Current and former Longview Gas Plant employees say a chaotic working environment and cavalier attitude toward safety are endangering East Texans.
LONGVIEW, Texas — More than 600 miles of pipeline converge at the Longview Gas Plant just outside the city limits, hidden from view by a barricade of pine trees off U.S. 80.
The plant plays an important role in processing low-quality or “off-spec” gas produced across the region, separating the mixture into valuable end products, including propane, hexane, butane and condensate. No other East Texas facility can convert the low-value mix into high-value fossil fuels, and without the plant’s services, the bobbing heads of oil horses across several counties would grind to a halt.
Because of the plant’s economic significance and the danger presented by the 50 million cubic feet of volatile gas it can process, the Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Railroad Commission — which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry — consider the plant critical energy infrastructure.
Read more from the Longview News-Journal.
