Yesterday I pulled up to the curb in front of a music studio where one of my children takes guitar lessons and noticed for the first time a sign posted in the grass in front of the building that indicated the presence of a gas pipeline under the property.
I noticed the sign because I had spent part of my day reading more about the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the government agency whose job it is to ensure the safety of the pipelines which transport gas and other hazardous materials through our communities.
This government agency you may not have heard of is currently working on a rulemaking for an issue you may not have thought about. But it is an important one for our communities. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is tasked with ensuring the safety of pipelines, which transport gas and other hazardous materials all over the state. Pipelines are used to transport materials from the point of recovery, in the case of oil and gas, to refineries or to places where it can be exported. These pipelines are in places you wouldn’t expect. Check here for an interactive viewer that can show you where oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure is located in your community.
PHMSA is tasked with making sure pipelines operate in a way that poses no threat to the public. As you can imagine, there is significant risk with transporting oil and gas and other hazardous materials. Explosions are not the only risk, spills that cause contamination of groundwater or sensitive ecosystems and leaks of gas which cause poor air quality are other concerns. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a major driver of climate change. Methane leaks from pipelines are a significant contributor to climate change.
Researchers have also found that U.S. counties with more socially vulnerable populations, so called “frontline communities,” tend to have a higher density of natural gas transmission and gathering pipelines—meaning that these communities face an increased risk of harm from accidents and leaks.
A recent analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund finds that natural gas pipelines nationwide are leaking as much as 2.7 million tons of methane each year, which has the same climate impact as nearly 50 million passenger cars driven for a year. And often, these leaks are underestimated or underreported. The EDF analysis estimates that U.S. onshore gas pipeline methane leakage is between 3.75 times and 8 times greater than estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed a draft Advanced Leak Detection and Repair Rule for pipelines and infrastructure that would protect our climate and the health and safety of our communities.
Existing federal standards have not been updated in decades, do not account for the climate harm caused by methane leaks, do not require the repair of many leaks, and have no specifications for technology performance.
If finalized, PHMSA’s proposed rule would increase leak survey frequencies, establish clear standards and timelines for leak grading and repair, ensure the deployment of more effective technologies, ensure greater transparency and accountability by requiring more detailed reporting on leaks and large-volume gas releases, enhance accountability for pipeline operators, and extend the applicability of protective standards.
The bipartisan PIPES Act of 2020 directed PHMSA to finalize standards for pipeline safety by December 2021. There is no time for further delay. It is essential that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg direct his agency to finalize the rule this spring, for the sake of our communities and the climate.