In response to a series of headline-grabbing oil and natural gas pipeline explosions in recent months, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last Monday launched a national pipeline safety initiative aimed at repairing and replacing aging pipelines to avert potentially catastrophic incidents. The initiative includes several proposals that were contained in legislation sent to Congress last year.

In a speech in Allentown, PA, the site of a deadly gas pipeline blast in February, LaHood called upon U.S. pipeline owners and operators to conduct a comprehensive review of their oil, hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines to identify areas of high risk and accelerate critical repair and replacement work. He also announced federal legislation aimed at strengthening oversight of pipelines, as well as plans to convene a pipeline safety forum April 18 in Washington, DC, for state officials, industry leaders and other pipeline safety stakeholders to discuss steps to improve pipe safety.

“People deserve to know that they can turn on the lights, the heat or the stove without endangering their families and neighbors,” LaHood said. He was joined by Cynthia Quarterman, administrator of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), and other federal, state and local officials to unveil the DOT’s new pipeline safety plan.

The PHMSA oversees the safety of more than 2.5 million miles of oil, hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines, which are operated by approximately 3,000 companies.

Over the last three years annual fatalities as a result of pipeline incidents have risen from nine in 2008 to 13 in 2009 and to 22 in 2010. The 10-year average number of fatalities has been 15, according to DOT. However the department said pipeline incidents resulting in serious injury or death are down nearly 50% over the last 20 years. In 1991 there were 67 such incidents compared to 36 in 2010, and an average of 42 per year over the last 10 years, according to the department.

The department’s safety campaign follows two deadly pipeline explosions in Allentown and San Bruno, CA. In February the pipeline explosion in Allentown killed five people, including a four-month-old child (see NGI, Feb. 14). The blast, which was apparently triggered by a “break” in UGI Corp.’s underground natural gas pipeline, affected a total of 47 properties, including 10 businesses, and forced more than 750 people to evacuate over a three-block area.

In September eight people were killed, dozens were wounded and parts of the suburban neighborhood of San Bruno, CA, were leveled when a pipeline owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. exploded (see NGI, Sept. 13, 2010). The National Transportation Safety Board is still working to determine the cause of the blast. And in July 2010 a failure occurred in a 30-inch diameter Enbridge oil pipeline, releasing approximately 19,500 bbl of crude oil into a tributary creek of the Kalamazoo River in Marshall, MI.

In addition to seeking a comprehensive review of the nation’s pipeline infrastructure, LaHood has called on Congress to increase the maximum civil penalties for pipeline violations to $250,000 per day from $100,000 per day, and to $2.5 million for a series of violations from the current $1 million. He further asked Congress to give the DOT the authority to close regulatory loopholes, strengthen risk management requirements, add more inspectors, and improve data reporting to help identify potential pipeline safety risks early.

Immediately following the pipeline blast in San Bruno, LaHood sent legislation, the “Strengthening Pipeline Safety and Enforcement Act of 2010,” to Congress calling on lawmakers to take many of the same steps. The bill also sought the addition of 40 inspection and enforcement personnel over the next four years (see NGI, Sept. 20, 2010).

The DOT said its action plan will address immediate concerns in pipeline safety, such as ensuring that pipeline operators know the age and condition of their pipelines, proposing new regulations to bolster reporting and inspection requirements, and making information about pipelines and the safety record of pipeline operators easily accessible to the public.

Industry reaction to LaHood’s call for more attention to pipeline safety was swift, indicating that the emphasis on pipeline integrity management promises to grow in the months ahead.

Both the American Gas Association (AGA) and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) backed LaHood’s call for comprehensive reviews of the nation’s pipeline operators. AGA and INGAA said they shared the DOT secretary’s concerns and call for immediate action.

In California Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said “me, too,” responding to LaHood’s call, emphasizing that the combination utility already is well along in its federal and state regulatory-encouraged efforts to update the testing and verification for all of the maximum allowable operating pressures on its various transmission pipelines in high-consequence areas.

“We’ve already launched a comprehensive initiative that will guide our efforts to strengthen the system and advance industry best practices over the coming decades [Pipeline 2020 program],” a PG&E spokesperson told NGI. PG&E’s program calls for fully modernizing its 6,000 miles of transmission pipeline infrastructure, adding automatic shutoff valves in a wider stretch of its service territory and helping develop “the next generation of pipeline inspection technology.”

AGA CEO Dave McCurdy underscored the industry’s support for LaHood’s plan, noting that operators in the gas industry are “actively working on distribution and transmission integrity management programs. It is critical that these effort are maintained and that we carefully monitor pipeline infrastructure.”

AGA used the occasion to promote its annual National Safe Digging Month, which zeros in on the need for contractors to use the national “811” hotline to get the locations of local utility infrastructure underground before they dig. Both AGA and INGAA emphasize that excavation damage is a leading cause of incidents involving gas pipelines.

Noting that its board recently established a set of five guiding principles for pipeline safety, INGAA CEO Don Santa said the pipeline industry group has a safety task force charged with looking at ways the industry can “improve safety performance and restore public confidence in the natural gas pipeline infrastructure.” Santa pledged that INGAA will be working with DOT and LaHood “as a strong, committed partner.”

A day after LaHood’s announcement, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) launched the first of three public hearings to gather testimony on pipeline safety. It was a direct response to the apparent lack of local knowledge about PG&E’s ruptured pipeline.

“[We] are in the process of setting new rules for safe and reliable operation of gas pipelines in California, and we will coordinate with the transportation department on our programs to ensure that a national framework is achieved,” a CPUC spokesperson said.

Four of the five state regulators attended the public hearing, and each reiterated a commitment to work to make sure a similar tragic incident does not happen again. At the first hearing affected residents were critical of PG&E for both what they perceived as lax maintenance of the ruptured line in advance of the incident and the utility’s alleged lack of full responsiveness since the tragedy. Many stressed the need to inform residents within 1,000 feet of a gas transmission pipeline that it is present in their neighborhoods.

In a letter delivered to California regulators, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), whose congressional district includes San Bruno, suggested that utilities and regulators divulge more about gas pipelines traversing highly populated areas and take steps to improve their operations and maintenance as established in federal standards but enforced by the CPUC. Commissioner Michel Florio called Speier’s suggestions a “substantive set of recommendations that we will take to heart as we move forward in this proceeding.”

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