Perspectives

Pipeline Safety: This is serious business

by Mark McCarver, Director of the Pipeline Safety Division of the Mississippi Public Service Commission

Nationwide, excavation damage continues to be a leading cause of serious pipeline incidents. The table below identifies that more than 35% of Serious Incidents as defined by Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) is the result of excavation damage.

Mississippi is not immune from such damage. We hope that you’ll recognize your responsibility as a stakeholder in our state and join in with us to promote personal accountability in dealing with this very important issue. The Mississippi Damage Prevention Committee (MDPC) will continue to work diligently to carry the damage prevention message to all parts of the state in 2010. The message is not reserved just for the gas pipeline industry, but can and will impact all stakeholders in every state.

PHMSA has developed what it calls a State Damage Prevention Program (SDPP) Characterization Tool as an aid to assessing a state’s damage prevention efforts. The questionnaire and associated scoring of the responses mimics a “ratings chart” approach often used for comparing products or services. The SDPP Tool contains questions on the nine elements specified in the PIPES Act of 2006. These cover all aspects of damage prevention – not just actions by the state’s pipeline safety agency. Annmarie Robertson, who was one of the presenters at the Summit this past November, is the project’s leader and has conducted 20 trial interviews with state pipeline agencies and one-call centers. It is conceivable that the results produced by the SDPP Tool could be used to assist PHMSA in determining the level of relative adequacy of state damage prevention programs. The least adequate ones could be the target of federal enforcement efforts.

In a Federal Register notice published on October 29, PHMSA outlines proposed provisions to verify if a state has an “inadequate” damage prevention program. This was mandated by the PIPES Act of 2006. The proposal includes steps outlined by PHMSA in the event it has to enforce damage prevention laws against violators in a state with an inadequate program. This could cover not only jurisdictional pipeline system operators but all excavators in the state. Comments were due to the PHMSA docket on December 14, 2009.

Stay tuned.