CO2}}) for [[enhanced oil recovery]] projects in North America.<ref>Failure Investigation Report – Central Florida Pipeline 10-inch Jet Fuel Pipeline Failure, July 22, 2011, http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_4DFEE9C3F71E6C9384A34BA182C1F157C5212A00/filename/cntrl_FL_red_appD.pdf.</ref> in 2014, a third of the natural gas that moved in the United States passed through a Kinder Morgan asset.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/kinder-morgan-energy/| title=Kinder Morgan: The energy boom’s mighty middleman| website= Fortune.com| last=Otterbourg|first=Ken|date=2 Jun 2014| accessdate=8 Sep 2014}}</ref>
Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately 80,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide (CO2) and more. The company also stores or handles a variety of products and materials at its terminals such as gasoline, jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel.


Kinder Morgan has been cited by the U.S. government in 24 incidents which led to five federal enforcement actions from 2006 to 2014.<ref>Pipeline Operator Information, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/operator/Operatorlist.html?nocache=5346.</ref>

On August 10, 2014, Kinder announced it was moving to full ownership of its partially owned subsidiaries [[Kinder Morgan Energy Partners]], Kinder Morgan Management, and El Paso Pipeline Partners in a deal worth $71 billion.<ref name="KinderAcquisitions">{{cite news|title=Pipeline King Kinder rakes in $1.5 bn in one day|url=http://www.houstonmirror.com/index.php/sid/224642261|date=11 August 2014|accessdate=13 August 2014|publisher=''Houston Mirror''}}</ref>


==CEO==
==CEO==
Line 32: Line 36:


==History==
==History==
See also Pipeline Safety, below.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) was founded in February of 1997 when a group of investors led by Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder and former Vice Chairman William V. Morgan acquired the general partner of a small, publicly traded pipeline limited partnership (Enron Liquids Pipeline).


Kinder Morgan was founded in 1997 when a group of investors acquired the general partner of a small, publicly traded pipeline limited partnership (Enron Liquids Pipeline, L.P.).<ref name="about"/>
Based in Houston, KMP began with a few assets, 175 employees and an enterprise value of approximately $325 million. Mr. Kinder and Mr. Morgan had a vision to build a different type of energy company by utilizing the master limited partnership (MLP) financial structure as a growth vehicle, something that had never been done before. It worked and KMP became the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnership in America. In the early years KMP grew mostly through acquisitions, purchasing such assets as refined petroleum pipelines, CO2 production fields and transportation pipelines, intrastate natural gas pipelines and bulk and liquids terminals. As time went on, most of KMP's growth came through expansions and new build projects.


On December 23, 2013, Kinder Morgan announced that, through its Kinder Morgan Energy partner subsidiary (ticker KMP on NYSE), it would acquire the US oil tanker operator [[American Petroleum Tankers]] (APT) and its affiliated company SCT (State Class Tankers) from the US private equity investment firms Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital management. APT operates a fleet of five US flagged MR 50,000 tons - 330,000 barrels - oil tankers and has four other similar tankers on order from the General Dynamics shipbuilding company [[National Steel and Shipbuilding Company|NASSCO]] in California. This acquisition appears to be the first case whereby a pipeline operator will also be able to offer marine transportation.<ref>Kinder Morgan Tankers, http://www.kindermorgan.com/business/terminals/apt.cfm</ref>
In 1999, Mr. Kinder and his management team took over the reins of KN Energy, an integrated natural gas pipeline company based in Lakewood, Colo. KN's roots dated back to 1936 when, as a local distribution company, it provided natural gas service to small communities and rural areas in Kansas and Nebraska. One of the main assets that came from this deal was Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), which serves the high-demand Chicago market. Following the transaction, KN became Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinder Morgan's second publicly traded company.


This acquisition would facilitate the export of U.S. natural resources to overseas markets, and Kinder Morgan has lined up "some LNG export customers" as of July 2014.<ref>Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' (KMP) CEO Richard Kinder on Q2 2014 Results - Earnings Conference Call July 18, 2014, 2:46 AM ET, by SA Transcripts, http://seekingalpha.com/article/2322165-kinder-morgan-energy-partners-kmp-ceo-richard-kinder-on-q2-2014-results-earnings-conference-call, accessed 2014-07-20.</ref>
In 1999, Mr. Kinder and his management team took over the reins of KN Energy, an integrated natural gas pipeline company based in Lakewood, Colorado. KN's roots dated back to 1936 when, as a local distribution company, it provided natural gas service to small communities and rural areas in Kansas and Nebraska. One of the main assets that came from this deal was Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), which serves the high-demand Chicago market. KN Energy became Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinder Morgan's second publicly traded company. Today KMI owns 20 percent of and operates NGPL.


In addition to its role in the energy transportation and storage industry, Kinder Morgan operates in two major oil fields in Texas: the [[Yates Oil Field]] and the SACROC Unit. Kinder Morgan produces approximately 55,000 barrels per day between the two areas, and claims to be the second-largest oil producer in Texas.<ref>[http://www.kne.com/business/co2/ Kinder Morgan {{CO2}}: description of {{CO2}} and oil operations]</ref>
A third publicly traded Kinder Morgan company was formed in 2001 - Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) - to facilitate institutional ownership of KMP equity. KMR was a limited liability company and its only significant assets were the partnership units it owned in KMP.


===Leveraged buyout===
In 2006, Mr. Kinder spearheaded a management led buyout to take KMI private. That transaction closed in May 2007. On Feb. 11, 2011, KMI once again began trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the largest private equity-backed U.S. initial public offering in history. The IPO issued nearly 110 million shares and raised approximately $3.3 billion.
On August 28, 2006, Kinder Morgan announced that it would be taken private in a management-led [[leveraged buyout]] totaling approximately $22 billion. Outside participants in the transaction include [[Fayez Sarofim]], [[Goldman Sachs Capital Partners]] and Highstar Capital (then owned by [[American International Group]]).<ref>[http://www.kindermorgan.com/investor/KMI_1q09.pdf SEC Form 10-Q, March 31, 2009]</ref>


On September 8, 2010, a notice of a [[class action]] settlement was filed in the District Court of Shawnee County Kansas. The proposed settlement is to resolve claims of breach of [[fiduciary duty]] owed to Kinder Morgan shareholders by persons involved with the buyout. The settlement payment is to be $200 million. A hearing on the settlement was scheduled for November 12, 2010.<ref>Consolidated Case No. 06-C-801, http://www.shawneecourt.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/239, accessed 2014-10-03.</ref>
In 2006, Mr. Kinder spearheaded a management led buyout to take KMI private. That transaction closed in May 2007. On Feb. 11, 2011, KMI once again began trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the largest private equity-backed U.S. initial public offering in history. The IPO issued nearly 110 million shares and raised approximately $3.3 billion.

On Oct. 16, 2011, KMI announced it would acquire El Paso Corporation for approximately $38 billion. The transaction, which closed on May 24, 2012, made Kinder Morgan the largest midstream and one of the largest energy companies in North America (based on enterprise value). As part of the transaction, Kinder Morgan added a fourth publicly traded entity to its family of companies – El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB).

