With Friends Like These Who Needs Terrorists?

It may not be terrorism, but this failure of our infrastructure seems pretty serious:

Con Ed’s century-old underground steam system — including the pipe that exploded on Wednesday — is accident- and crisis-prone, with more than 300 reported emergencies in the last year and a growing number of failures in record-keeping and inspection, documents show.

. . .

Three of the emergencies recorded in the last year were at or near the site of Wednesday’s blast. Exactly what happened on Aug. 16, Jan. 11 and April 5 couldn’t be determined yesterday. Neither Con Ed nor the PSC could elaborate on the reports.

But some pipes near the blast site at Lexington Avenue and 41st Street needed repair. Street-opening permits filed with the city indicate Con Ed was trying to fix steam leaks near there right up to the day of the blast.

Con Ed had a city permit that would have allowed the utility to work at the intersection between June 21 and July 22.

The company had another permit to repair pipes in the area that would have let it dig into East 41st Street near Lexington Avenue from April 2 to April 29.

. . .

The cause of the eruption was still under investigation yesterday, with experts citing several possibilities, including metal fatigue in the 83-year-old burst steam main or a sudden cooling of water inside the pipe caused by Wednesday’s rain.

A consultant to Con Ed steam customers said a puddle of cool water inside the main seems the most likely culprit. Such a pool could be created if the pipe were cooled by rain from Wednesday’s storms, said the consultant, Steve Mosto.

When that cool water collides with 360-degree steam, it heats up so quickly, it can cause an explosion, Mosto explained.

Metal fatigue is also a possible factor in the catastrophe.

“They are going to be looking at metal analysis to see how the pipe failed,” Mosto said.

Con Ed touts its steam system as energy-efficient, and its 1,780 steam customers — mostly big buildings in Manhattan south of 96th Street — figure buying bulk steam is easier and cheaper than maintaining boiler and heating systems.