Federal bill calls for removal of Aldyl A pipe

Two federal lawmakers representing a city where a natural gas explosion at a chocolate factory killed seven employees are calling for removal of Aldyl A piping, the trademarked name of a polyethylene pipe product manufactured by DuPont and installed mostly in the late 1960s to early 1980s.

Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan and Republican Congressman Dan Meuser, who both represent Berks County, Pa., proposed a bill that would require utilities to replace Aldyl A pipes within five years.

The bill, HR-5638, is in response to the deadly R.M. Palmer Co. explosion in West Reading, Pa., on March 24, 2023. The blast destroyed one building and damaged another, killing seven people, injuring 11, displacing residents of nearby apartments and prompting an evacuation of the area.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The agency pinpointed the plastics-related cause in the first sentence of its last update on July 18, 2023.

"Natural gas was leaking from a DuPont Aldyl A service tee that was installed in 1982," NTSB reported.

The gas utility provider, King of Prussia, Pa.-based UGI Corp., had retired the service line connected to the tee during a meter relocation project in 2021, when a new service tee and new service line were installed.

However, the 1982 service tee remained connected to the natural gas system at full pressure, and it was less than 2 feet from subsurface infrastructure, including a cracked and corroded steam line, a condensate line and several heated chocolate pipelines, the NTSB investigative update says.

The service tee had consisted of an outer shell and a DuPont Delrin-brand insert that each had fractured, according to NTSB.

DuPont PE service tees with Delrin acetal inserts were installed in the late 1960s to early 1980s. In 2007, the products had been put on a list of pipe materials with "poor performance histories relative to brittle-like cracking" by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the NTSB update notes.

In addition to poor performance, the DuPont service tees had a history of deadly failures, including leaks that caused explosions that killed three people in Maryland in 1973, one in Arizona in 1978, one in Texas in 1983, six in Iowa in 1994, and 33 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1996.

While the 2007 PHMSA advisory warned of premature cracking in Aldyl A pipes and urged utilities to frequently survey the lines for leaks, pipeline safety administrators never required the pipe to be dug up and replaced.

After leaky plastic gas pipes sparked a fire at a Cupertino, Calif., condominium complex and then set a street on fire in Roseville, Calif., in back-to-back unrelated incidents in 2011, officials with Oakland, Calif.-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) took it upon themselves to replace some 1,230 miles of aging Aldyl A pipeline.

A year later, Avista Corp. announced a 25-year program to remove and replace select portions of the DuPont Aldyl A medium density polyethylene pipe in its natural gas distribution system in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

"In 2012, we had 737 miles of Aldyl A pipe throughout our service territory. We have replaced 427 miles of Aldyl A Pipe, investing approximately $239 million to date," Avista spokesman David Vowels said in an email. "Forecasting the remaining costs related to the project is challenging given many factors. Avista invests hundreds of millions of dollars in our system every year to provide safe, reliable service for our customers now and into the future."

Twelve years after Avista, federal action began.

The Aldyl A Community Safety Hazard Reduction Act was introduced in September 2023 as a response to the West Reading tragedy.

The proposed legislation calls for the owners and operators of gas line facilities to remove Aldyl A from all pressurized locations.

Federal officials do not currently collect data on the mileage of Aldyl A pipeline nationwide. A provision of HR-5638 requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to work with pipeline owners and operators to document the total Aldyl A pipeline mileage and number of components.

This data, which must be completed within three years of the bill being signed into law, will help determine the overall project cost. The components in question then must be removed within five years of the law going into effect.

As currently drafted, pipeline operators would be responsible for documentation and removal. The bill does not include an authorization of appropriations for this purpose.

The legislation has bipartisan support. Houlahan said in an email that she is working to build additional support among the Pennsylvania congressional delegation and relevant safety organizations. "We can't undo what happened, but we can help make sure that it doesn't happen to anyone else," Houlahan said.

