Gas Pipelines Do the Safety Dance

The industry responds to FERC's new safety regulations.

Utility companies are scrambling to understand and comply with the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, which became law in December 2002. According to Daphne Magnuson, director of public relations at the American Gas Association (AGA), the act will require member companies to make significant changes during the next 10 years in how they operate.

The AGA is working with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and its Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), which operates the Office of Pipeline Safety. RSPA is writing the integrity management rule, due out by the end of this year, for natural gas transmission pipelines.

The act requires the Transportation secretary to issue regulations prescribing standards to direct an operator's risk analysis and the implementation of an integrity management program no later than 12 months after enactment of the law. The minimum requirement of the integrity management program requires a baseline assessment of all pipeline facilities. It requires that the assessments be completed no later than 10 years after enactment of the law, and that at least 50 percent of the facilities be assessed no later than 5 years after the date of enactment.