Evening star., 1947-02-23
New Break in Pipeline Pro|ongs
Districts Shortage Of Fue! Gas;
Wind-Driven Snow Blocks Roads
Supply DwindIes;
Consumers Get
Appeal to Save

A second break In a gas pipe
line serving the" Washington
area brought renewed warnings
from utility officials last night
that $4,000 consumers face Sc
rious hardships today unless all
rigidly conserve available sup
plies.
The break occurred in rugged West
Virginia mountain country at the
same spot where, the day before. a
break had critically crippled the
Districts supply.
AS emergency crews of repairmen
struggled against adverse conditions
to mend the second breach, Wash
ington> Gas Light Co. officials re-
ported steady dwindling of natu-
raj gas coming up through the 20
inch line.
Hardy mountaineers reached the
scene about $3.50 o'clock last night
and it was thought possible they
would repair the damage in five or
six hours. But a pipeline company
official warned it would probably be
"a hours after the break was mended
before there would be sufficient pres
sure to assure Washington its nor
NAL supply.
Gas Heats $4,000 Homes Here.
Gas company officials took to the
radio with appeals, put sound trucks
on the streets and urged consumers
to cut their thermostats to SIS de-
grees, or even SO if they could be
regulated SO low. An estimated st.
600 area homes depended solely on
gas for heat, $4,000 of them in
Washington, officials said.
Everett ]. Boothby, company gen.
eral manager personally went on
the air to advise consumers to fol-
low these other precautions against
o complete shutdown.
Use no more than two cooking
stove burners at one time.
2. Do not use the oven burners.
g. Use no more hot water than
absolutely necessary.
Neither he nor Howard B. Noyes,
general superintendent of opera
tions, would speculate on how long
gas would flow until the second
break was repaired and full vol
u1ne of gas was pumped through the
lines
There is a danger of 1t playing
out altogether tomorrow Sunday
unless stricteSt conservation meas
ures are undertaken" Mr.. Noyes
said.
Emergency Measures Adopted.
Both the Washington Gas Light
Co. and the Atlantic Seaboard
Corp. operator of the pipeline,
adoped every emergency measure to
keep the gas jets filled.
Atlantic Seaboard announced 1t
was getting an extra 22,0OOOOO CUBIC
feet a day from a connection east
of the break in Wyoming County
and an additional 100000 feet from
a connection supplied by the Manu-
facturers Light and Heat Co. at
Coatesville, Md. The company said
it's normal movement in the pipeline
was 100000 feet a day.
Called the first disruption in the
pipeline in Is years, the first break
occurred Friday morning and it was
$50 am. yesterday before the dam
age was repaired. The point of trou-
BILE is located about 80 miles from
Boldman, KY, terminal point of the
pipeline.
All day the gas company here
warned users in Washington, Alex
andria, Arlington County, part of
Fairfax County and nearby Prince
Georges and Montgomery Countys,
Maryland, that they must curtail
gas to make it go around. The
pipeline company had gradually in
creased pressure until the normal
load was being carried when the
second blowout occurred.
Suburban Areas Favored.
Throughout yesterday and last
night the Washington Gas Light
Co. carefully fed gas into homes,
favoring the suburban areas where
gas was necessary for heat. The
fact that much gas had been pumped
into the line before the second break
tSee GAS, Page A-5D