The bill, which directs the secretary of transportation to take certain actions, was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in addition to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In California, PG&E began removing Aldyl A piping manufactured before 1973 back in October 2011, following two incidents.

First, a leaky plastic gas pipe caused an explosion and fire at a Cupertino condominium minutes after the owner left for lunch in August 2011.

Then, less than a month later, an Aldyl A distribution line failed under a Roseville road intersection, sending flames shooting into the air for seven hours.

PG&E reportedly has 7,907 miles of Aldyl A pipe of all classes in its system, which is about 19 percent of its gas system inventory.

The utility is limiting replacement to some 1,231 miles of pre-1973 Aldyl A pipe at a cost expected to exceed $1 billion.

Aldyl A pipe made between 1970-72 has a shortened lifespan, according to Gene Palermo, an industry expert who worked for DuPont and was a consultant and president of Palermo Plastics Pipe Consulting in Tennessee in 2011.

Defective Aldyl A pipe has a life expectancy of about 10-20 years, Palermo told Palo Alto Online in 2011. By comparison, other PE pipe can last 160 years under the same conditions.

Communities in Northern California and Bay Area counties were slated to be dug up first for the replacement program.

Last year, the program was still underway at the Monterey Bay campus of California State University, where 9,816 feet of gas distribution main and 93 gas services of various diameters made with Aldyl A plastic pipeline were scheduled to be replaced with new PE pipe.

The new PE pipe was installed adjacent to the existing pipe so gas service wasn't interrupted.

Utility crews worked 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for three to four months from a staging area equipped with a backhoe, vacuum truck, directional drill rig, small loader and dump truck.

Residents were told to expect temporary impacts to driveway and parking access and overtime work.

This scenario could play out across the U.S. if the federal government joins the effort to reduce threats to distribution system integrity and improve public safety.

A May 2013 Avista Corp. report for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission explains how the country's utilities got to this point, giving a detailed history about Aldyl A, which DuPont designed specifically for use in the natural gas industry.

The report says the initial resin used in production of Aldyl A pipe, called Alathon 5040, was manufactured from 1965-70.

DuPont then changed the resin to improve Aldyl A's resistance to rupture during pressure testing. The new formulation, called Alathon 5043, was the primary resin used in DuPont's Aldyl A pipe from 1970-84.

Soon after changing its PE resin, DuPont detected a manufacturing issue. During laboratory testing, some Aldyl A pipe had an unwanted property described as "low ductile inner wall." These pipes could become brittle and were more susceptible to the formation of cracks and premature failure.

Conversely, pipes extruded from a highly ductile material can be bent, pressed or stretched without cracking or losing strength. These pipes can redistribute the forces of stress concentration.

In early 1972, DuPont changed its manufacturing process, but the report says company officials estimated that at least 30 percent — and as much as 40 percent — of the related pipe produced in 1970, 1971 and early 1972 was affected, primarily in pipe diameters from 1¼ to 4 inches.

Ten years later, in 1982, DuPont sent a letter to its natural gas customers about a low frequency of leaks in Aldyl A pipe manufactured prior to 1973. These leaks were described as "slits" occurring where the pipe was in "point contact with rocks." This letter was the genesis of what would become the pipe vintage known as "pre-1973 Aldyl A."

In 1984, DuPont made a significant change to its Aldyl A resin formulation. The resin was called Alathon 5046-C and marketed as "improved Aldyl A" with the improvement being increased resistance to "slow crack growth" and overall long-term integrity.

For customers with pre-1973 Aldyl A pipe, DuPont sent a second letter in 1986 saying updated testing methods revealed new limitations about the longevity of products. In addition to "rock impingement," or pressure from rock points directly on the pipe, service life could be reduced by the use of squeeze-off practices, which mechanically press in PE pipe walls to temporarily stop the flow of gas during work on a line that is in service.

