January 2025 Vol. 80 No. 1
Newsline
Newsline January 2025
OSHA cites Maine contractor in fatal trench collapse
A federal workplace safety investigation has revealed that a Glenburn-based contractor ignored critical safety warnings, resulting in a fatal incident at a Brownville worksite in June 2024.
Patriot Paving Group LLC, a general contractor, was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after one of its workers was crushed to death when an unbraced retaining wall collapsed at the site.
The incident occurred while two workers were installing storm drainage pipes in a trench that was three to four feet deep. At the same time, company owner Clifford Lane operated an excavator near the base of the retaining wall, destabilizing it. The wall, which was 40 to 60 feet long, tipped over, striking one of the workers, who died from the injuries. The other worker managed to escape unscathed.
OSHA's investigation found that Lane was aware the wall was unstable but continued excavating without using the necessary protective systems or evacuating the workers. The excavation created clear hazards for those in the area.
The investigation led to five willful violations being cited against Patriot Paving Group, with proposed penalties of $161,325. The violations included:
• Failure to brace the retaining wall, exposing employees to struck-by and caught-between hazards.
• Failure to remove employees from the hazardous trench.
• Lack of training for employees in trench-related hazards.
Phillips 66 adds 1,235 miles of pipelines in $2.2 billion EPIC NGL acquisition
Phillips 66 has agreed to acquire EPIC Y-Grade GP, LLC and EPIC Y-Grade, LP, which include natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines, fractionation facilities, and distribution systems. The $2.2 billion cash deal is expected to close following regulatory approval and customary conditions.
The move strengthens Phillips 66’s position in the Permian Basin and enhances its NGL value chain.
The EPIC NGL business includes two fractionators near Corpus Christi with a capacity of 170,000 barrels per day (bpd), 350 miles of purity distribution pipelines, and an 885-mile NGL pipeline connecting the Delaware, Midland, and Eagle Ford basins to Gulf Coast facilities. Expansion plans aim to boost the pipeline's capacity to 350,000 bpd and add a third fractionation facility, increasing total fractionation capacity to 280,000 bpd.
Phillips 66 stated that these expansions align with its long-term strategy and will not impact its previously announced 2025 capital program. The integration of EPIC’s assets will connect Permian Basin production to Gulf Coast refiners, petrochemical companies, and export markets.
Texas contractor penalized for repeated trench safety violations
A U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety investigation has found a Frisco contractor repeatedly exposed workers to serious hazards by sending them into unprotected trenches without providing a means of escape.
The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated Bandera Utility Contractors LLC in July 2024 in response to a formal complaint and observed employees working on water and sewer lines in a trench that lacked an adequate protective system as required. Their activities included trench excavation, laser surveying and work using hand and powered tools.
In addition to a lack of protective system, OSHA inspectors noted that the company failed to provide employees with basic safety measures, such as sufficient ladders in the trench and a safe means of escape in the event of a collapse. In 2022, OSHA cited Bandera Utility for four serious violations of similar safety regulations after a 41-year-old employee repairing a sewer line suffered fatal injuries in a trench collapse.
OSHA has assessed Bandera with $107,228 in proposed penalties.
Duke undergrounds 48% of Florida power lines with plans to expand
According to the National Hurricane Center, the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is Sept. 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.
Hurricane Debby, a powerful Category 1 storm, made an early landfall in Florida's Big Bend on Aug. 5, 2024. During Hurricane Debby, Duke Energy’s self-healing technology saved more than 12.5 million minutes of customer total outage time and automatically restored more than 62,000 customer outages.
While a self-healing system can't repair the physical damage to the power line that a human crew must repair, it can reduce the number of customers affected by a power outage by up to 75 percent and can often restore power in less than a minute. More than 76 percent of Duke Energy’s Florida customers are served by this technology.
These investments enabled Duke Energy Florida to quickly restore power for 93 percent of its customers within 24 hours after Hurricane Debby made landfall.