On Aug. 10, 2014, KMI announced that it would acquire all of the publicly held shares/units of KMP, KMR and EPB in an approximately $70 billion transaction. The shareholders/unitholders of the Kinder Morgan companies voted to approve the transaction Nov. 20, 2014, and the transaction closed late November 2014. Kinder Morgan is now one publicly traded company with a ticker on the New York Stock Exchange of KMI. <ref> [http://www.kindermorgan.com/about_us/kmi_history.aspx] </ref>


In October 2011, Kinder Morgan Inc. agreed to buy [[El Paso Corp.]] (EP) for $21.1 billion and gave the combined company 67,000 miles (107,000 kilometers) of gas lines, eclipsing Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) as the biggest U.S. pipeline operator. The transaction paid with shares of Kinder Morgan, Kinder Morgan warrants, and all of cash portion $11.5 billion through [[Barclays Plc]] (BARC) borrowing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-16/kinder-to-buy-el-paso-for-21-1-billion-making-biggest-u-s-pipe-company.html |title=Kinder Morgan to Buy El Paso for $21 Billion in Cash, Stock |date=October 18, 2011}}</ref>


==Companies==
==Companies==
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*Copano Energy (purchased 2013)
*Copano Energy (purchased 2013)
*Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (50% by 2014) (GT)
*Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (50% by 2014) (GT)

==Pipelines==

Kinder Morgan, through a subsidiary, is the [[general partner]] and owner of many of the interests in [[Kinder Morgan Energy Partners]], a publicly traded [[Pipeline transport|pipeline]] and terminal [[limited partnership]]. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. Kinder Morgan owns or operates approximately 82,000 miles of pipelines transporting primarily [[natural gas]], [[crude oil]], and petroleum products.


===Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline===
===Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline===
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A study by [[Simon Fraser University]] claims that Kinder Morgan has overestimated the economic benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/kinder-morgan-s-trans-mountain-pipeline-benefits-questioned-1.2829911]
A study by [[Simon Fraser University]] claims that Kinder Morgan has overestimated the economic benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/kinder-morgan-s-trans-mountain-pipeline-benefits-questioned-1.2829911]


==Pipeline Safety==

===Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Safety Standards===
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allows high-pressure 30-42" diameter interstate natural gas pipelines to be built '''less than fifty feet''' away from occupied dwellings.<ref>“An Interstate Natural Gas Facility on My Land?”, http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides/citz-guide-gas.pdf, accessed 2014-10-03.</ref>

Thus a FERC-approved pipeline could be well within the blast radius of roughly '''800-1100''' feet for pipelines of those diameters.<ref>The equation for calculating impact radius is in H. Noel Duckworth and Robert Eiber, Report On Assessment of Pipeline Integrity of Kinder-Morgan Conversion Of the Rancho Pipeline To City of Austin Texas (June 2004), pp. 29-30, primis.phmsa.dot.gov, accessed 2014-06-23. The equation is also in "Managing System Integrity of Gas Pipelines," American Society of Mechanical Engineers, B31.8S-2004. The calculation used 1460 psig for the gas pressure.</ref>

===Kinder Morgan Safety Violations===
In 2009, the [[Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration]] (PHMSA) cited Kinder Morgan for violating safety standards regarding the distance between a natural gas pipeline and a “high consequence area” such as a school or hospital; the pipeline was too close for safe operation in case of a leak.<ref>PHMSA letter to Richard Kinder, September 1, 2009, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520071008/520071008_FinalOrder_09012009_text.pdf, accessed 2014-06-18.</ref>

In 2011, PHMSA cited Kinder Morgan for these safety violations:
* failing to maintain update maps showing pipeline locations,
* failing to test pipeline safety devices,
* failing to maintain proper firefighting equipment,
* failing to inspect its pipelines as required, and
* failing to adequately monitor pipes’ corrosion levels.<ref>Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) letter to Hugh Harden, Kinder Morgan, Feb. 28, 2011, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520115005/520115005_NOPV%20PCO_02282011_text.pdf, accessed June 2014.</ref>

In 2013, the headline “Wall Street Worries About Kinder Morgan’s Safety Record: BC pipeline operator slashes and defers maintenance spending” was a concern to anyone who lived or worked near a Kinder Morgan pipeline.<ref>Eric de Place, “Wall Street Worries About Kinder Morgan’s Safety Record: BC pipeline operator slashes and defers maintenance spending”, September 19, 2013, http://daily.sightline.org/2013/09/19/wall-street-worries-about-kinder-morgans-safety-record/, consulted June 16, 2014.</ref>

The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' asked, “Is Kinder Morgan Scrimping on its Pipelines?” after an investment analyst charged the company with starving its pipelines of routine maintenance spending in order to return more cash to investors.<ref>Tom Fowler and Ben Lefebvre, “Is Kinder Morgan Scrimping on its Pipelines?” Wall Street Journal, Sep 27, 2013, http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/09/27/is-kinder-morgan-scrimping-on-its-pipelines-the-market-shrugs/, accessed June 16, 2014. Claudia Assis, “Research firm rebuts Kinder Morgan’s rebuttal,” September 26, 2013, Marketwatch / Wall Street Journal, http://blogs.marketwatch.com/energy-ticker/2013/09/26/research-firm-rebuts-kinder-morgans-rebuttal/, accessed June 16, 2014.</ref> Deferred maintenance may account for the high number of Kinder Morgan pipeline accidents in the last decade.

Close examination of PHMSA's incident reports for Kinder Morgan's onshore gas transmission pipelines shows that faulty infrastructure causes 45% of onshore gas transmission pipeline significant leaks. Failure of the pipe, a cracked weld, and faulty pipeline equipment together account for 28.3% of pipeline leaks, and corrosion of the pipe causes 16.8%.<ref>Leak data from http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/AllPSIDet_1994_2013_US.html?nocache=1724#_ngtranson, accessed 2014-07-10.</ref>

===Accidents===
In Texas from 2003 to 2014, Kinder Morgan experienced 36 "significant incidents", resulting in fatalities or hospitalization, fires, explosions, or spills.<ref>Building Safe Communities: Pipeline Risk and its Application to Local Development Decisions, (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Pipeline Safety: 2010), p. 10, at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/publications/PIPA/PIPA-PipelineRiskReport-Final-20101021.pdf, accessed June 18, 2014.</ref>

Throughout the U.S. since 2003, Kinder Morgan and its subsidiaries' pipelines have been responsible for at least 180 spills, evacuations, explosions, fires, and fatalities in 24 states.<ref>PHMSA Pipeline Safety State Pages at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/States.htm?nocache=3971.</ref> Some notable examples (including spills in Canada):

* '''2003'''

In August 2003, in Caddo County, Oklahoma, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America failed in a rural farming area about just east of the town of Stecker. A 26" diameter pipe exploded, throwing a 54-foot long section of pipe 30 feet from the ditch. The cause was environmental cracking along the length of the failed section parallel to the longitudinal weld seam.<ref>PHMSA Corrective Action Order, CPF No.4-2003-1008H.</ref>

* '''2004'''

