Leaking gas pipelines across Michigan create an underground danger

"Crisscrossing Michigan are more than 3,100 miles of old wrought- and cast-iron natural-gas pipelines -- the type federal regulators consider the most at risk of corrosion, cracking and catastrophic rupturing. The state's two largest utilities have replaced less than 15% of these pipelines -- 542 miles -- in the past decade," according to an investigation by the Detroit Free Press.

"The Lansing (Mich.) State Journal spent more than two months gathering and reviewing public records to determine how city leaders in East Lansing handled construction of a downtown mixed-use building, not far from Michigan State University, after a portion of the unfinished building collapsed and it was discovered that the developer had started construction without a building permit and added an unauthorized fifth story."

"A USA Today investigation reveals that seven decades after scientists came to the US during World War II to create plutonium for the first atomic bomb, a new generation is struggling with an even more daunting task: cleaning up the radioactive mess.

Several senior engineers cited design problems that could bring the treatment plant's operations to a halt before much of the waste is treated."

"If the Keystone XL oil pipeline were approved today, residents in the six states along its route would not receive equal treatment from TransCanada, the company that wants to build the project."

"In Kansas, for example, lawmakers gave TransCanada a 10-year tax exemption, which means the state won't receive any property tax revenue from the pipeline. Meanwhile, each of the other five states—Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas—would earn between $14 million and $63 million a year, according to U.S. State Department estimates."

"A Sacramento Bee investigation has found that the California Department of Transportation technician who conducted key testing on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been discipilined for fabricating test results on other projects.

The technician, Duane Wiles, also failed to verify that his testing gauge was operating properly, as required by Caltrans to ensure the gauge's accuracy, before he examined parts of the Bay Bridge tower foundation."

Over the past year, severe weather in the Washington D.C. area has led to frequent power outages, and called attention to the service of utility provider Pepco.  "One of Pepco's standard explanations for the frequency and duration of its outages -- dense tree cover -- does not hold up under scrutiny, a three-month Washington Post analysis has found. By far, Pepco equipment failures, not trees, caused the most sustained power interruptions last year, records show."

A two-part series by the Detroit Free Press found that "despite hundreds of oil and natural-gas pipeline accidents in the last decade, there are no federal regulations governing how far major pipelines should be from homes, or schools or businesses."   An interactive graphic show where oil and gas pipelines run through the state of Michigan, and where leaks have occurred.

An investigation by David Andreatta of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) found hundreds of vacant, boarded-up homes in Rochester are accruing huge water bills because the city Water Bureau does not turn off the water at many homes, and continues to bill the homes based on estimated water use when it does turn off the water. Some vacant houses are running up water bills in excess of $10,000 annually in a city where the average occupied house pays $317 a year for water.

When it comes to using water, in Milwaukee the largest users do not have the largest homes or properties, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis by Ben Poston revealed. It’s the opposite: The biggest users are in the poorest census tracts in the city and are disproportionately minorities. Why? Those homes are more likely to have leaky pipes and poor quality fixtures in the home. The analysis was prompted by a push by the city to increase water rates by 25%.