Pipeline Safety

Pipelines are safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation for natural gas and hazardous liquids because they are generally located underground. Nevertheless, the volatile nature of these products means that pipeline accidents can have serious consequences. For example, a June 1999 pipeline rupture in Bellingham, Washington, spilled about 250,000 gallons of gasoline into a creek, killing three people and damaging a number of buildings. GAO found that from 1989 through 1998, pipeline accidents caused an average of about 22 fatalities per year. Fatalities from pipeline accidents are relatively low when compared with those from accidents involving other forms of transportation. Although these statistics underscore the relative safety of pipelines for transporting natural gas and hazardous liquids, the total number of major pipeline accidents rose by about four percent annually during this 10-year period. The Office of Pipeline Safety at the Department of Transportation has implemented a risk management demonstration program and has approved six demonstration projects, which are ongoing. Since the implementation of the Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996, the Office has modified its inspection and enforcement approach. With respect to inspections, it has moved toward inspecting entire pipelines rather than segments of pipelines. The Office has also revised its enforcement of compliance with regulations by reducing its use of fines and, instead, working with operators to identify and correct safety problems. The Office's responsiveness to recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board and to statutory requirements designed to improve pipeline safety has been mixed.

GAO noted that: (1) from 1989 through 1998, pipeline accidents resulted in an average of about 22 fatalities per year; (2) the total number of major pipeline accidents (those resulting in a fatality, an injury, or property damage of $50,000 or more) increased by about 4 percent annually over this 10-year period; (3) most fatalities and injuries occurred as a result of accidents on pipelines that transport natural gas to homes and businesses, while most property damage occurred as a result of accidents on pipelines transporting hazardous liquids; (4) OPS' data indicate that damage from outside forces, such as excavation, is the primary cause of such accidents; (5) OPS has implemented a risk management demonstration program and has approved six demonstration projects; (6) OPS issued guidance on performance measures for the overall program and for individual projects but has not established specific measures of the program's impact on safety, as the act requires; (7) even though the projects are not complete and their safety benefits have not been quantified, OPS is moving ahead with a risk-based approach to safety regulation based partially on preliminary qualitative results of the program; (8) specifically, OPS has proposed a rule that would require some companies that operate hazardous liquid pipelines that run through high-risk areas to implement a program to comprehensively examine pipelines in these areas to identify and address potential risks, including assessing the current condition of their pipelines; (9) OPS also plans to take several actions that are necessary to implement the new approach, such as devising a method to review the companies' programs and hiring and training additional staff to conduct the reviews; (10) since the act's implementation, OPS has modified its inspection and enforcement approach so that entire pipelines are inspected in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of safety risks; (11) OPS has revised its enforcement of compliance with regulations by reducing its use of fines, and instead, working with operators to identify and correct safety problems; (12) OPS has not implemented some of the Safety Board's recommendations and requirements because it believes they would be too costly for the pipeline industry compared with the expected benefits; and (13) the OPS has recently taken action on some issues covered by outstanding recommendations and requirements, such as identifying countermeasures for preventing damage to pipelines from excavation and requiring pipeline operators to inspect their pipelines for corrosion.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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