Function

• The Pipeline Safety Act of 2002 clearly delegated government oversight for pipeline safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation oversees interstate safety issues such as integrity specifications and computer monitoring. While each state can enforce safety within its borders, pipeline operators must implement the federally mandated management criteria. Other agencies involved with pipeline safety include: the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents; the National Institute of Standards, which develops technical standards for safety compliance; and the Department of Energy, which provides insight into system reliability, meaning continued transport of energy supplies and surveillance technology.
  
  

Considerations

• Natural gas is a colorless but highly explosive gas. Transmission pipelines are built to get natural gas from underground sources to market. Pipelines cross state lines, clouding local oversight, and most pipeline segments are situated away from population centers where daily monitoring is difficult. Minor leaks can lead to structural failures harming the environment and isolated segments can be targets for terrorist activities, leading to catastrophic explosions. For these reasons, the Department of Transportation created the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, to be the central agency overseeing pipeline safety.
  
  

Features

• The central component of Pipeline Safety law is the integrity management program, requiring operators to conduct stress tests and risk assessments for leaks along the course of the pipeline it operates. Semi-annually, operators must provide PHMSA with reports identifying threats to integrity. Depending on the level of threats, the agency directs repairs and inspections. The agency also issues violations, corrective action orders and penalties when pipeline segments fail. Most pipeline failures are attributed to corrosion resulting from natural elements, which are preventable with vigilant risk assessments along the entire course of the pipeline.
  
  

Effects

• The Pipeline Safety Acts have paved the way for a national pipeline mapping system for which the PHMSA is the central repository. Operators provide information to the agency that has developed a searchable database posted on the Internet to locate pipelines. Locational information is useful as rural lands expand zoning opportunities for agriculture and cattle grazing where pipelines have traditionally been sited.
  
  

Benefits

• Buried gas pipeline markerpipeline image by Jim Parkin from Fotolia.com
  
  Another component of the Pipeline Safety Acts was the requirement to develop a one-call notification system. PHMSA oversees the dial 8-1-1 program so anyone excavating land can prereport digging plans. Because natural gas pipelines in concentrated population centers are buried, the one-call notification system enables people who are going to excavate to have pipeline locations demarcated to prevent ruptures, which can interrupt natural gas distribution and or cause other serious impacts.
  
  

Expert Insight

• The Pipeline Safety Act changed the way pipelines were maintained and streamlined the transport of gas supplies from source to market. By identifying risks and correcting pipeline flaws, early environmental and human health issues have for the most part been prevented. The greatest benefit has been the mapping system. Natural gas exploration companies can use the system to locate available pipeline routes from supplies to consumer markets, factoring transportation costs into overall production costs while ensuring continued supplies.