Darrell Schoolcraft

Darrell Schoolcraft was a Senior Gas Controller and Verifier at Enron Transportation Services (ETS), working from the Gas Control center on the 42nd floor of the Enron building in Houston. He served as one of four senior team leads responsible for overseeing gas controller teams operating the Transwestern (TW) and Northern Natural Gas (NNG) pipeline systems, two of Enron’s most valuable infrastructure assets. Schoolcraft specialized in Transwestern Pipeline operations, managing gas flows, pipeline pressure, imbalances, compressor station coordination, and customer relationships with major accounts including Calpine Corporation and Citizens Utilities. His work represented the operational backbone that kept natural gas flowing across thousands of miles of pipeline regardless of the turmoil engulfing Enron’s corporate headquarters.

Schoolcraft’s email archive in the Enron corpus contains 2,205 messages spanning May 24, 2001 to November 30, 2002, documenting his technical oversight of pipeline operations through one of the most turbulent periods in American corporate history. The correspondence reveals a senior specialist focused on the practical realities of gas transportation: pressure management, nomination scheduling, compressor station outages, and the daily coordination required to move natural gas from production basins to power plants across the American Southwest.

Career at Enron

Enron Transportation Services

Schoolcraft worked within ETS Gas Logistics, the division responsible for the physical operation of Enron’s regulated pipeline assets. Unlike many Enron business units that dealt in financial instruments or trading positions, ETS operated tangible infrastructure: compressor stations, metering facilities, and the pipelines themselves. The Gas Control team monitored these systems around the clock, responding to pressure fluctuations, managing customer nominations, and coordinating with field operations across multiple states.

His office on the 42nd floor of the Enron building placed him at the nerve center of pipeline operations, where gas controllers monitored SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems that tracked real-time conditions across the TW and NNG networks. When external visitors needed to understand gas control operations, Schoolcraft offered to meet them in the lobby and bring them up to the 42nd floor for a walkthrough of the facilities.

Senior Controller and Verifier Role

By February 2002, Schoolcraft had earned designation as one of four senior verifiers responsible for qualifying other gas controllers under the industry’s Operator Qualification (OQ) rules. Steve January, Director of Gas Logistics, announced the Controller Verification Process on February 6, 2002, naming Schoolcraft alongside Jerry Graves, Dale Ratliff, and Gary Spraggins as the senior specialists authorized to certify their colleagues’ competence.

Schoolcraft’s verification responsibilities included assessing Rodney Barnes, Jesse Alvarado, Richard Barry, Keith Braswell, and Rob Munson. This role placed him among the most trusted technical experts in the Gas Logistics organization, someone whose judgment determined whether other controllers were qualified to operate critical pipeline infrastructure.

Operational Responsibilities

Transwestern Pipeline Operations

The Transwestern Pipeline system stretched across New Mexico and Arizona, delivering natural gas from the San Juan Basin and Permian Basin production areas to markets in California and the Desert Southwest. Schoolcraft’s signature terms in the email corpus reveal his deep specialization in this system: he ranked first in the entire Enron corpus for usage of terms like “controllers,” “flows,” “gallup,” “pressure,” “control,” and “plant,” indicating his central role in day-to-day pipeline operations.

His work encompassed multiple compressor stations along the TW system, designated Stations 1 through 9, including the Gallup, Flagstaff, and Kingman facilities. When stations required maintenance or experienced outages, Schoolcraft coordinated the operational response, calculating how flow rates would need to adjust and communicating impacts to affected customers.

In a May 2001 email discussing smart pigging operations (pipeline inspections using instrumented devices that travel through the pipe), Schoolcraft demonstrated his technical expertise: “Is there a reason we think we will need to run station 8. I think with the volumes we will have to move to insure 6 miles and hour for the smart pig will be approx. 100 to 200 m2.” He later confirmed calculations from pipeline engineer Ken Chow, noting that flow rates between 175 and 225 MMcf/d would allow the pig to travel at the required speed of 5 to 6 miles per hour.

Imbalance Management and Customer Relations

One of Schoolcraft’s core responsibilities involved managing imbalances between nominated and actual gas volumes at various delivery and receipt points along the pipeline. These imbalances accumulated daily and required constant attention to prevent operational problems or contract disputes.

On June 14, 2001, Schoolcraft issued an operations directive standardizing how his team would handle the TW/NNG interconnect points: “Beginning today June 14, 2001 We need to operate the Interconnect points between Transwestern and Northern just like we do all others. We have orders everyday and we need to balance unless both pipes have agreed to work on the imbalances.” When operational constraints forced the system out of balance, Schoolcraft required his team to document “all volumes, and why’s” so senior staff could address the situation in morning meetings.

His communications with customers demonstrated the hands-on nature of this work. Writing to a pipeline customer on May 25, 2001, Schoolcraft explained: “Through the 21st TW owed you 36,000. It looks like to me through the 24th TW owes you 42,000. Amy and I agree on the numbers. If you have any questions please call. Since we are scheduled at max capacity we may not be able to give you gas for imbalance, let’s continue to talk on a daily basis and they can also work with gas control for this weekend.”

Major Projects

Griffith Power Plant Interconnect

One of Schoolcraft’s significant projects involved integrating the Griffith Power Plant interconnect into the Gas Control monitoring systems. The Griffith facility sat at the junction of TW, El Paso Natural Gas, and local distribution systems, requiring careful coordination among multiple pipeline operators.