On April 27, 2004, an underground Kinder Morgan 14” pipeline ruptured at [[Suisun Marsh]] in [[Solano County, California]], spilling over 120,000 gallons of diesel fuel directly into the marsh. The cause was pipe corrosion. The company failed to notify authorities about the spill for 18 hours, another safety violation for which it was later cited. Kinder Morgan was fined $5.3 million for the spill, and agreed to enhance spill prevention, response and reporting practices. The company had 44 spills in 31 months, indicating "widespread failure to adequately detect and address the effects of outside force damage and corrosion," according to an order issued in August 2005 by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).<ref>Scott Marshall, “Kinder-Morgan to pay $5.3 million for fuel spills,” Contra Costa Times, May 21, 2007, http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_5950251, accessed June 16, 2014.</ref><ref>http://www.solano.courts.ca.gov/materials/Suisun_Marsh_Oil_Spill.pdf</ref>

On November 9, 2004, a Kinder Morgan pipeline in [[Walnut Creek, California]] was struck by a backhoe, causing a gasoline spill that ignited in an explosive fireball that incinerated five workers and severely injured four others. CalOSHA (California Occupational Safety and Health Administration) cited Kinder Morgan for failure to accurately mark or map the pipeline location.<ref>Officials Dole Out Fines In Fatal Pipeline Explosion, May 5, 2005, http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/officials-dole-out-fines-in-fatal-pipeline-explosi/nKYpc/.</ref> In 2005, the California Fire Marshal fined Kinder Morgan $500,000 for its role in the “completely preventable” tragedy. Kinder Morgan agreed to upgrade pipeline inspection methods and improve corrosion control.<ref>"Cal/OSHA Issues Multi-Employer Citation," http://www.dir.ca.gov/dirnews/2005/ir2005-20.html; California Fire Investigation Report, http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pipeline/pdf/WCFinalReport/PenaltyLetter.pdf; “Kinder Morgan reaches safety deal,” April 10, 2006, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kinder-morgan-energy-us-reach-safety-deal, accessed June 2014.</ref>

*'''2005'''

A Kinder Morgan Energy Partners petroleum products pipeline was found to be leaking gasoline into Summit Creek, near Truckee, California, on April 1. Gasoline spread into Donner Lake. About 300 gallons were spilled.<ref>http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520055020H/520055020H_corrective%20action%20order_04212005.pdf?nocache=4253</ref><ref>http://www.law360.com/articles/25295/kinder-morgan-pays-5-3m-for-california-oil-spills</ref>

In May 2005, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America 30" diameter pipe exploded near Marshall, Texas, sending a giant fireball into the sky and hurling a 160-foot section of pipe onto the grounds of an electric power generating plant. Two people were hurt, 40 evacuated. The cause was stress corrosion cracking.<ref>http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/420051011H/cpf_420051011H.pdf?nocache=8618.</ref>

*'''2006'''

On July 22, 2006, near Campbellsville, Kentucky, a Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Pipeline exploded. A 25-foot chunk of pipe blew out of the ground and landed 200 feet away, the pipe twisted and mangled, its external coating burned off. The 24" pipeline ruptured due to external corrosion more than two feet long at the bottom of a valley in an area of wet shale, known to cause corrosion on buried pipelines in this part of Kentucky.<ref>PHMSA Corrective Action Order, CPF No. 2-2006-3 007 H, aka CPF 220061007H.</ref>

On November 11, 2006, a subcontractor on Kinder Morgan’s Rockies Express (REX) pipeline outside [[Cheyenne, Wyoming]] struck an existing pipeline, causing a rupture and explosion. Two months after this explosion, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission threatened to shut the project down if REX didn’t improve its “poor compliance record” involving construction activity outside the approved work area.<ref>Tom Beyerlein, “Fatal explosion puts Kinder Morgan’s past in spotlight,” Dayton Daily News [Ohio], September 14, 2008, in Tar Sands Free BC, September 15, 2008, http://tarsandsfreebc.org/?p=236, accessed June 16, 2014.</ref>

On November 27, 2006, the Kinder Morgan Plantation Pipeline at [[Charlotte, North Carolina]] released about 4,000 gallons of gasoline from a Plantation Pipe Line Company block valve on a delivery line into a terminal owned by a third party company.<ref>Kinder Morgan 2009 annual report, p. 198.</ref>

* '''2007'''

On July 24, 2007, the Trans Mountain Pipeline, operated by Kinder Morgan Canada, released over 250,000 litres of crude oil (70,000 of which flowed into Burrard Inlet, requiring a [[Canadian dollar|C$]]15-million cleanup) after a backhoe broke the improperly-marked line in Burnaby.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cleanup continues on B.C. oil spill|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cleanup-continues-on-b-c-oil-spill-1.676094|accessdate=August 27, 2014|date=July 24, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=3 companies plead guilty to Burnaby oil spill|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/3-companies-plead-guilty-to-burnaby-oil-spill-1.1005862|accessdate=August 27, 2014|date=October 3, 2011}}</ref>

* '''2008'''

On September 23, 2008, a Kinder Morgan pipeline exploded and burned for more than ten hours at Pasadena, Texas. One person died; another was injured.<ref>Eric James, “Pipeline at Pasadena plant explodes,” September 24, 2008, ABC Eyewitness News, Houston, Texas, http://abc13.com/archive/6408372/, accessed June 17, 2014.</ref> The cause of this “significant event” was corrosion. The Pasadena pipeline experienced at least 18 "significant incidents" 2004 to 2013.<ref>“Texas Significant Incidents Listing,” 2003-2014, PHMSA Pipeline Safety Stakeholder Communication, U.S. DOT, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/IncDetSt_st_TX_flt_sig.html?nocache=8751, accessed June 17, 2014.</ref>

* '''2009'''

In May 2009, near Palm City, Florida, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company 18" diameter natural gas pipeline ruptured in a sparsely populated rural area of Martin Co. and "displaced" about 106 feet of buried pipe onto the right-of-way between Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike (SR-91). About 106 feet of pipe weighing about 5,000 pounds was blown out of the ground. The rupture was near a high school that was within the 366-foot potential impact radius (PIR). Injuries included two people in a car that ran off the road and a Sheriff's deputy treated for inhaling gas.<ref>NTSB pipeline accident brief DCA09FP007.</ref>

On July 15, 2009, a pipeline accident at [[Sylvarena, Mississippi]] involved [[Boardwalk Pipeline Partners]], [[Southern Natural Gas]] and Kinder Morgan in an explosion that killed one person and injured three.<ref name = msnews>{{cite web | url = http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/10734958/pipeline-explosion-kills-1-injures-3-in-smith-county | title = Pipeline explosion kills 1, injures 3 in Smith county| publisher = MS News | accessdate = 23 January 2014}}</ref>

* '''2010'''

On November 30, 2010, a 30" diameter Kinder Morgan / [[Tennessee Gas Pipeline]] failed in a semi-rural area between Highway 1 and State Road 3191, two miles NW of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]], 1/4 mile NE of a country club, and 200' south of a residential subdivision. Louisiana state police evacuated 100 homes. Pipe cracked: 52.5 inches long & about 0.5 inches in maximum width. The failure site is near where TGP had a previous failure in 1965, with multiple fatalities. That failure was attributed to stress corrosion cracking.<ref>PHMSA Corrective Action Order, Case CPF 420101007H.</ref>

