|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
Crisis in Oil Pipeline Safety? |
|
|
With the recent interest in Oil Pipeline Safety. Here are two sides of this compelling story: Oil Pipeline Safety is in Crisis A study first published in the Austin American-Statesman reported that while Oil and natural gas pipeline fires and explosions have killed more than 200 people across the nation in the past decade, the federal agency that polices the industry is small, underfunded and understaffed. The Office of Pipeline Safety has jurisdiction of more than 2 million miles of pipelines but is one of the smallest units within the Department of Transportation, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its July 22 edition. The agency has 55 inspectors and is budgeted for only 107 full-time employees, and commonly relies upon state and local authorities for inspections. For decades, the agency has not known the exact whereabouts of thousands of miles of pipelines under its jurisdiction, the American-Statesman reported after a yearlong study. "There is almost an absence of regulation,'' said Jim Hall, until recently chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. The federal government gives pipeline companies broad authority to inspect their own lines and decide when they should be repaired or taken out of service, a system that has resulted in companies operating lines known to be damaged, the newspaper reported.
Tests revealed problems with a pipeline that ran through Bellingham, Wash., but the owner failed to excavate the affected section, according to an interim report by the NTSB. The following year, in 1999, the line ruptured and 277,000 gallons of gasoline ignited, killing two 10-year-old boys and an 18-year-old. The owner agreed with the state and federal governments last month to pay $10 million in fines. The newspaper also found that the office is on friendly terms with the industry and warns companies of imminent inspections. Only eight of 218 enforcement actions in 1998 resulted in fines, it said. The Industry Safety Record is the Key In spite of the absence of tough pipeline safety regulations, the safety record for oil pipelines in the U.S. over the last 30 years shows substantial progress. Based on statistics compiled by the Association of Oil Pipelines, a trade organization for the oil industry, the annual number of spills has decreased by nearly 40% and the median spill size is one-third the size. These figures, compiled from accident information maintained by the Office of Pipeline Safety, shows remarkable progress from annual averages in the 1969-74 period compared to the last six years. Pipelines also operate more safely than any other mode of oil transportation, based on figures per ton per mile. On this basis, trucks are 35 times more likely to produce a fire or explosion and rail is 8.6 more likely.
AcuSafe is a presentation of AcuTech Consulting, ©2002, All Rights Reserved
|
