Sixth street bridge concerns raised

During Sept. 4 meeting of the Hot Springs County Local Emergency Planning Committee, John Fish brought up concerns about what would happen if the bridge on Sixth Street spanning the river were to collapse.

The bridge was downgraded from traffic to a footbridge in 1994, and Fish said the last inspection he could find record for was in 1992. Back in ’92, the estimated cost to repair the bridge was $738,000.

“It has got some structural issues,” Fish said. “There’s some beams that are bent, there are welds that are cracked. There is 10 percent rusting of the pylons, and this was back in 1992. What it’s like today, I do not know.” He pointed out that standing on the bridge when the flows are about 8,000 cubic feet per second is like “sitting on the back of a locomotive . . . it is just quivering.”

The bridge is built of I beams with no concrete around them, the decking is beams and on top of the decking are 2x10s laid on end, side by side. On top of that are railroad ties, bolted down to hold the decking on.

If there were a catastrophic failure of the bridge, it likely won’t go slows once the decking hits the water. Fish noted there is a metal re-enforced concrete triangle downstream, a “bridge buster,” which the bridge would wrap around and divert the water onto his property and others.

After checking, Fish learned there are no city utilities going across the bridge but there could be a Wyoming Gas pipeline. He would like to look into getting some grant money to get the decking off; if the rest of the structure were to fall, the water will just go through it.

“It’s in bad shape,” Fish said. “But it’s an elephant in the room and it’s just waiting to raise its ugly head.” It was further suggested at the meeting to contact the railroad as the collapse of the Sixth Street bridge could also pose a threat to the rail bridge.

Committee Chair Bill Gordon said he would look further into whether there might be a gas line going through, and speak to the railroad to see if they could provide some assistance.

Also at the meeting, Public Health Response Coordinator Mary Gordon presented on an upcoming point of distribution mass vaccination exercise. She noted all of the public health offices in the country are required by the Centers for Disease Control to do exercises every year. This year, they are allowing use of the actual flu vaccine; previous exercises have used candy to represent the vaccine.

There are two full-scale exercises. One is for first responders on Monday, Oct. 7 from 2-4 p.m. at the Public Health Office. The second is open, on Wednesday, Oct. 9 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the same office.

Gordon further explained if there is an outbreak or other such incident, every county has to have the capability to to dispense medication or vaccinate the entire population — including those visiting or passing through — within 48 hours. This includes the time from when the medication is requested to when it arrives, which is about 12 hours, so dispensing and vaccination must be done within 36 hours.

The upcoming exercise — in which the scenario is a pandemic — will also allow the Public Health office to practice things such as incident command and volunteer deployment.

Gordon also reminded those at the meeting of the dangers of the blue-green algae bloom at Boysen Reservoir, noting it can make people sick but can kill dogs. She added the blooms do not mean people have to stay out of Boysen, but they need to be aware of the dangers. More information is available on the Hot Springs County Public Health Facebook page.

The committee also took action to approved their hazardous material plan, and Bill Gordon spoke about the Threat and Hazard Identification Risk Assessment (THIRA). He said he’s always picked out a couple threats or hazards and then there is a lengthy data assessment of response capabilities to those threats. This year, the THIRA is a long-term power outage in the county, and he would like the committee to meet and address how it would be handled.

“It’s something for you to go home and lay awake thinking about,” he said, “because we have communities that get edgy and uneasy when the power’s been off for two hours.” The THIRA scenario would be an outage that lasts a few months.

Also during the meeting, there was a presentation by Enden Nelson with Plains Pipeline. Nelson said the company can be thought of as a “taxi service.” He further explained, “In the oil and gas industry you have three sectors. You have the upstream, which is the guys who go punch holes in the ground. You have the midstream, which is the guys who get it from the hole to the refinery. And then you have the downstream, the refinery, which gives us our final products.” Plains, he said, helps get the crude oil from point A to point B.

In regard to oil production, Nelson said there has been a “shale revolution,” going from producing 4.5-5.5 million barrels of crude oil per day to 11.5-12 million, doubling production in the past decade. For his company, it means their taxi service is busy.

Though Plains covers about 20,000 miles of pipe through the country, Nelson said what affects the county is the pipe coming from Elk Basin, through the county and down to Casper. On average, the company moves about five million barrels of crude oil per day from one point to the next.

In regard to safety, Nelson said, “Transporting hazardous materials via pipeline is the safest, most environmental way of moving product.” On average, the pipes are four feet below ground, though Nelson does recognize that wind, erosion and other factors can cause them to rise and even be exposed. Those problems are addressed as they arise.

Though the pipes are tested to 5,600 PSI, Nelson said they don’t run higher than 1,800 PSI. The pipes could be run at a higher pressure of course, but Nelson noted it’s a simple matter of numbers. Crude oil in a pipe is worth about $50 per barrel. Crude oil on the ground due to a pipe break because of something like too much pressure costs an average of $8,000 per barrel to clean up.

“We are highly incentivized to make sure it stays in the pipe and gets to where it’s going.”

As for further control on the pipeline, Nelson said they use a system that monitors factors such as temperature and pressure, and anything that gets out of spec sets off an alarm and a remote shutdown, followed by a visual inspection. The company is also regulated by several federal agencies.

Nelson also spoke about the First Responder Grant. If an incident happens, he explained, the officers and first responders will be the first they call on. He presented a grant opportunity to submit for things needed for response. Grants awarded in other areas have provided for equipment such as four-way gas monitors, lighting for vehicles and upgrades to air monitoring systems.