* '''2011'''

The Carteret, New Jersey, KMLT had a leak and fire during maintenance work on March 14, 2011. On April 4, 2013, the PHMSA Office of Pipeline Safety issued a Notice of Probable Violation, Proposed Civil Penalty and Proposed Compliance Order (NOPV) after an inspection. In 2013, KMLT paid a penalty of $63,100 and was required to complete pipeline integrity testing and other corrective measures by May 2015.<ref>Kinder Morgan annual report for 2013, p. 166.</ref>

On August 17, 2011, Kinder Morgan’s [[Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America]] had a flash fire and explosion south of Herscher, Illinois. Five employees went to the hospital. Kinder Morgan was cited for pipeline and workplace safety violations.<ref>“Kinder Morgan, Owner of Illinois Natural Gas Pipeline Co. Where Explosion Occurred, Has Lengthy Record of Pipeline, Workplace Safety Violations,” August 17, 2011, NaturalGasWatch.org, http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=817; “Gas plant explosion injures five,” Hazardex, August 17, 2011, http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/44270/Gas-plant-explosion-injures-five.aspx?AreaID=2, accessed June 2014.</ref>

On November 16, 2011, near Glouster, Ohio, a weld failed on a Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Pipeline 36" diameter pipe; the leak exploded, leaving a blast crater 30 feet across and 15 feet deep. Three homes were destroyed by the fire.<ref>"Pipeline failure caused huge Morgan County blast," Columbus Dispatch, Nov 17, 2011, http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/16/gas-pipeline-explodes-in-athens-county.html, & "Gas Line Explodes ...," http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/11/16/athens-county-explosion.html; "Flames From Gas Explosion Called Worst Firefighter Had Seen," http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/11/16/athens-county-flames-worse-seen.html; "Pipeline co. wants to nix punitive damages in explosion lawsuit," Athens News, March 19, 2014, http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-41987-pipeline-co-wants-to-nix-punitive-damages-in-explosion-lawsuit.html, accessed 8/13/2014.</ref> The leak was caused by "displacement produced by a landslide and an inadequate understanding by (TGP) of the influence of the geotechnical threats on the pipeline in this location.”<ref>Joe Higgins, 'November gas line explosion cause revealed,' Athens Messenger, OH, July 16, 2012, quote from p.14 of report cited below, http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/november-gas-line-explosion-cause-revealed/article_a2f3a55c-cf8c-11e1-ba27-0019bb2963f4.html.</ref> A girth weld failed due to earth movement, inadequate design, materials or workmanship, exceeding operational limits & gaps in integrity management.<ref>"Final Report: Failure & Root Cause Analysis," Dynamic Risk for Kinder Morgan Nov 16, 2011 rupture, posted at http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/athensohiotoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/8a/a8aab150-cf7f-11e1-8a70-001a4bcf887a/500471418c9e3.pdf.pdf</ref>

* '''2012'''

In May 2012, at Arvin, California, a Kinder Morgan El Paso Natural Gas pipeline's relief valves and pipe supports failed, causing an explosion that damaged the Mojave facility and a surrounding cherry orchard, causing "the complete structural failure of the overpressure protection support system."<ref>PHMSA Failure Investigation Report – El Paso-Mojave GT 2012-5-2.</ref>

In June 2012, in Gray County, Texas, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America 26" diameter pipe failed at Compressor Station 154, Mile Post 52, 4 mi. east of Laketon. The gas ignited, blowing a crater 30 feet in diameter and burning 2 acres of agricultural land as well as two 500-gallon plastic tanks used to store liquid fertilizer plus two telephone poles and transformers. State Highway 152 was closed for several hours. The cause was a 50-foot-long longitudinal rupture in the pipe.<ref>PHMSA Corrective Action Order re: CPF No. 4-2012-1011H.</ref>

On December 26, 2012, in West Melbourne, Florida, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company pipeline exploded in a pasture.<ref>"Natural Gas Pipeline Fails In West Melbourne," Space Coast Daily, December 26, 2012, http://spacecoastdaily.com/2012/12/natural-gas-pipeline-fails-in-west-melbourne/, accessed 8/14/2014.</ref> The blast ejected a 20-foot section of 20" diameter pipe which landed about 15 feet from the rupture.<ref>PHMSA CPF No. 2-2012-lOOSH, http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_14D99C24B96230D53EA8622EF83A72D57B310600/filename/220121005H_CAO_12282012_FloridaGas.pdf, accessed 8/15/2014.</ref>

* '''2013'''

On May 8, 2013, a Kinder Morgan Tejas pipeline compressor station near [[Crockett, Texas]], had a fire that caused $7,502,188 in property damage.<ref>PHMSA state pipeline listings, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/StatePages/Texas.htm; Skytruth Alert: NRC Report: Natural Gas near Crockett, TX 2013-05-08, http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/05f2642d-8a93-3b6f-bbac-9c57a37b, accessed 2014-08-12.</ref>

On June 18, 2013, in Louisiana, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company 30" diameter pipeline ruptured and exploded before dawn, jolting residents out of their beds in a rural, wooded area of Washington Parish. No one was seriously hurt but 55 homes were evacuated. The blast knocked down trees in an area about 200 yards across and the fire burned those within another 300 yards. “The ground around the crater is completely bare. The dirt around it is just like it had been cooked in a kiln," and an 80-foot section of pipe was destroyed.<ref>"Gas line explosion rattles Washington Parish," Baton Rouge Advocate, June 26, 2013, http://theadvocate.com/home/6283023-125/gas-pipeline-explosion-in-franklinton, accessed 2014-08-14.</ref>

* '''2014'''


On June 26, 2014 near East Bernard, Texas, a gas pipeline next to the Kinder Morgan compressor plant blew out, destroying the road and setting a truck on fire at FM 1164 just south of Highway 59. Flames shot as high as 150 feet.<ref>http://abc13.com/news/gas-line-explosion-sends-150-foot-flames-up-in-air/142620/, accessed Aug 12, 2014.</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 21:46, 3 December 2014

Kinder Morgan
Company typePublic
NYSE: KMI
S&P 500 Component
IndustryOil and gas
Founded1997
FounderRichard Kinder
HeadquartersKinder Morgan Building
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Area served
USA and Canada
Key people
Richard Kinder
(Chairman and CEO)
ServicesPipeline transport
Oil storage
Revenue19,200,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
4,065,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
2,548,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
~ 11,000 (2014)
SubsidiariesKinder Morgan Energy Partners
Websitewww.kindermorgan.com
Company headquarters

Kinder Morgan is a company headquartered in Downtown Houston.[1] It is the fourth largest energy company in North America.[2] The Kinder Morgan group publicly traded companies include Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB).

