DENVER (AP) – Colorado will not offer an online map of oil and gas pipelines in the wake of a fatal house explosion blamed on a gas leak, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday, citing concerns about security and theft.
The state will instead require energy companies to provide location information to the existing Call 811 program, which marks the location of underground utilities at a property owner’s request, Hickenlooper said.
The expanded location program was among seven steps the governor announced in response to an April explosion in the town of Firestone that killed two people and injured a third. Investigators blamed the explosion on odorless, unrefined natural gas leaking from a pipeline that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well with a valve open.
Hickenlooper said in May that the explosion showed the need for a comprehensive state map of “flow lines,” which carry oil or gas from wells to tanks or other gathering equipment.
But he said Tuesday “there are a lot of concerns about having a database like that available, of people stealing gas or, you know, tapping into these lines, that causes some level of security risk,” he said. “I recognize that, and I think that’s a valid argument.”