Gathering-line scrutiny

Oct. 6, 2014
The US Department of Transportation is taking actions to improve rail safety requirements for crude oil transportation, Government Accountability Office investigators found during a recent inquiry.

The US Department of Transportation is taking actions to improve rail safety requirements for crude oil transportation, Government Accountability Office investigators found during a recent inquiry. But additional actions are needed to improve pipeline safety, particularly for stretches of gathering lines that are not currently regulated, GAO said in a Sept. 22 report.

Gathering-line construction has grown significantly in response to shale oil and gas development, but it's not known by how much, the report said. State officials in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia told GAO investigators that companies have invested in gathering infrastructure significantly, it added.

"Historically, federally unregulated gathering pipelines were low-pressure, smaller-diameter pipelines and were generally in rural areas where there was less safety risk," the report said. "Now, according to [DOT's Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)], industry, and state pipeline safety officials we spoke to, gathering pipelines of larger diameter and higher pressure are being constructed, including in areas closer to populations."

Pipeline operators and industry organizations told GAO's investigators that new gathering lines probably would be safer because they would be less susceptible to corrosion and other conditions leading to leaks in older pipelines.

They also said some large-diameter, higher-pressure gathering lines would be built to transmission-line standards in largely rural areas where they pose less risk.

"Nonetheless, state pipeline regulators, PHMSA officials, and safety organizations expressed concern with the potential safety threat of unregulated gathering pipelines of this size," the report said.

Emergency response

It said some stakeholders also expressed concern over emergency response capabilities since PHMSA's planning requirements in that regard don't apply to rural gathering lines.

"Given the lack of PHMSA regulation of rural gathering pipelines, the extent, location, and construction practices for rural gathering pipelines is largely unknown by federal, state, and local officials, and oversight to verify the construction and monitor operators' safety practices is lacking, the report concluded.

It conceded that federal and state pipeline inspection resources are limited. "However, if PHMSA were to set minimum federal regulations for gathering lines, this would enable the agency to include currently federally unregulated rural gathering lines in decisions for prioritizing resources for addressing safety risks," the report said.

Regulators investigators interviewed in the four states said their resources also might be strained, but supported regulating rural gathering lines, it noted.

Responding to GAO's report, DOT Asst. Sec. for Administration Brodi Fontenot said a rulemaking is being developed to examine whether federal safety requirements for gas-gathering lines need to be adopted. DOT also is encouraging states to enact their own gathering-line requirements that go beyond federal regulations, Fontenot said.