A US House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee’s Apr. 3 pipeline safety hearing concentrated on conditions creating too much pressure during Columbia Gas of Massachusetts’s replacement of century-old pipes in its Merrimack Valley system near Boston in September 2018. The resulting explosions damaged 40 homes, killed one person, and injured 25 more.
Witnesses noted that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts gave the utility an exemption from having a professional engineer (PE) review the project’s design and approve it once it was finished. “More was lost than property that night last September. Columbia Gas customers lost their peace of mind. It’s up to Congress to rebuild that peace of mind,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.).
“Let’s all work together to rebuild America’s ageing infrastructure. Let’s eliminate professional engineer exemptions for public utility work. Let’s make sure a professional engineer approves all public utility drawings,” he recommended.
Solving this problem won’t be that simple, however. For starters, states traditionally have regulated local distribution companies within their borders. At least 20 others offer utilities exemptions from using a licensed PE similar to what Columbia Gas of Massachusetts received.
The situation changes when it comes to interstate gas pipelines, which commonly employ engineers with PE licenses. “The primary reason is that [Interstate Natural Gas Association of America] members often use third-party, consultant engineering firms to provide the specific expertise needed to design and build an interstate gas pipeline,” INGAA Foundation Project Manager Michael Istre explained.
“In most states, because an engineering consulting company is ‘offering engineering services to the public,’ its work is subject to state engineering law for a PE review of design documents,” he told OGJ. “For most states, the engineering laws require that final design documents have the seal of the consulting PE who provided supervisory oversight to the work.”
What license indicates
It’s critical to have competent engineers working on a pipeline system, Istre said. When an INGAA member hires an engineer, a candidate’s having a PE license in a state is only one consideration.
“A PE license indicates that an engineer has passed national exams on fundamental engineering concepts, has a minimum number of years of experience, and is compliant with a state’s continuing education requirements. But the PE license does not indicate that an engineer is competent to perform every engineering task at a pipeline company,” Istre said.
Moreover, a state PE license isn’t always necessary to demonstrate an engineer’s competence, he said. “In fact, PE licensure is organized by engineering discipline—mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, etc.,” Istre said. “Pipeline engineering is a combination of several engineering disciplines. There is no PE license available for ‘Pipeline Engineering.’”
