Welding inspector sentenced for lying about pipeline project

 

An inspector on Energy Transfer’s Mariner East pipeline in Pennsylvania has been put on three years probation and ordered to do 100 hours of community service after admitting he lied about x-ray tests of welding on the line.

Joshua Springer also was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment by a federal judge in Pennsylvania. In June, he pleaded guilty to creating a false document in connection to the interstate pipeline project.

His lies and false documents were discovered by Energy Transfer officials who notified federal authorities, prompting an FBI investigation that led to the charges.

Energy Transfer spokeswoman Lisa Coleman said Springer worked for a third-party consultant and was fired, and that Energy Transfer itself had reported the incident.

“Immediately upon learning of the situation, we reported it to the appropriate regulatory agencies and re-inspected all welds in that section and confirmed that they were in compliance with our welding specifications and Title 195 Code requirements,” Coleman said in an email.

Springer was a level II radiographic technician. The investigation revealed that from May 2017 until June 2018, Springer made 77 reader sheets which falsely stated that pipeline welds had been x-rayed and the resulting exposures were acceptable. In fact, he had not properly x-rayed the welds, and the exposures were neither acceptable nor interpreted correctly.
Source: US DOT release