Kinder Morgan owns about 180 terminals that store and handle products such as gasoline, coal, and petroleum coke. Kinder Morgan's CO2 division provides carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery projects in North America.[3] in 2014, a third of the natural gas that moved in the United States passed through a Kinder Morgan asset.[4]

Kinder Morgan has been cited by the U.S. government in 24 incidents which led to five federal enforcement actions from 2006 to 2014.[5]

On August 10, 2014, Kinder announced it was moving to full ownership of its partially owned subsidiaries Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kinder Morgan Management, and El Paso Pipeline Partners in a deal worth $71 billion.[6]

CEO

Chairman and CEO Richard Kinder, selected by Morningstar as its 2005 CEO of the Year, receives a salary of $1.00 a year, no bonuses, no option grants, and no restricted stock. Kinder Morgan claims that it does not spend money on corporate jets, first-class airfares, sports tickets, or other expensive perquisites.[7]

However, Forbes Magazine estimates that Richard Kinder's net worth at more than $10 billion as of August 9, 2014.[8]

History

See also Pipeline Safety, below.

Kinder Morgan was founded in 1997 when a group of investors acquired the general partner of a small, publicly traded pipeline limited partnership (Enron Liquids Pipeline, L.P.).[2]

On December 23, 2013, Kinder Morgan announced that, through its Kinder Morgan Energy partner subsidiary (ticker KMP on NYSE), it would acquire the US oil tanker operator American Petroleum Tankers (APT) and its affiliated company SCT (State Class Tankers) from the US private equity investment firms Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital management. APT operates a fleet of five US flagged MR 50,000 tons - 330,000 barrels - oil tankers and has four other similar tankers on order from the General Dynamics shipbuilding company NASSCO in California. This acquisition appears to be the first case whereby a pipeline operator will also be able to offer marine transportation.[9]

This acquisition would facilitate the export of U.S. natural resources to overseas markets, and Kinder Morgan has lined up "some LNG export customers" as of July 2014.[10]

In addition to its role in the energy transportation and storage industry, Kinder Morgan operates in two major oil fields in Texas: the Yates Oil Field and the SACROC Unit. Kinder Morgan produces approximately 55,000 barrels per day between the two areas, and claims to be the second-largest oil producer in Texas.[11]

Leveraged buyout

On August 28, 2006, Kinder Morgan announced that it would be taken private in a management-led leveraged buyout totaling approximately $22 billion. Outside participants in the transaction include Fayez Sarofim, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Highstar Capital (then owned by American International Group).[12]

On September 8, 2010, a notice of a class action settlement was filed in the District Court of Shawnee County Kansas. The proposed settlement is to resolve claims of breach of fiduciary duty owed to Kinder Morgan shareholders by persons involved with the buyout. The settlement payment is to be $200 million. A hearing on the settlement was scheduled for November 12, 2010.[13]

In October 2011, Kinder Morgan Inc. agreed to buy El Paso Corp. (EP) for $21.1 billion and gave the combined company 67,000 miles (107,000 kilometers) of gas lines, eclipsing Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) as the biggest U.S. pipeline operator. The transaction paid with shares of Kinder Morgan, Kinder Morgan warrants, and all of cash portion $11.5 billion through Barclays Plc (BARC) borrowing.[14]

Companies

Kinder Morgan Brisbane Terminal in Brisbane, California. The 20 tanks here can hold up to 618,000 barrels of petroleum products.

Key to Abbreviations:

- GG Gas Gathering

- GT Gas Transmission

- HL Hazardous Liquids

This list may not be up to date due to turnover in holdings:

  • Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, SFPP (Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines), Mission Valley, California
  • Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., Houston, Texas
  • Cypress Gas Pipeline (HL), North System, Heartland Partnership, and Central Basin Pipeline (1997)
  • Plantation Pipeline (2000)(HL)
  • Calnev Pipeline (2001) (HL)
  • Central Florida Pipeline (2001)(HL)
  • Tejas Gas LLP (2002) (GT,GG)
  • Midcontinent Express Pipeline (KM owned 50% by 2007) (GT)
  • Fayetteville Express Pipeline LLC (co-owned with Energy Transfer Partners 2008) (GT)
  • Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) purchased 2009 (GT). km owned it and Trailblazer Pipeline until November 2012; sold Trailblazer & 50% of REX to Tallgrass Energy.
  • Kinder Morgan Altamont LLC (GG)
  • Kinder Morgan Cochin LLC (HL)
  • Kinder Morgan CO2 Company, Houston, Texas (HL)
  • Kinder Morgan Management, LLC, Houston, Texas
  • Kinder Morgan, Inc., Houston, Texas
  • Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (co-owned with Myria Holdings by 2007) (GT)
  • Kinder Morgan Terminals, Houston, Texas (HL)
  • Kinder Morgan Power Company, Lakewood, Colorado
  • Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC (KMLP), Crowley, Louisiana (GT)
  • Kinder Morgan North Texas Pipeline (GT)
  • Kinder Morgan Wink Pipeline (HL)
  • El Paso Corporation was purchased (2012) with subsidiaries:
  • Tennessee Gas Pipeline (GT) (2012)
  • Southern Natural Gas Co (GT) (2012)
  • Colorado Interstate Gas Co (HL & GT) (2012)
  • Ruby Pipeline (2012)
  • Wyoming Interstate Co (2012)
  • El Paso Natural Gas Co (GT) (2012)
  • Mojave Pipeline Co (GT) (2012)
  • Copano Energy (purchased 2013)
  • Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (50% by 2014) (GT)

Pipelines

Kinder Morgan, through a subsidiary, is the general partner and owner of many of the interests in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a publicly traded pipeline and terminal limited partnership. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. Kinder Morgan owns or operates approximately 82,000 miles of pipelines transporting primarily natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products.

Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline

In Canada, Kinder Morgan operates the Trans Mountain oil pipeline which links Alberta with Vancouver, BC, as well as the Cochin natural gas pipeline between Western Canada and the US Midwest.

In 2013, Kinder Morgan filed its application to the Canadian National Energy Board ("NEB") for building a second pipeline roughly parallel to Trans Mountain, which would nearly triple the transportation capacity from 300,000 to 850,000 barrels per day, for an estimated investment of $5.4 billion. This expansion would enable the export of larger volumes of Alberta's bituminous sands oil to the US and to Asian countries. The Trans mountain pipeline has been called "controversial"[15]" for this reason.

Kinder Morgan had the support of several large petroleum industry customers for this expansion, (BP Canada Energy Trading Co., Canadian Natural Resources, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Cenovus Energy Inc., Devon Canada Corp., Husky Energy Marketing Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Nexen Marketing Inc., Statoil Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy Marketing Inc., Suncor Energy Products Partnership, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co. and Total E&P Canada Ltd[citation needed]).

This project continues to face strong opposition from civic governments, First Nations whose lands are crossed by the pipelines, environmentally concerned citizens, and others. (See below, "Challenges to Kinder Morgan Pipelines" and "Accidents"). Protests in November 2014 have focused on Kinder Morgan's surveying work.

