Middletown Connecticut gas pipeline explosion

Developed forensic case. Super Bowl Sunday ~2010, gas-fired utility under construction. Crews were blowing out 16-inch piping with high-velocity gas from a 30-inch, 900-PSI Texas-supply pipeline to clear debris before turbine startup. Gas accumulated in a protected alcove with a low-mounted 6-inch exhaust; ignition source unknown; explosion killed six and caused $50M damage. GE subsequently disclaimed the procedure they had tolerated for thirty years. NFPA 56 (2012 ed.) introduction documents the incident as the cause of the cleanout-procedure rewrite.

The codes are extremely valuable because they don't necessarily tell us about our mistakes — although there is a code that tells us about a mistake. Some of you might remember on Super Bowl Sunday about four years ago, there was a big explosion down in Middletown, Connecticut. They were blowing gas out of a big new gas-fired utility. When they build all the piping, people leave old packs of cigarettes in the piping, or bolts. If they started to run this thing and those things got into the gas turbines, they'd wipe out a $5 million gas turbine. If you start throwing bolts into the turbine while it's operating —