Approximately 48 percent of Duke Energy Florida's primary power lines are underground and better protected from wind damage. The company will continue to install underground cable in areas that are identified as the most outage-prone areas.
Teams have completed more than 4,000 miles of maintenance trimming on Duke Energy Florida's distribution lines and 600 miles of planned work on the transmission side.
Over the past three years, more than 40,000 poles have been hardened through the Storm Protection Plan.
Additionally, the company is expanding the capacity of the electric grid by building new substations, expanding existing substations and installing new or larger circuits to provide reliable service in the growing state. Duke Energy has completed optimization of 12 substations, with another 50 in flight in Florida.
Report says sewer, drainage fastest growing segment of $20 billion HDPE pipe market
MarketsandMarkets has released a report projecting the value of the HDPE pipes market to exceed $25 billion by 2029, with sewer and drainage infrastructure said to be the fastest-growing application in the segment.
Strong growth is observed to characterize the global HDPE pipes market. This fact has primarily been spurred by efficient water and wastewater management system demands which have come as an effect of rapid urbanization and massive infrastructural undertaking projects.
The sewer and drainage segment is the fastest-growing application in the HDPE pipes market due to several key factors that make HDPE pipes particularly suitable for these infrastructure needs. As urbanization accelerates globally, the demand for efficient sewage and drainage systems has surged to manage the increasing volume of wastewater and stormwater in growing cities.
As governments and municipalities improve their sewer and drainage systems to meet evolving environmental standards, the demand for high-quality, reliable, and cost-effective solutions such as HDPE pipes will remain on the rise. This integration of urbanization, regulatory pressures, and the technical advantages of HDPE pipes all contribute to sewage and drainage becoming the fastest-growing application within the HDPE pipes market.
EPA, Washington fine Seattle, King County for sewer overflow violations
The Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have jointly issued penalties to Seattle and King County for violations related to combined sewer overflows. The fines stem from infractions between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, involving untreated or partially treated sewage discharges into waterways.
Seattle faces a total penalty of $71,000, including $50,000 for 20 sanitary sewer overflow incidents and $21,000 for seven wet weather overflows caused by system maintenance failures. Some of these discharges reached Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and other local water bodies, while others caused sewage backups into homes and buildings.
King County was fined $46,000, which includes $40,000 for discharges from its wet weather treatment facilities that failed to meet disinfection and pollution standards. An additional $6,000 penalty was issued for two wet weather sewer overflow events caused by operational failures.
Combined sewer systems, which carry both stormwater and sewage, were originally designed with overflow points to handle large storms. However, federal and state laws now require minimizing untreated sewage discharges to protect water quality and public health.
These penalties are enforced under consent decrees negotiated in 2013 between Ecology, EPA, Seattle, and King County. The agreements require compliance with state regulations and outline fines for unpermitted discharges. Recently, the decrees were modified to extend the deadline for controlling all outfalls to 2037, allowing for larger, climate-resilient projects and prioritizing work in the Lower Duwamish area.
SGWASA awards $34 million contract for Phase I of I-85 sewer improvement project
According to Butner-Creedmoor News, The South Granville Water and Sewer Authority has awarded a contract for construction of the first phase of the I-85 Sanitary Sewer Improvement Project – subject to approval by state environmental officials – to Haren Construction for $34.8 million.
CDM Smith, the consulting engineers for the project, reviewed bids received, and Haren Construction Company Inc. of Etowah, Tennessee, was the lowest bidder, with a total bid amount of $34,832,000. That bid includes a base bid amount of $30,625,700 and a total amount of $4,206,300 for a combination of bid alternatives, Butner-Creedmoor News reported.
A report provided to the SGWASA Board at its December meeting states: “Once completed, the I-85 Sewer Improvement Project will solve the current sewer capacity issues affecting the SGWASA service areas that include Granville County, the town of Butner and the city of Creedmoor.”
The project is being constructed in two phases. The engineer’s cost estimate for the entire project, including all bid alternates, is $82 million.
Funding sources are SGWASA, American Rescue Plan Act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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