Challenges to Kinder Morgan Pipelines

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain existing pipeline for transporting diluted bitumen between Edmonton, Alberta and Burnaby, East of Vancouver, BC would be nearly tripled with a capacity of 850,000 barrels per day from 300,000, for a total investment of $5.4 billion. [1] [16][17]

This project is controversial, as are similar pipeline projects Northern Gateway from Alberta to Kitimat, BC, Keystone XL to the US south and Line 9 (Enbridge's project, from Sarnia to Montreal), all of which expand the transportation capacity of heavy crude to refineries or loading ports for export to the US or overseas, a significant contributor to climate change and ocean acidification, and a threat to aquifer and watershed integrity where the lines run.

Members of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations of British Columbia, Canada paddled canoes on the waters of Burrard Inlet to the Kinder Morgan Burnaby Terminal for a ceremony to protest the $5 billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, in North Vancouver, B.C., on September 1, 2012. Tsleil-Waututh leaders made it clear that their ultimate goal was to shut down the project altogether.[18]

The existing and proposed pipelines ship diluted bitumen through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an extremely sensitive environmental region. The tankers have to pass through a very narrow channel of shallow water to reach the open sea, making the project controversial and strongly opposed by some Canadians [2] and Americans, for reasons similar to the opposition to Keystone XL, Line 9, and Northern Gateway and offshore deep ocean oil drilling.

A study by Simon Fraser University claims that Kinder Morgan has overestimated the economic benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. [3]

Pipeline Safety

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Safety Standards

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allows high-pressure 30-42" diameter interstate natural gas pipelines to be built less than fifty feet away from occupied dwellings.[19]

Thus a FERC-approved pipeline could be well within the blast radius of roughly 800-1100 feet for pipelines of those diameters.[20]

Kinder Morgan Safety Violations

In 2009, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) cited Kinder Morgan for violating safety standards regarding the distance between a natural gas pipeline and a “high consequence area” such as a school or hospital; the pipeline was too close for safe operation in case of a leak.[21]

In 2011, PHMSA cited Kinder Morgan for these safety violations:

  • failing to maintain update maps showing pipeline locations,
  • failing to test pipeline safety devices,
  • failing to maintain proper firefighting equipment,
  • failing to inspect its pipelines as required, and
  • failing to adequately monitor pipes’ corrosion levels.[22]

In 2013, the headline “Wall Street Worries About Kinder Morgan’s Safety Record: BC pipeline operator slashes and defers maintenance spending” was a concern to anyone who lived or worked near a Kinder Morgan pipeline.[23]

The Wall Street Journal asked, “Is Kinder Morgan Scrimping on its Pipelines?” after an investment analyst charged the company with starving its pipelines of routine maintenance spending in order to return more cash to investors.[24] Deferred maintenance may account for the high number of Kinder Morgan pipeline accidents in the last decade.

Close examination of PHMSA's incident reports for Kinder Morgan's onshore gas transmission pipelines shows that faulty infrastructure causes 45% of onshore gas transmission pipeline significant leaks. Failure of the pipe, a cracked weld, and faulty pipeline equipment together account for 28.3% of pipeline leaks, and corrosion of the pipe causes 16.8%.[25]

Accidents

In Texas from 2003 to 2014, Kinder Morgan experienced 36 "significant incidents", resulting in fatalities or hospitalization, fires, explosions, or spills.[26]

Throughout the U.S. since 2003, Kinder Morgan and its subsidiaries' pipelines have been responsible for at least 180 spills, evacuations, explosions, fires, and fatalities in 24 states.[27] Some notable examples (including spills in Canada):

  • 2003

In August 2003, in Caddo County, Oklahoma, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America failed in a rural farming area about just east of the town of Stecker. A 26" diameter pipe exploded, throwing a 54-foot long section of pipe 30 feet from the ditch. The cause was environmental cracking along the length of the failed section parallel to the longitudinal weld seam.[28]

  • 2004

On April 27, 2004, an underground Kinder Morgan 14” pipeline ruptured at Suisun Marsh in Solano County, California, spilling over 120,000 gallons of diesel fuel directly into the marsh. The cause was pipe corrosion. The company failed to notify authorities about the spill for 18 hours, another safety violation for which it was later cited. Kinder Morgan was fined $5.3 million for the spill, and agreed to enhance spill prevention, response and reporting practices. The company had 44 spills in 31 months, indicating "widespread failure to adequately detect and address the effects of outside force damage and corrosion," according to an order issued in August 2005 by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).[29][30]

On November 9, 2004, a Kinder Morgan pipeline in Walnut Creek, California was struck by a backhoe, causing a gasoline spill that ignited in an explosive fireball that incinerated five workers and severely injured four others. CalOSHA (California Occupational Safety and Health Administration) cited Kinder Morgan for failure to accurately mark or map the pipeline location.[31] In 2005, the California Fire Marshal fined Kinder Morgan $500,000 for its role in the “completely preventable” tragedy. Kinder Morgan agreed to upgrade pipeline inspection methods and improve corrosion control.[32]

  • 2005

A Kinder Morgan Energy Partners petroleum products pipeline was found to be leaking gasoline into Summit Creek, near Truckee, California, on April 1. Gasoline spread into Donner Lake. About 300 gallons were spilled.[33][34]

In May 2005, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America 30" diameter pipe exploded near Marshall, Texas, sending a giant fireball into the sky and hurling a 160-foot section of pipe onto the grounds of an electric power generating plant. Two people were hurt, 40 evacuated. The cause was stress corrosion cracking.[35]

  • 2006

On July 22, 2006, near Campbellsville, Kentucky, a Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Pipeline exploded. A 25-foot chunk of pipe blew out of the ground and landed 200 feet away, the pipe twisted and mangled, its external coating burned off. The 24" pipeline ruptured due to external corrosion more than two feet long at the bottom of a valley in an area of wet shale, known to cause corrosion on buried pipelines in this part of Kentucky.[36]

On November 11, 2006, a subcontractor on Kinder Morgan’s Rockies Express (REX) pipeline outside Cheyenne, Wyoming struck an existing pipeline, causing a rupture and explosion. Two months after this explosion, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission threatened to shut the project down if REX didn’t improve its “poor compliance record” involving construction activity outside the approved work area.[37]

On November 27, 2006, the Kinder Morgan Plantation Pipeline at Charlotte, North Carolina released about 4,000 gallons of gasoline from a Plantation Pipe Line Company block valve on a delivery line into a terminal owned by a third party company.[38]

  • 2007

On July 24, 2007, the Trans Mountain Pipeline, operated by Kinder Morgan Canada, released over 250,000 litres of crude oil (70,000 of which flowed into Burrard Inlet, requiring a C$15-million cleanup) after a backhoe broke the improperly-marked line in Burnaby.[39][40]

  • 2008

On September 23, 2008, a Kinder Morgan pipeline exploded and burned for more than ten hours at Pasadena, Texas. One person died; another was injured.[41] The cause of this “significant event” was corrosion. The Pasadena pipeline experienced at least 18 "significant incidents" 2004 to 2013.[42]

  • 2009

In May 2009, near Palm City, Florida, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company 18" diameter natural gas pipeline ruptured in a sparsely populated rural area of Martin Co. and "displaced" about 106 feet of buried pipe onto the right-of-way between Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike (SR-91). About 106 feet of pipe weighing about 5,000 pounds was blown out of the ground. The rupture was near a high school that was within the 366-foot potential impact radius (PIR). Injuries included two people in a car that ran off the road and a Sheriff's deputy treated for inhaling gas.[43]

