US President Barack Obama signed the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 into law Jan. 3, reauthorizing the Department of Transportation's existing pipeline safety programs through 2015 while also placing new requirements on both pipeline operators and regulators.
On the operators' side of the ledger, the law increases maximum penalties for individual violations to $200,000 from $100,000 and for a series of violations to $2 million from $1 million. It also requires gas transmission pipeline operators to report within 18 months any pipeline segments with insufficient maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) records, to report incidents pushing operating pressure beyond MAOP within 5 days of their occurrence, and to consider seismic activity when evaluating pipeline threats.
DOT requirements
Among the requirements placed on DOT regulators, meanwhile, was maintaining a map of high-consequence areas (HCAs) on the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) and to develop an NPMS awareness program within a year. It also requires DOT within 18 months to both develop guidance for operators to share system-specific information with emergency responders and establish time limits on leak and accident notifications to both emergency responders and other state and local officials.
The timeline to establish requirements for gas transmission pipeline operators to confirm their pipelines' physical and operational characteristics, including MAOP, for pipelines in Class 3 and 4 zones and HCAs is even shorter at 6 months. This relatively short timeframe recognizes increased public awareness of pipeline safety in the wake of significant accidents on both oil and gas pipelines.
The law also requires DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to issue new pipeline safety standards requiring operators to install automatic or remote-controlled shut-off valves and excess flow valves in new or replaced transmission pipelines. It also authorizes $110 million/year in safety related grants for use by states in damage prevention programs, emergency response training, technical outreach to local communities, and one-call system improvements.
The promulgation of such programs on a state level has leapt in importance in areas like the Eagle Ford and Marcellus shales, where pipeline development has gained momentum as operators seek to bring their gas and liquids to market. Cooperation and coordination among states also is important, particularly in areas like the Marcellus where a single, relatively small project can often cross multiple state boundaries.
Pennsylvania acts
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed his state's "Gas and Hazardous Liquids Pipelines" Act into law in December 2011, authorizing its public utility commission (PUC) to conduct pipeline safety inspections in coordination with PHMSA and to regulate pipelines without declaring them a public utility. This latter point was particularly important given concerns from property owners regarding imminent domain, which public utilities can exert. If the PUC had been allowed to regulate only pipelines designated as utilities many would have gone uncovered (bad for safety) or had to have been reclassified as utilities (bad for property owners).
Now that the property owners' rights have been preserved, it is incumbent on them and their communities to live responsibly in the company of the new pipelines. The safety-related money authorized for disbursement to states through PHMSA under the new federal pipeline safety law can help this happen.
Both the federal law and its Pennsylvania counterpart are encouraging. Not just because they help codify the importance of pipeline safety, but because they recognize that it is best achieved as a partnership: between regulators and operators, between the federal government and smaller jurisdictions, and finally, between all of these and the citizens at large.
Colonial Pipeline Co. Chief Executive Officer Tim Felt once aptly described "zero leaks" as the only reasonable goal for the US pipeline industry (OGJ Online, Mar. 25, 2009). Without each of these parties' active participation, this goal cannot even be seriously approached, much less attained.
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