One of the biggest explosions and fires in recent Texas pipeline history was apparently sparked by a disoriented SUV driver who took the wrong road out of an oversized Walmart parking lot in the Houston-area city of Deer Park Monday. The driver crashed through a fence and collided with the valve of a natural gas pipeline, causing a fire that immediately incinerated the vehicle and may have caused the vehicle operator’s doom.

“I felt the heat coming straight through my car window,” an alarmed motorist nearby told the Houston Chronicle. 

At least four people were injured and five homes damaged by the fire involving a pipeline owned by Energy Transfer, a firm co-founded by the politically connected billionaire Kelcy Warren. It could have been much worse: An emergency order issued on Tuesday to shelter in place affected Walmart, an urgent care center, other busy businesses on Spencer Highway, plus more than 1,000 homes, San Jacinto College, and other nearby schools. (Some homes and businesses near the blaze were evacuated.) This kind of ritual is so common in these parts that the City of Deer Park has a video of a costumed oversized turtle character named Wally that it uses to remind children of the steps to follow. 

Within hours, officials in Deer Park clarified that police and local FBI agents found no early evidence of any coordinated or “terrorist” attack and that “this appears to be an isolated incident.” But authorities were unable to say how soon the fire—fed by a stream of natural gas coming through the same ruptured pipeline—would be extinguished and speculated it could burn for days. 

A photo taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit shows the September 2024 Deer Park pipeline fire. (NASA/Don Pettit)

Energy Transfer, which took three hours to issue its first statement and initially erroneously reported that no one had been injured, wasn’t sure either: “The line has been isolated so that the residual product in the line can safely burn itself out. We have no timeline at this point on how long the process will take.” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo separately told reporters that the nearest shutoff valve to the fire was 20 miles away, meaning that natural gas remaining in that section would have to burn before the fire would go out.

Pipelines are overseen by the misnamed Railroad Commission of Texas, which said its safety inspectors would investigate. But the agency, according to a brief online post, seemed more focused on other pipeline operators than on public safety. “The fire occurred in a pipeline corridor, and the RRC is notifying other pipeline operators in the corridor of the incident and getting information on measures they are taking to ensure the safety of their systems,” it said.

Gerard Perez, a 25-year-old student at San Jacinto College interviewed by the Chronicle, heard the rumble of the explosion and worried about the long-term effects of the pollution. “I worry about that kind of stuff,” he said. “It’s the air that I breathe, it’s my home.”

In its own statement, Energy Transfer said that air monitoring equipment was “in the process of being set up.” There was no word on whether the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was offering assistance, though long-term air monitors in this same area already regularly report emissions of air pollutants from chemical plants and refineries.

Like the price-gouging by natural gas companies (including the one that owned this pipeline) that followed Winter Storm Uri in the 2021, the towering fire that continued to burn on Tuesday points to the perils of Texas’ emphasis on deregulation and development over safety—and how that atmosphere exposes Texans to needless dangers, environmental activists say.

Allyn West, a writer and editor focused on climate and the environment, wrote on X that the same pipeline company “got $2.4 billion richer” by supplying natural gas for power generation during Winter Storm Uri “even as “Texans froze.” That windfall was enabled by a regulatory environment where natural gas providers can charge whatever they want if demand spikes–as it did when other power plants failed in Uri and rolling blackouts threatened and ended lives.

West invites Texans to consider bigger consequences to the state’s lack of regulation even as this pipeline fire continues to rage in a bustling commercial swath of the Houston suburbs of Deer Park and La Porte. “Maybe this incident is an issue larger than one driver’s alleged error,” he writes. “Maybe there are reasons in Texas why schools and houses that need to be evacuated and Walmarts with too much parking are too close to dangerous pipelines that are this combustible.”

Warren, the billionaire who cofounded Energy Transfer in 1996, built the company from a 200-mile regional pipeline into a $54 billion empire, Politico reports.The pipeline mogul, along the way, has invested heavily in campaign contributions to support politicians that favor less regulation, like Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose campaign collected $1 million from Warren in June 2021.

Meanwhile, Energy Transfer has reported 53 incidents related to its pipelines since 2021—including eight incidents so far in 2024 that have caused ​​a reported $1.4 million in damage, according to a search of Railroad Commission records by reporters at Houston’s Channel 2. The last big pipeline explosion and fire in or near the greater Houston area occurred in 2022. But there are no records of significant regulatory responses by the state. 

