The top oil and gas pipeline regulator in the US wants operators to use inspection programs that do the best job of determining their systems’ condition. That’s why he would like Congress to reconsider pipeline inspection intervals, he told OGJ.“The 7-year interval doesn’t make sense from a risk management perspective. We want operators to focus their attention on areas of greatest risk. Some lines may not need to be inspected that frequently. Others might need to be inspected more often,” said Thomas J. Barrett, administrator of the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.More than 50% of the baseline inspections required by the original pipe...