Report: Pipeline rules not being implemented
By Jeff Nesmith and Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
American-Statesman Staff
Friday, October 5, 2001
WASHINGTON -- Federal requirements that could significantly improve pipeline safety are not being carried out, even though some were passed by Congress more than a decade ago, according to congressional investigators.
The General Accounting Office, in a report released this week by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said the Office of Pipeline Safety, or OPS, "has made progress in completing some statutory requirements" during the past year. And it has carried out one recommendation from a separate list of 39 issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.
However, mandates such as establishing new safety standards for natural gas pipelines and developing a national inventory of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines remain unmet, the GAO said. And a requirement for periodic internal inspections and supply shutoff valves is not expected to be fully implemented until fall 2002.
"As of Sept. 1, 2001, 11 requirements -- including several from 1992 or earlier that could significantly improve pipeline safety -- remain uncompleted," the GAO said.
Oberstar said the report means Congress must enact specific pipeline safety laws and stop relying on federal regulators to carry out general mandates.
"The GAO report supports our view that we need legislative action directing the pipeline companies to make needed improvements in the safety of their operations," said Oberstar, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "We cannot rely on the regulatory process. OPS is simply taking too long, and the health and safety of millions of Americans are at risk."
In a series of articles published in July, the Austin-American Statesman detailed how the OPS, a unit of the Transportation Department, has failed to address many safety and environmental problems. Millions of gallons of crude oil, gasoline and other petroleum products, and an unknown quantity of natural gas, leak from pipelines every year. Nationwide, more than 1,000 people died in pipeline fires and explosions in the past decade.
The GAO report said OPS had 97 employees, including 55 inspectors, to oversee the inspection and regulation of 2.2 million miles of pipelines last year.
The report, following up on a similar study last year, said that of 22 unmet statutory mandates cited in the earlier report:
* Five have been carried out.
* Six have been superceded by new laws or "OPS believes it is no longer required to take action."
* Eleven remain unmet.
"OPS officials estimate that it will take a year or more to implement 10 of the 11 open requirements," the GAO reported.
The OPS has decided it will not take action on the remaining requirement -- that it submit a report on the location and safety hazards of abandoned underwater pipelines -- because it does not have the necessary information.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said the GAO report shows that too little is being done to improve pipeline safety.
"A bureaucracy that took 10 years to get half its job done and will take who knows how long to finish the rest inspires little confidence," Doggett said.
He added, "We need a real pipeline safety office, not an administrative illusion that does more to appease special interests than to protect American families. If we cannot get something meaningful, perhaps we should simply add another `O' to OPS so it can be more accurately described as `OOPS.' "
The National Transportation Safety Board, which had 39 unmet safety recommendations addressed to OPS when last year's GAO report was issued, has issued six more since then, the investigators said.
The Office of Pipeline Safety has carried out one of the 39 pending safety board recommendations, leaving 44 unmet.
"The safety board is encouraged by OPS' recent efforts to improve its responsiveness but remains concerned about the amount of time OPS has been taking to implement recommendations," the report said.
The GAO said OPS officials had generally agreed with its current conclusions and recommendations.
"They stated that OPS is taking a long-term, strategic approach to address safety goals by improving pipeline integrity and preventing damage to pipelines," the report stated. "The officials expect that within a year, the results of these efforts will become apparent to Congress and the public."
Ellen Engleman, who was sworn in last month as administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration, which oversees OPS, has said public safety will be a top priority.
Pipelines are now a national security threat as well as just a neglected hazard.
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