Frankie Capan III knew where he stood in the Korn Ferry Tour standings throughout the season. He knew the top 30 finishers on the season-long points list at year’s end earned PGA Tour cards. He was even well aware of the number of points required to achieve that status a year ago, and that he had surpassed it.

What he didn’t know is when the Tour would finally declare Capan as “Tour bound” — until he reached the 16th hole at Vanderbilt Legends Club North on Sunday in the final round of the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation in Tennessee.

That’s when cameras started to follow the 24-year-old, who finished in a tie for 12th for the week, a strong showing, but nowhere near contention.

“The only thing in my head is like, ‘OK, they must know I’m going to get my card,’ ” Capan said by phone on Monday.

Indeed, after he concluded his round, the Tour made the news official that– the North Oaks native will play on the top professional tour in men’s golf next year.

That, of course, made Sunday special for Capan, as did what took place around the same time roughly 900 miles Northwest of Franklin, Tenn. As Capan strolled the fairways during the round that would cement a career-altering promotion, he looked over to his uncle, Terry, and requested an update.

Not on the leader board, but the score of the Vikings’ game.

“And he’s like, ‘I don’t know, we’re focused on golf,’ ” Capan recalled. “I was like, ‘I’m focused on golf, too, plenty, but I wanna hear the score.’ ”

A Vikings logo adorns Capan’s golf bag — a fact made famous during this year’s U.S. Open, when the team retweeted an image of the bag on social media. The Minnesotan also sports a head cover featuring his favorite NFL team on one of his clubs.

The first Vikings game he ever attended was at the Metrodome in September of 2003, when Minnesota beat … San Francisco.

So there was serendipity in the Vikings doing so again 21 years later — to the month — on the day he captured his PGA Tour card.

You will not find many stories like that at the peak of this profession. Capan is a special case. By clinching his card for next season, he became the first Minnesota native to achieve fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour since 2013. Capan split his time growing up between North Oaks and Arizona, and attended high school in the Southwest. But the north metro suburb has always been home base.

He said Minnesota’s 11-year PGA Tour player drought is a sign of how challenging it is to get onto the tour.

“And also with kind of the cold and harsh winters, it makes it that much more difficult,” Capan said. “But it’s definitely still doable. I know a lot of really great players from Minnesota that I believe, at one point, could hold a PGA Tour card, as well.”

Until then, he’s honored to carry the flag. Many players on the Korn Ferry or PGA Tour list the town they want to be identified on the first tee as the one in which they currently reside.

“But I prefer to keep it North Oaks, Minnesota. It’s just a special place to me and my family. I always love when I can go back and spend some time with friends and family and just be there,” noted Capan, who hopes to get back to the area again this fall. “But yeah, I think it’s just really unique. I love representing Minnesota, and I’m just looking forward to the opportunity ahead. I think I’ve developed a fairly big fan base in Minnesota, and want to make them proud.”

Not only now, but moving forward in his career. Reaching the PGA Tour can feel like a “destination” in a pro golfer’s career. This summer, Capan’s trainer told him it takes many pros six to seven years to reach the sport’s pinnacle tour, if they ever make it at all.

Capan did it in two. Over the past 24 months, he has been on a meteoric rise through the sport. It started with a dominant run through Q-School in 2022 that earned him his Korn Ferry Tour status. He since has qualified for consecutive U.S. Opens, making the 36-hole cut in the event this summer, just as he did at the 3M Open in 2023.

There certainly have been bumps in the road. Capan arrived at TPC Twin Cities last summer sure that he would finish in the top 30 of the Korn Ferry Tour standings at season’s end. He ended up in 51st. That Sunday after the final event concluded, as the 30 graduates celebrated their promotions, Capan was on the practice green above, working on his game. He took a moment to take a picture of the festivities below, then it was back to the grind.

Capan noted he was unhappy with the result, but had full confidence he would soon partake in that same celebration.

“Looking down on them (from the practice green), it was like, ‘OK, I played with a bunch of those guys this year. I know I’m just as good, if not better, than all of them,’ ” Capan said. “Where are some areas that I want to improve upon, and what do I feel like I also did well? Not everyone who’s a rookie on the Korn Ferry Tour has a season like I did last year, so where did I like some of the output in what we were doing and what do I want to do to continue to get better? There were a few areas of my game that I wanted to really put focus on coming into this year and put a lot of time and effort into those, and was able to see some results this year. It’s been really exciting to see the growth in not only my game, but myself. It’s just been a pretty fun journey.”