On June 15, 2001, Schoolcraft specified the SCADA requirements for the new monitoring capability: “We need to be able to monitor everything there is to see just as we would monitor a TW on NNG interconnect. Along with the below mentioned items from Ben, we also need All Accums, (previous and current mmbtu and mmcf), All Flows both MMbtu and MMcf. on all runs, 2” rotary, 4" turbine meter, 10" ultra-sonic." He emphasized the importance of thorough data collection: “We need as much information as possible to insure a smooth transition for gas control.”

The Griffith interconnect involved multiple metering technologies, requiring Schoolcraft to coordinate with engineering support from Ben Asante and field operations staff. His signature terms include “griffith” as one of his highest-ranked distinctive terms.

Calpine Southpoint Deliveries

Schoolcraft maintained a direct working relationship with Lisa Reichel at Calpine Corporation, coordinating daily gas deliveries to Calpine’s Southpoint receipt point. Power plant customers like Calpine depended on reliable gas deliveries to generate electricity, making this coordination operationally critical.

His work with Calpine exemplified the customer-facing aspects of gas control operations. When setting up displacement points in July 2001, Schoolcraft specified multiple delivery locations including “poi 78113 Calpine power plant, 78069 Griffith, 500134 Citizens Flagstaff, 56659 Citizens Kingman, 500046 Citizens F89N.” These point-of-interconnect codes represented physical locations where gas changed hands between pipeline systems and end users.

Morning Meeting Coordination

The TW/NNG morning meeting served as a daily coordination point for gas control and scheduling staff. In January 2002, Lynn Blair from TW Commercial/Scheduling formalized the procedures: “Gas Logistics will be sure either Steve January, Darrell Schoolcraft or Gary Spraggins is in attendance for Gas Control and either Lynn Blair, Terry Kowalke or John Buchanan is in attendance for scheduling discussions.”

He was one of only three individuals authorized to represent Gas Logistics at these critical coordination meetings, alongside his supervisor Steve January and fellow senior controller Gary Spraggins.

Key Correspondents

Schoolcraft’s email patterns reflect a tightly integrated team structure focused on pipeline operations rather than corporate politics.

The heavy use of the Gas Controllers distribution list indicates that much of Schoolcraft’s communication involved team-wide operational updates rather than one-on-one correspondence. His closest working relationships were with fellow senior controllers Spraggins and Graves, scheduling coordinators Blair and Kowalke, and his direct supervisor January.

Crisis Period Operations

The Enron bankruptcy filing in December 2001 created uncertainty throughout the company, but pipeline operations could not simply stop. Natural gas had to keep flowing to customers, compressor stations required monitoring, and imbalances needed resolution regardless of what was happening in the corporate finance offices.

Schoolcraft’s email volume spiked during this period. After relatively steady activity of 55-91 emails per month through September 2001, his correspondence jumped to 290 emails in October 2001, then surged to 625 emails in January 2002 and 541 in February 2002. The increased volume likely reflects intensified operational activity during the bankruptcy transition rather than any involvement in the corporate crisis itself.

The increased volume likely reflects the uncertainty and coordination challenges that arose as Enron’s corporate structure collapsed while its pipeline assets continued operating. Gas controllers like Schoolcraft had to maintain operations while questions swirled about who would ultimately own the pipelines, which employees would remain, and how contracts would be honored through the bankruptcy process.

His email archive extends through November 30, 2002, well past the initial bankruptcy period, indicating that Schoolcraft remained with the pipeline operations as they transitioned toward new ownership under MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company.

Email Activity

The sharp drop in November 2001 likely represents an archival gap rather than an actual reduction in activity, as December returns to normal levels. The January-February 2002 surge corresponds with the controller verification process and ongoing operational continuity efforts during the bankruptcy proceedings.

Legal Status

Darrell Schoolcraft does not appear in DOJ or SEC proceedings related to Enron’s collapse. His work in gas control operations was entirely removed from the financial manipulations and accounting frauds that led to the company’s bankruptcy. The ETS pipeline assets, including Transwestern and Northern Natural Gas, represented legitimate infrastructure businesses that continued operating through the bankruptcy and were eventually sold to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company.

Gas controllers like Schoolcraft exemplify the thousands of Enron employees who performed legitimate operational work unrelated to the scandals that destroyed the company. The pipeline systems they operated continue functioning today under different ownership, still delivering natural gas across the same routes that Schoolcraft monitored from the 42nd floor.

See Also

• Enron Transportation Services - Parent organization for pipeline operations
• Northern Natural Gas - Partner pipeline system in the TW/NNG network
• Transwestern Pipeline - Primary system Schoolcraft operated

References

This article draws from 2,205 emails in Darrell Schoolcraft’s Enron corpus archive spanning May 24, 2001 to November 30, 2002. Key sources include the Controller Verification Process announcement (February 6, 2002), TW/NNG morning meeting procedures (January 13, 2002), and operational correspondence regarding the Griffith interconnect, smart pigging operations, and customer imbalance management.

Note: The email archive slug “schoolcraft-d” was initially identified as “Dana Schoolcraft” but research confirms this mailbox belongs to Darrell Schoolcraft (email: [email protected], [email protected]).