On July 15, 2009, a pipeline accident at Sylvarena, Mississippi involved Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, Southern Natural Gas and Kinder Morgan in an explosion that killed one person and injured three.[44]

  • 2010

On November 30, 2010, a 30" diameter Kinder Morgan / Tennessee Gas Pipeline failed in a semi-rural area between Highway 1 and State Road 3191, two miles NW of Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1/4 mile NE of a country club, and 200' south of a residential subdivision. Louisiana state police evacuated 100 homes. Pipe cracked: 52.5 inches long & about 0.5 inches in maximum width. The failure site is near where TGP had a previous failure in 1965, with multiple fatalities. That failure was attributed to stress corrosion cracking.[45]

  • 2011

The Carteret, New Jersey, KMLT had a leak and fire during maintenance work on March 14, 2011. On April 4, 2013, the PHMSA Office of Pipeline Safety issued a Notice of Probable Violation, Proposed Civil Penalty and Proposed Compliance Order (NOPV) after an inspection. In 2013, KMLT paid a penalty of $63,100 and was required to complete pipeline integrity testing and other corrective measures by May 2015.[46]

On August 17, 2011, Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America had a flash fire and explosion south of Herscher, Illinois. Five employees went to the hospital. Kinder Morgan was cited for pipeline and workplace safety violations.[47]

On November 16, 2011, near Glouster, Ohio, a weld failed on a Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Pipeline 36" diameter pipe; the leak exploded, leaving a blast crater 30 feet across and 15 feet deep. Three homes were destroyed by the fire.[48] The leak was caused by "displacement produced by a landslide and an inadequate understanding by (TGP) of the influence of the geotechnical threats on the pipeline in this location.”[49] A girth weld failed due to earth movement, inadequate design, materials or workmanship, exceeding operational limits & gaps in integrity management.[50]

  • 2012

In May 2012, at Arvin, California, a Kinder Morgan El Paso Natural Gas pipeline's relief valves and pipe supports failed, causing an explosion that damaged the Mojave facility and a surrounding cherry orchard, causing "the complete structural failure of the overpressure protection support system."[51]

In June 2012, in Gray County, Texas, a Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipeline of America 26" diameter pipe failed at Compressor Station 154, Mile Post 52, 4 mi. east of Laketon. The gas ignited, blowing a crater 30 feet in diameter and burning 2 acres of agricultural land as well as two 500-gallon plastic tanks used to store liquid fertilizer plus two telephone poles and transformers. State Highway 152 was closed for several hours. The cause was a 50-foot-long longitudinal rupture in the pipe.[52]

On December 26, 2012, in West Melbourne, Florida, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company pipeline exploded in a pasture.[53] The blast ejected a 20-foot section of 20" diameter pipe which landed about 15 feet from the rupture.[54]

  • 2013

On May 8, 2013, a Kinder Morgan Tejas pipeline compressor station near Crockett, Texas, had a fire that caused $7,502,188 in property damage.[55]

On June 18, 2013, in Louisiana, a Kinder Morgan Florida Gas Transmission Company 30" diameter pipeline ruptured and exploded before dawn, jolting residents out of their beds in a rural, wooded area of Washington Parish. No one was seriously hurt but 55 homes were evacuated. The blast knocked down trees in an area about 200 yards across and the fire burned those within another 300 yards. “The ground around the crater is completely bare. The dirt around it is just like it had been cooked in a kiln," and an 80-foot section of pipe was destroyed.[56]

  • 2014

On June 26, 2014 near East Bernard, Texas, a gas pipeline next to the Kinder Morgan compressor plant blew out, destroying the road and setting a truck on fire at FM 1164 just south of Highway 59. Flames shot as high as 150 feet.[57]

