Hogsett: False statements on gas compressor station at Bainbridge endangered lives

INDIANAPOLIS -- Making false statements in connection with testing of pipeline welds at a Bainbridge natural gas compressor station has resulted in a 48-year-old inspector ending up in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana.

Late Friday afternoon United States Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett announced that Eric L. Barnes had pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Southern District of Indiana in connection with false documents involving the Bainbridge pipeline.

Those falsehoods potentially put Hoosiers in grave danger, authorities said Friday.

"We know all too well the devastation natural gas explosions can cause," Steven D. DeBrota, senior litigation counsel for the United States Attorney's Office, said. "Maintaining the integrity of our natural gas lines is important to keeping Hoosiers safe."

Barnes was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to serve 40 hours of community service for falsely reporting that he had tested the pipeline welds when in reality he had not.

All of the questionable pipe welds were retested before the pipeline was put into operation, officials said.

The defendant was employed by the U.S. Inspection Service (USIS) as a Level II radiograph technician at the time, and from June through October 2008, was responsible for testing pipeline welds at a compressor station under construction near Bainbridge.

The process involved taking an X-ray of the weld and creating a report indicating whether the weld was acceptable or rejected.

On five different occasions between Aug. 25 and Oct. 2, 2008, Barnes created a report confirming that certain pipe welds had been tested and were approved when he had not confirmed that the welds had actually been tested, authorities said.

On those occasions, multiple photographs of one weld had been taken and marked with separate identification numbers to make it appear as though the X-ray was of different pipe welds, when only one weld had actually been X-rayed.

The Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) has jurisdiction over interstate natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.

Pipeline safety requires nondestructive testing of pipeline welds to confirm the integrity and sufficiency of the welding process. The results of the testing must be maintained for the life of the pipeline.

"This investigation demonstrates our commitment to maintaining the safety and integrity of the nation's pipe-lines," said Michelle T. McVicker, regional special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General.

"Working with our law enforcement and prosecutorial colleagues, we will continue our vigorous efforts to protect the taxpayers' investment in our nation's transportation infrastructure, and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who would seek to violate the public trust," McVicker added.

The federal court case was filed July 20 in U.S. District Court at Indianapolis.

The case was investigated by the Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Senior Trial Attorneys Jennifer Whitfield and David Kehoe of the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division along with Senior Litigation Counsel Steven DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana as the prosecutors in charge of the case.