He’s gotten better at certain shots that are required to navigate difficult courses and conditions. He’s improving his training routine. He’s even more comfortable with his travel routine.

Capan enters the PGA Tour in a much better spot than he would have been had he qualified a year ago.

A man of faith, Capan believes if he was supposed to spend this year on the PGA Tour, God would have put him there. Everyone, he noted, has a plan for life. He also makes a point to maintain a perspective on the wonderful opportunities that he’s earned, but also been granted.

“I just feel like I’m very thankful to be playing the game I love for a living,” Capan said. “Although last year, the result wasn’t necessarily what I wanted, it was still a really good year. I think I just learned so much about golf on tour and what it’s like to travel. (There were) just certain areas that I wanted to clean up a little bit.”

This summer, after a second-place finish in Knoxville put Capan in a fairly secure spot to nab his Tour card, he and his dad had a conversation in which they both admitted they were happy Capan didn’t earn his promotion a year prior.

Frank Capan noted when a lot of people experience too much success too quickly, they tend to get complacent. Though, for Frankie, that’s an unlikely outcome regardless. He’s always aiming for more. It’s why he’s happy he had an extra season in which to improve. Because when he makes his first PGA Tour start as a full-time member, which will likely be Jan. 9 at the Sony Open in Honolulu, he has every intention to hit the ground running.

“I think a lot of people think the PGA Tour is just a destination, and getting there, you’ve reached a possible dream for some people. And it’s definitely a dream for me,” Capan said. “However, there’s still a lot of work to be done. I’m really looking forward to next year, and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of learning going on and getting better and improving, and that’s something I’m just really looking forward to.”

But first, Capan has two more playoff events to wrap up his Korn Ferry Tour season, including one this week in Columbus. So while Capan had many family members on hand Sunday to witness his massive achievement — from his parents to his aunt and uncle and a number of cousins — there was little time to celebrate. That will have to wait a few weeks.

The one indulgence Capan did allow himself came late Sunday evening, when he and his caddie were on the road in Ohio, looking for some food. Capan told himself more than a year ago that he would treat himself to Waffle House after his next victory.

And while this wasn’t technically a tournament win, it was a major career milestone.

“I thought it was well deserving of some Waffle House,” Capan said. “It just was about time.”

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By his take, Ned Rupp practically grew up at 340 Cedar St., a 13-story downtown St. Paul high rise better known these days as the St. Paul Athletic Club. The former home of the Hotel 340, the College of St. Scholastica and Life Time Fitness opened in 1917 with a swimming pool on the eighth floor, which Rupp called an “engineering marvel” of its day — the highest-situated swimming pool in Minnesota at the time.

Rupp, son of building owner John Rupp, is now a broker with the Minneapolis-based commercial real estate company SVN NorthCo, which auctioned the now-vacant property from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11. The auction closed last week without a sale.

“We didn’t hit the reserve at auction,” said Ned Rupp, who declined to identify what the minimum selling price would have been. “We’re talking to several potential buyers and we hope to have a resolution soon. There has been interest since the end of the auction.”

Ned Rupp did not elaborate on how many buyers came to bid or whether they’re the same buyers in talks now.

His affection for the property is shared by others, but the post-pandemic era of remote work has been tough on downtown St. Paul, with the departure of state government employees — among other units of public and private-sector workers — taking an especially hard toll.

“I kind of grew up in the building, worked there for four years in the hotel and the University Club back in 2012 to 2016,” said Ned Rupp, who is hopeful 340 Cedar St. finds a responsible buyer.

John Rupp, who put the property on the market about five years ago, had hoped to sell the building to the city of St. Paul or Ramsey county for use as a YMCA-like community center, but found no takers. Some county officials have said the amount of maintenance required gave them pause, while some consultants for historic properties have said the site is in relatively good shape for a century-old building.

The St. Paul Athletic Club structure isn’t the only property in downtown St. Paul that has had a tough go of it. Madison Equities has put more than 1.6 million square feet of commercial real estate on the market en masse, most of it downtown office buildings, as well as the troubled Lowry Apartments building at 4th and Wabasha Street, which was recently acquired by its own mortgage lender.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reported this week that two downtown Minneapolis office towers — the Forum buildings — sold this month for $6.5 million, or 91% lower than the property’s last sale, which was $73.7 million in 2019.

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