Safety

Safety is Fundamental to Iroquois’ Operation

Safe operation has always been of fundamental importance to Iroquois. This is reflected in the construction of our natural gas transmission facilities, our daily operations, and our ongoing integrity monitoring program.

The Pipeline

Our steel pipeline is made to exacting specifications which guarantee extremely tough pipe. This toughness, in combination with the thickness of the pipe wall, make the Iroquois pipeline extremely difficult to penetrate and very tolerant of many types of damage. A high-integrity, fusion-bonded epoxy coating is applied to the steel pipe to prevent corrosion. Offshore segments of the pipeline are also encased with a steel wire-reinforced concrete coating to counter buoyancy and provide protection from vessel anchors and fishing gear that may be deployed directly over the pipeline.

Fail-Safe Compressor Stations

Iroquois’ seven compressor stations – Croghan, Boonville, Wright, Athens and Dover, New York and Brookfield and Milford, Connecticut – are aesthetically designed to blend in with the character of their location and feature redundant fail-safe station control and monitoring capabilities.

Sophisticated automatic control, detection, emergency shutdown, and fire protection systems are designed to operate whether the station is attended or unattended.

In-House Gas Control Center

To ensure the safety of our system and the public, Iroquois’ in-house Gas Control Center is staffed 24/7/365 days a year by a team of operator-qualified system controllers. Our Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system - the backbone of the communication system - provides data collection, monitoring, and control of the compressor and meter stations. In addition, Gas Control can operate the system’s mainline block valves remotely if needed.

Security

Iroquois maintains a comprehensive security plan to address potential threats to its facilities. This plan covers such critical areas as cyber-security, access control and coordination with federal and state homeland security agencies. In addition, Iroquois facilities are equipped with detection and monitoring devices including security cameras for on-site viewing, as well as viewing from our gas control center.

Ongoing Safety and Education

The importance Iroquois places on safe operations and system reliability is reflected in the use of current technology, not only for our upgrades and expansions, but also in our on-going integrity monitoring program. Iroquois’ public awareness programs educate the general public, public officials and emergency responders about pipeline safety.