“We inspect every pipeline operator every five years.”
Dave Chislea is director of the Gas Operations Section at the Michigan Public Service Commission. Cindy Creisher works in the Gas Safety & Damage Prevention Section. Nathan Miller is manager of Gas Safety and Infrastructure in the Gas Operations Section. Brian Ballinger is director of the Energy Operations Division. Tim Wolf is a manager in the Gas Safety & Damage Prevention Section.
PUF: You're a group of natural gas infrastructure experts. What do you all do?
Brian Ballinger: In order to make sure that customers are safe, and the citizens of the State of Michigan are safe, we have an ongoing program involving gas safety. We're out there every day doing inspections.
That includes not only inspections based upon our daily routine, but we also do incident inspections.
Dave Chislea: We have currently ten engineers who are - on a daily basis - in the field inspecting natural gas operators, and operators for compliance with the pipeline safety regulations. That includes everything from operation and maintenance procedures, operation and maintenance tasks, construction and, if necessary, incident investigations associated with pipelines and structures.
PUF: How does that work?