America’s Dangerous Pipelines
August 2, 2013
Feds fail to inspect 2 Million miles of pipelines
July 31, 2013
Central Valley Business Times.
Report: Feds fail to inspect 2 Million miles of pipelines
WASHINGTON, D.C.
July 30, 2013 8:46am
WASHINGTON, D.C.
July 30, 2013 8:46am
• Is it rupture roulette?
• “Like searching for gas leaks with a lit candle”
Some two million miles of pipelines carrying natural gas, petroleum and hazardous liquids are going uninspected by the federal agency charged with safety oversight, says the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
It claims that only a small fraction of the nation’s vast network of pipelines has undergone any sort of inspection in recent years, including several hundred pipelines that have spilled or broken down.
(Download a pdf of the inspection record by clicking on the link below.)
As a result, the safety and reliability of much of this key but volatile transport grid remains unknown, it says.
Records obtained from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that:
• Of the more than 2.6 million oil, natural gas and propane pipeline miles regulated by PHMSA less than a fifth (583,692) has been inspected by federal or state officials since 2006;
• Another 132,300 miles have been inspected by their operators during that same period but PHMSA cannot say whether any industry inspections have been independently reviewed;
• Since 2006, there have been more than 300 incidents, such as a spill, explosion or breakdown, which triggered no follow-up inspection.
Despite the figures, PHMSA’s latest annual report on to Congress on inspection and enforcement needs is less than one page long and mentions no need or even desire to increase inspections.
“At the current rate, most of our oil and gas pipeline network will not be inspected in this generation,” says Kathryn Douglass, an attorney for PEER, noting that the present rate of less than one thousand federal and state inspections each year cannot keep pace with pipeline expansion.
“Inspections are supposed to prevent damaging incidents but the main way pipeline deficiencies now become manifest is when ruptures or explosions make them obvious,” she says. “This approach to pipeline safety is like searching for gas leaks with a lit candle.”
Nor is it clear that the causes of pipeline breakdowns are effectively remedied even after major spills or blasts occur, says PEER. In the period since 2006, PHMSA recorded 3,599 incidents, defined as a release resulting in injury or death or major property losses, but took only 1,526 enforcement actions during the same period, according to PEER’s review of the records
Similarly, months following “major pipeline disasters,” as PEER puts it, PHMSA has yet to implement the vast majority of corrective measures recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“PHMSA is a sleepy, industry-dominated agency that tries to remain obscure by doing as little as possible,” says Ms. Douglass.
Drilldown
Northeast Gas Association: NGA ISSUE BRIEF: Pipeline Expansion Projects
July 21, 2013
Northeast Gas Association: NGA ISSUE BRIEF: Pipeline Expansion Projects.
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PEER – NO SURPRISE FEDERAL PIPELINE SAFETY EXERCISES SINCE 2005
July 18, 2013
PEER – NO SURPRISE FEDERAL PIPELINE SAFETY EXERCISES SINCE 2005.
For Immediate Release: Jul 17, 2013
Contact: Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
NO SURPRISE FEDERAL PIPELINE SAFETY EXERCISES SINCE 2005
Scant Oversight or Local Coordination on Pipeline Emergency Response Plans
Posted on Jul 17, 2013
Washington, DC — The federal pipeline safety agency has not conducted a single surprise exercise for more than eight years to determine whether an operator can execute emergency response plans, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Nor does the agency have a ready account of which emergency response plans it has approved, rejected or changed.
More than 2.5 million miles of pipelines carrying oil, natural gas and high-hazard liquids, honeycomb the U.S. Each year, there are more than 100 “significant” pipeline accidents involving loss of life, injuries, fire and/or major spillage. Recent pipeline spills and explosions have had catastrophic results.
Federal guidelines call for up to 20 unannounced exercises annually to demonstrate an operator’s “ability to respond to a worst case discharge spill event.” Yet in documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) concedes that –
- It has not conducted any unannounced safety exercise since 2005, when it only conducted one. In the preceding 10 year period, the agency conducted 36 surprise exercises, peaking with 14 in 1997;
- In the last five years, PHMSA has completed only 26 announced safety reviews, with only one initiated in 2012. More than half of all these reviews (15) occurred in 2011; and
- The agency cited two exercises in 2004 which were labeled “unknown” because PHMSA had no record on whether they were surprise or scheduled.
“Since there are no surprise safety drills, it should be no surprise when the on-scene response to actual emergencies is lacking,” stated PEER Counsel Kathryn Douglass, who brought the suit that pried the documents loose. “Given PHMSA’s supine posture, pipelines in America are essentially self-regulated.”