In response, DuPont recommended that operators install clamps to surround the pipe at squeeze points as a way to reinforce and extend the life of its pre-1973 Aldyl A product.

Eventually, rights to the manufacturing process and names of the fittings went through changes as they were sold to other manufacturers, according to a March 2022 report of the Plastic Pipe Database Committee. The committee consists of representatives of the American Gas Association (AGA), American Public Gas Association, Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI), National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives, NTSB and U.S. Department of Transportation’s PHMSA.

Plastics News reached out to PPI and AGA for comment. A PPI spokesperson said the trade group is focused on high density PE pipe products and had no information or comment about Aldyl A pipes. The AGA spokesman said the group would respond to questions but didn't respond in time for publication.

The removal of pre-1973 Aldyl A piping is proving to be an expensive undertaking in the states that have started.

During the first two years of the Avista program, the utility reported average replacement costs ranging from $69 to $83 per foot.

However, more recently, Aldyl A pipe replacement projects have been undertaken in suburbs with right-of-way issues related to paved roads and sidewalks increasing permit stipulations. As a result, pipe replacement costs have increased.

In 2021, the average cost of main pipe replacement was $122 per lineal foot with a low cost of $90 per lineal foot in Klamath Falls, Ore., and a high of $155 per lineal foot in Medford, Ore.

While the budget is strained, the removal timeline is ahead of schedule in two states, according to a September 2022 update. Washington and Idaho will have all Aldyl A pipe replaced by 2031, but the Oregon replacement will not be complete until 2037.

In Oregon, the utility encountered slowdowns due to COVID-19 impacts, contractor strikes, third-party contractor staffing issues, wildfires and municipal permitting turnaround times.

These replacement hurdles and red-tape hoops could be faced across the United States. Still, inaction brings a higher price.

The blast at the Palmer site, which happened just before 5 p.m. on March 24, 2023, leveled the plant and damaged other buildings. During an around-the-clock rescue effort, first responders pulled seven bodies and one survivor from the rubble.

The survivor, Patricia Borges, told The Associated Press that she and other co-workers had complained about a gas odor about 30 minutes before the factory blew up. She was angry that Palmer didn't immediately evacuate the plant.

Borges was on a ladder when the blast occurred. She was thrown to the ground and her arm caught fire as flames spread. She began running, but the floor gave way. She fell into a horizontal chocolate tank in the facility's basement and screamed for help.

The vat of chocolate put out the flames on Borges's burning her arm and protected her from the building fire. She then waited nine hours in the dark liquid, also suffering from a broken collar bone, two broken feet and other injuries, while rescuers made their way to her screams.

Borges told AP that the deaths of her co-workers — one a close friend, Judith Lopez-Moran — could have been prevented and she hopes the factory will be held to account after failing to immediately evacuate workers when they reported the gaseous smell.

"I wanted to speak so that this will be prevented in the future," she said. "For my colleague Judy, I want there to be justice."

Family members of Lopez-Moran and other victims have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, accusing R.M. Palmer and UGI Utilities of negligence.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations against R.M. Palmer Co. for failing to evacuate the plant prior to the blast despite employees reporting that they smelled natural gas as well as for not clearly marking emergency exit signs and record-keeping violations.

"Seven workers will never return home because the R.M. Palmer Co. did not evacuate the facility after being told of a suspected gas leak," OSHA Area Director Kevin Chambers said in a statement announcing the October 2023 findings of the investigation.

"Ensuring the safety of a workplace is expected of employers and required by law. The company could have prevented this horrific tragedy by following required safety procedures," Chambers said.

Another plaintiff, Betty Wright, lived in an apartment next to the factory. Her lawsuit alleges the explosion caused her to be "lifted from her feet and blown across the room, causing severe and permanent injuries."

Wright accuses R.M. Palmer of not properly inspecting, repairing and testing gas lines and equipment that might have caused the explosion. She is seeking more than $50,000 for her injuries and damaged property.