References

  1. ^ "Contact Us." Kinder Morgan. Retrieved on October 29, 2014. Click "General Questions": "Questions for us Corporate Headquarters: Kinder Morgan 1001 Louisiana St, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77002"
  2. ^ a b "About Us". http://kindermorgan.com. Retrieved 25 Aug 2014. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  3. ^ Failure Investigation Report – Central Florida Pipeline 10-inch Jet Fuel Pipeline Failure, July 22, 2011, http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_4DFEE9C3F71E6C9384A34BA182C1F157C5212A00/filename/cntrl_FL_red_appD.pdf.
  4. ^ Otterbourg, Ken (2 Jun 2014). "Kinder Morgan: The energy boom's mighty middleman". Fortune.com. Retrieved 8 Sep 2014.
  5. ^ Pipeline Operator Information, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/operator/Operatorlist.html?nocache=5346.
  6. ^ "Pipeline King Kinder rakes in $1.5 bn in one day". Houston Mirror. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Company profile on KM web site
  8. ^ http://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-kinder/
  9. ^ Kinder Morgan Tankers, http://www.kindermorgan.com/business/terminals/apt.cfm
  10. ^ Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' (KMP) CEO Richard Kinder on Q2 2014 Results - Earnings Conference Call July 18, 2014, 2:46 AM ET, by SA Transcripts, http://seekingalpha.com/article/2322165-kinder-morgan-energy-partners-kmp-ceo-richard-kinder-on-q2-2014-results-earnings-conference-call, accessed 2014-07-20.
  11. ^ Kinder Morgan CO2: description of CO2 and oil operations
  12. ^ SEC Form 10-Q, March 31, 2009
  13. ^ Consolidated Case No. 06-C-801, http://www.shawneecourt.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/239, accessed 2014-10-03.
  14. ^ "Kinder Morgan to Buy El Paso for $21 Billion in Cash, Stock". October 18, 2011.
  15. ^ Rolfsen, Catherine (2014-11-06). "Kinder Morgan pipeline: First Nations fight back with fish". CBC. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  16. ^ Elisabeth Rosenthal (June 13, 2012). "Canada Seeks Alternatives to Transport Oil Reserves". The New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  17. ^ http://www.transmountain.com/project/project-overview/
  18. ^ "B.C. First Nation launches legal challenge over Kinder Morgan pipeline," http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-first-nation-launches-legal-challenge-over-kinder-morgan-pipeline-1.1804190#ixzz350lGUDK4 and http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-first-nation-launches-legal-challenge-over-kinder-morgan-pipeline-1.1804190#ixzz350kqw2ja, accessed 2014-06-18.
  19. ^ “An Interstate Natural Gas Facility on My Land?”, http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides/citz-guide-gas.pdf, accessed 2014-10-03.
  20. ^ The equation for calculating impact radius is in H. Noel Duckworth and Robert Eiber, Report On Assessment of Pipeline Integrity of Kinder-Morgan Conversion Of the Rancho Pipeline To City of Austin Texas (June 2004), pp. 29-30, primis.phmsa.dot.gov, accessed 2014-06-23. The equation is also in "Managing System Integrity of Gas Pipelines," American Society of Mechanical Engineers, B31.8S-2004. The calculation used 1460 psig for the gas pressure.
  21. ^ PHMSA letter to Richard Kinder, September 1, 2009, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520071008/520071008_FinalOrder_09012009_text.pdf, accessed 2014-06-18.
  22. ^ Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) letter to Hugh Harden, Kinder Morgan, Feb. 28, 2011, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520115005/520115005_NOPV%20PCO_02282011_text.pdf, accessed June 2014.
  23. ^ Eric de Place, “Wall Street Worries About Kinder Morgan’s Safety Record: BC pipeline operator slashes and defers maintenance spending”, September 19, 2013, http://daily.sightline.org/2013/09/19/wall-street-worries-about-kinder-morgans-safety-record/, consulted June 16, 2014.
  24. ^ Tom Fowler and Ben Lefebvre, “Is Kinder Morgan Scrimping on its Pipelines?” Wall Street Journal, Sep 27, 2013, http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/09/27/is-kinder-morgan-scrimping-on-its-pipelines-the-market-shrugs/, accessed June 16, 2014. Claudia Assis, “Research firm rebuts Kinder Morgan’s rebuttal,” September 26, 2013, Marketwatch / Wall Street Journal, http://blogs.marketwatch.com/energy-ticker/2013/09/26/research-firm-rebuts-kinder-morgans-rebuttal/, accessed June 16, 2014.
  25. ^ Leak data from http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/AllPSIDet_1994_2013_US.html?nocache=1724#_ngtranson, accessed 2014-07-10.
  26. ^ Building Safe Communities: Pipeline Risk and its Application to Local Development Decisions, (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Pipeline Safety: 2010), p. 10, at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/publications/PIPA/PIPA-PipelineRiskReport-Final-20101021.pdf, accessed June 18, 2014.
  27. ^ PHMSA Pipeline Safety State Pages at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/States.htm?nocache=3971.
  28. ^ PHMSA Corrective Action Order, CPF No.4-2003-1008H.
  29. ^ Scott Marshall, “Kinder-Morgan to pay $5.3 million for fuel spills,” Contra Costa Times, May 21, 2007, http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_5950251, accessed June 16, 2014.
  30. ^ http://www.solano.courts.ca.gov/materials/Suisun_Marsh_Oil_Spill.pdf
  31. ^ Officials Dole Out Fines In Fatal Pipeline Explosion, May 5, 2005, http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/officials-dole-out-fines-in-fatal-pipeline-explosi/nKYpc/.
  32. ^ "Cal/OSHA Issues Multi-Employer Citation," http://www.dir.ca.gov/dirnews/2005/ir2005-20.html; California Fire Investigation Report, http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pipeline/pdf/WCFinalReport/PenaltyLetter.pdf; “Kinder Morgan reaches safety deal,” April 10, 2006, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kinder-morgan-energy-us-reach-safety-deal, accessed June 2014.
  33. ^ http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/520055020H/520055020H_corrective%20action%20order_04212005.pdf?nocache=4253
  34. ^ http://www.law360.com/articles/25295/kinder-morgan-pays-5-3m-for-california-oil-spills
  35. ^ http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/420051011H/cpf_420051011H.pdf?nocache=8618.
  36. ^ PHMSA Corrective Action Order, CPF No. 2-2006-3 007 H, aka CPF 220061007H.
  37. ^ Tom Beyerlein, “Fatal explosion puts Kinder Morgan’s past in spotlight,” Dayton Daily News [Ohio], September 14, 2008, in Tar Sands Free BC, September 15, 2008, http://tarsandsfreebc.org/?p=236, accessed June 16, 2014.
  38. ^ Kinder Morgan 2009 annual report, p. 198.
  39. ^ "Cleanup continues on B.C. oil spill". July 24, 2007. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  40. ^ "3 companies plead guilty to Burnaby oil spill". October 3, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  41. ^ Eric James, “Pipeline at Pasadena plant explodes,” September 24, 2008, ABC Eyewitness News, Houston, Texas, http://abc13.com/archive/6408372/, accessed June 17, 2014.
  42. ^ “Texas Significant Incidents Listing,” 2003-2014, PHMSA Pipeline Safety Stakeholder Communication, U.S. DOT, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/IncDetSt_st_TX_flt_sig.html?nocache=8751, accessed June 17, 2014.
  43. ^ NTSB pipeline accident brief DCA09FP007.
  44. ^ "Pipeline explosion kills 1, injures 3 in Smith county". MS News. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  45. ^ PHMSA Corrective Action Order, Case CPF 420101007H.
  46. ^ Kinder Morgan annual report for 2013, p. 166.
  47. ^ “Kinder Morgan, Owner of Illinois Natural Gas Pipeline Co. Where Explosion Occurred, Has Lengthy Record of Pipeline, Workplace Safety Violations,” August 17, 2011, NaturalGasWatch.org, http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=817; “Gas plant explosion injures five,” Hazardex, August 17, 2011, http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/44270/Gas-plant-explosion-injures-five.aspx?AreaID=2, accessed June 2014.
  48. ^ "Pipeline failure caused huge Morgan County blast," Columbus Dispatch, Nov 17, 2011, http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/16/gas-pipeline-explodes-in-athens-county.html, & "Gas Line Explodes ...," http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/11/16/athens-county-explosion.html; "Flames From Gas Explosion Called Worst Firefighter Had Seen," http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/11/16/athens-county-flames-worse-seen.html; "Pipeline co. wants to nix punitive damages in explosion lawsuit," Athens News, March 19, 2014, http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-41987-pipeline-co-wants-to-nix-punitive-damages-in-explosion-lawsuit.html, accessed 8/13/2014.
  49. ^ Joe Higgins, 'November gas line explosion cause revealed,' Athens Messenger, OH, July 16, 2012, quote from p.14 of report cited below, http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/november-gas-line-explosion-cause-revealed/article_a2f3a55c-cf8c-11e1-ba27-0019bb2963f4.html.
  50. ^ "Final Report: Failure & Root Cause Analysis," Dynamic Risk for Kinder Morgan Nov 16, 2011 rupture, posted at http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/athensohiotoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/8a/a8aab150-cf7f-11e1-8a70-001a4bcf887a/500471418c9e3.pdf.pdf
  51. ^ PHMSA Failure Investigation Report – El Paso-Mojave GT 2012-5-2.
  52. ^ PHMSA Corrective Action Order re: CPF No. 4-2012-1011H.
  53. ^ "Natural Gas Pipeline Fails In West Melbourne," Space Coast Daily, December 26, 2012, http://spacecoastdaily.com/2012/12/natural-gas-pipeline-fails-in-west-melbourne/, accessed 8/14/2014.
  54. ^ PHMSA CPF No. 2-2012-lOOSH, http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_14D99C24B96230D53EA8622EF83A72D57B310600/filename/220121005H_CAO_12282012_FloridaGas.pdf, accessed 8/15/2014.
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  56. ^ "Gas line explosion rattles Washington Parish," Baton Rouge Advocate, June 26, 2013, http://theadvocate.com/home/6283023-125/gas-pipeline-explosion-in-franklinton, accessed 2014-08-14.
  57. ^ http://abc13.com/news/gas-line-explosion-sends-150-foot-flames-up-in-air/142620/, accessed Aug 12, 2014.

External links

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