Beyond whether operators can carry out their emergency response plans, the adequacy of those plans also remains in question. Months after PEER asked and ultimately sued PHMSA to produce response plans submitted by pipeline operators, the agency still has only been able to provide a handful of the 314 current plans. Moreover, PHMSA cannot identify a single one of the more than 1,000 pipeline response plans it has reviewed during the past five years that it has rejected or amended.
“If it takes PHMSA months to produce copies of emergency response plans, that means communities on the front line have no access to the safety playbook in case of an accident,” Douglass added, noting that in recent major pipeline spills, local emergency response agencies were in the dark both about what was occurring and what the planned response was supposed to include. “We should not have to sue in federal court to obtain pipeline emergency response plans – they should be posted routinely on the web.”
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See PMSA list of pipeline safety exercises – unannounced, announced and unknown
Look at federal guidance on unannounced pipeline exercises
Scan the list of all current and archived facility response plans
View PHMSA failure to implement NTSB recommendations following recent disasters
FERC–INTERVENING
July 7, 2013
Short window of opportunity for residents to “intervene” on proposed pipeline.
Impacted landowners, community members, business owners and public officials have until July 17, 2013 to “intervene” with the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the matter of the proposed Constitution Pipeline. Those who intervene become an integral part of the review process. While interveners have no obligation, the process of intervening established the necessary framework for taking actions, if necessary, against the pipeline company. ALL AREA RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES, AND TOWN AND VILLAGE BOARDS SHOULD INTERVENE. Those who do not intervene significantly limit their options for protecting their property, and their community, from the pipeline.
Instructions for intervening can be found on the Stop the Pipeline website: www.stopthepipeline.org
Stop the Pipeline’s Schoharie Action Committee will be conducting door-to-door visits along the proposed pipeline the week of July 8th to assist people with the intervention process.
The Center for Sustainable Rural Communities, located at 296 Main Street in Richmondville, NY will hold special training sessions to assist people wishing to intervene on Thursday July 11th from 10 AM until 2 PM, Friday July 12thfrom 6 PM until 8 PM and Saturday July 13th from 9 AM until 12 PM. The Center will provide high speed Internet access, computer terminals and volunteers to assist individuals and group in registering with FERC.
The Center for Sustainable Rural Communities is also offering consultation to Town, Village and County boards who wish to intervene. Public officials can contact the Center at 518-872-3903 or via email: info@ruralcommunities.org.
Press Contact:
Robert Nied
Board of Directors
Center for Sustainable Rural Communities
rnied@ruralcommunities.org
PIMMA
July 5, 2013
PIMMA
Pipeline Integrity Management Mapping Application
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has developed the Pipeline Integrity Management Mapping Application (PIMMA) for use by pipeline operators and Federal, state, and local government officials only. The application contains sensitive pipeline critical infrastructure information that can be viewed via internet browser (Mozilla Firefox users should use Internet Explorer). PIMMA data is for reference purposes only, data cannot be downloaded from PIMMA. If you would like to request GIS data layers, please click here.
PIMMA is intended to be used solely by the person who is given access by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Your user name and password should not be shared with other persons either within or outside of your organization. If another person expresses interest in using PIMMA, please have them contact the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at npms-nr@mbakercorp.com, to obtain access. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration monitors user activity and reserves the right to remove individual access rights.
Access to PIMMA is limited to Federal, State, and Local Government officials as well as pipeline operators. PIMMA access cannot be given to any person who is not a direct employee of a government agency. All applications will be processed by PHMSA personnel, who will respond as soon as possible.
Federal Government (FEDERAL AND MILITARY OFFICIALS ONLY): Federal Government officials wishing to obtain PIMMA access for the entire nation should apply here. If you are a Federal employee who only needs access to one or many states or counties, please fill out the State or Local Government applications below.
Federal Government PIMMA application
State and Local Government: State and Local Government officials can request access to the State and Local Government PIMMA by filling out and submitting an online application. Applicants will only be granted access to the jurisdiction they are employed by.
State Government PIMMA application
Local Government PIMMA application
Pipeline Operator (PIPELINE OPERATORS ONLY): Pipeline Operators can request access to the Pipeline Operator PIMMA by filling out and submitting an online application. Each pipeline operator will only be granted access to their respective pipelines, as defined by the Operator ID. Please be sure to enter your Operator ID(s).
GDACC 
