It’s been three years since President Bush signed the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (PSIA) into law. With the enactment of PSIA, the industry embarked on a new, more comprehensive plan to manage pipeline safety.

One of the most important aspects of the act was to continue strengthening federal inspections and safety requirements. The industry implemented integrity management programs for all oil and natural gas pipelines, which has resulted in significant improvement in pipeline safety.

Technology has also been critical to improving safety and integrity. As a result of the act, The Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology devised a plan to focus their research on three specific areas: developing new technologies for pipeline leak and damage prevention; improving technologies for pipeline operation, monitoring and control; and improving pipeline materials.

 Photo taken from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Web site.

Routine maintenance and advancements in technology help prevent corrosion, but that doesn’t tackle the problem of damage from third-party excavators, one of the leading causes of pipeline leaks. To address this issue, the pipeline industry, the Common Ground Alliance and the Federal Communications Commission worked together in 2005 to establish the nationwide 8-1-1 hotline for excavators to call to learn the exact location of buried pipeline or any other underground facility.

Along with the one-call notification system, the act required pipeline companies to develop public education campaigns along pipeline rights-of-way. Pipeline operators were already undertaking considerable public outreach before the act went into effect, but the industry responded by issuing RP 1162, a consensus standard that provides guidance for developing enhanced public awareness programs.

RP 1162 is being used as a guideline to help pipeline companies most effectively communicate with public officials, people and businesses along the right-of-way and local emergency response personnel.

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 authorized the activities of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) through 2006.  Congress is scheduled to revisit pipeline safety legislation next year.  The oil pipeline industry is actively encouraging Congress to thoroughly review the record of the PHMSA and industry since the 2002 act and move quickly to enact reauthorizing legislation.