Interstate natural gas pipelines will extended their integrity management programs — which currently are limited to only those areas in highly populated areas — to the entire pipeline infrastructure over the next two decades to ensure greater safety, said two officials with a major interstate pipeline group.

Pipeline members of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) plan to expand their integrity management programs to include 70% of the population within the Potential Impact Radius (PIR) by 2020, and 100% by 2030, said INGAA President Donald Santa and Dan Martin, senior vice president of pipeline safety for El Paso Corp. and chairman of the INGAA Foundation, during a teleconference with reporters Wednesday.

Currently, INGAA member pipelines are required to conduct integrity management — assess or mitigate pipeline risks through the use of smart pigs or other risk-assessment tools — on 6% of the pipeline facilities that are located in highly populated areas. But to do 6% of the highly populated areas, Martin estimated that industry has been required to complete integrity management on as much as 55% of INGAA pipeline miles.

To expand integrity management to 70% of the population within the PIR by 2020, he said the industry will likely need to do integrity management on 60-80% of pipeline miles owned and operated by INGAA members.

Because expanding the program across the entire system will require new technologies, INGAA has agreed to engage actively with the research community to develop new inspection tools and other technology that can address pipelines that currently are difficult to inspect. It also proposes a one-hour response time from when an incident is detected to the start of valve closure procedures in highly populated areas.

Moreover, INGAA pipeline members have committed to a systematic validation of records and maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) for their pipelines in highly populated areas that pre-date federal regulations, Santa said.

“We believe that member companies have committed to go ahead and do a very detailed records review…that would substantiate our ability to operate under pressures. And to the extent we don’t have that [detailed records], we would take appropriate steps to establish a proper MAOP,” Martin said.

The proposed expansion of integrity management is part of an action plan that emerged from an INGAA board of directors’ task force.

“We do not have a cost estimate for implementing the action plan,” Santa said. He noted the costs would be system specific — whether a pipeline is vintage and the type of environment in which it operates. “My sense is that these are costs that will be found to be in the public convenience and necessity,” and thus recoverable from shippers, he said.

Asked to comment on the pipeline safety reauthorization bills pending in the Senate and House, Santa said that INGAA as “generally pleased” with both pieces of legislation (see Daily GPI, July 18). “Directionally we’re supportive,” but are looking for some refinements, a spokeswoman added.

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