Making State Gas Pipelines Safe and Reliable: An Assessment of State Policy
March 2011
By Jacquelyn Pless
Pipeline Accidents
Although pipeline incidents have decreased, measures of risk—an increase in overall population, energy consumption and pipeline mileage—have risen. PHMSA defines a serious incident as an event involving a fatality or injury requiring in-patient hospitalization. During the last two decades, pipeline incidents involving death declined 50 percent,5 but 1,087 serious pipeline incidents occurred. Ninety-one percent were related to gas pipelines; of these, 78 percent were related to gas distribution lines.6
Significant incidents—a subset of serious incidents—incur consequences such as fatality or injury requiring in-patient hospitalization, $50,000 or more in total costs (1984 dollars), or liquid release resulting in a fire or explosion. During the last 20 years, 364 fatalities and 3,406 injuries occurred.
To see significant incident data (2000-2009) by state including total number of incidents, average per year, total number of fatalities, distribution of incidents by type of pipeline and total resulting property damage, please visit this chart. Louisiana data may appear abnormal due to incidents related to Hurricane Katrina.
Federal reporting standards are similar throughout the United States and, although states do not submit reports to PHMSA or OPS, pipeline operators report incidents directly. As pipeline mileage increases, so do accidents; however, the number of significant incidents in some states were more than double that of other states with comparable gas pipeline mileage. The total number of significant incidents that occurred from 2000-2009 ranged from 1 in New Hampshire to 531 in Texas with a median of 30. The data do not reflect pipeline mileage differences between states, however. The next section, Natural Gas as an Expanding Industry, explores key variations and relationships between incidents and pipeline mileage.
|
Significant Incidents (2000-2009)1
|
|
Jursidiction
|
Total
|
Average (per year)
|
Fatalities (total)
|
Hazardous Liquid
|
Gas Transmission
|
Gas Gathering
|
Gas Distribution
|
Property Damage (total 2009 $)
|
|
Alabama
|
39
|
4
|
7
|
13
|
11
|
0
|
15
|
$8,317,577
|
|
Alaska
|
21
|
2
|
0
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
14
|
$13,407,236
|
|
Arizona
|
38
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
0
|
27
|
$2,296,511
|
|
Arkansas
|
37
|
4
|
5
|
10
|
16
|
0
|
11
|
$5,344,660
|
|
California
|
177
|
18
|
9
|
88
|
22
|
2
|
65
|
$111,273,890
|
|
Colorado
|
43
|
4
|
1
|
14
|
9
|
0
|
20
|
$18,207,937
|
|
Connecticut
|
12
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
$6,140,784
|
|
Delaware
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
$1,053,705
|
|
Florida
|
24
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
10
|
0
|
9
|
$8,528,897
|
|
Georgia
|
44
|
4
|
1
|
18
|
6
|
0
|
20
|
$18,763,347
|
|
Hawaii
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
$1,382,826
|
|
Idaho
|
11
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
$2,834,260
|
|
Illinois
|
117
|
12
|
2
|
66
|
15
|
0
|
36
|
$58,696,756
|
|
Indiana
|
46
|
5
|
7
|
15
|
10
|
0
|
21
|
$19,464,585
|
|
Iowa
|
37
|
4
|
0
|
24
|
7
|
0
|
6
|
$9,884,631
|
|
Kansas
|
118
|
12
|
3
|
75
|
29
|
0
|
14
|
$61,461,844
|
|
Kentucky
|
29
|
3
|
2
|
8
|
12
|
1
|
8
|
$62,839,405
|
|
Louisiana*
|
226
|
23
|
6
|
93
|
101
|
21
|
11
|
$1,134,371,904
|
|
Maine
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
$557,885
|
|
Maryland
|
32
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
26
|
$73,996,245
|
|
Massachusetts
|
21
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
18
|
$8,154,568
|
|
Michigan
|
62
|
6
|
5
|
15
|
12
|
1
|
34
|
$23,586,090
|
|
Minnesota
|
57
|
6
|
5
|
28
|
7
|
0
|
22
|
$36,095,320
|
|
Mississippi
|
49
|
5
|
6
|
16
|
24
|
0
|
9
|
$13,863,396
|
|
Missouri
|
42
|
4
|
2
|
14
|
9
|
0
|
19
|
$17,517,454
|
|
Montana
|
17
|
2
|
1
|
10
|
2
|
0
|
5
|
$8,991,874
|
|
Nebraska
|
23
|
2
|
2
|
7
|
7
|
0
|
9
|
$5,015,096
|
|
Nevada
|
13
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
9
|
$6,895,130
|
|
New Hampshire
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
$591,190
|
|
New Jersey
|
32
|
3
|
2
|
10
|
4
|
0
|
18
|
$14,255,769
|
|
New Mexico
|
58
|
6
|
15
|
31
|
5
|
1
|
21
|
$7,247,444
|
|
New York
|
43
|
4
|
13
|
7
|
4
|
0
|
32
|
$17,367,582
|
|
North Carolina
|
28
|
3
|
1
|
7
|
4
|
0
|
17
|
$14,094,015
|
|
North Dakota
|
15
|
2
|
0
|
12
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
$6,185,034
|
|
Ohio
|
74
|
7
|
6
|
29
|
11
|
0
|
34
|
$36,556,331
|
|
Oklahoma
|
113
|
11
|
3
|
84
|
18
|
0
|
11
|
$40,457,734
|
|
Oregon
|
12
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
9
|
$2,671,987
|
|
Pennsylvania
|
117
|
12
|
10
|
26
|
27
|
0
|
64
|
$70,632,471
|
|
Rhode Island
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
$789,362
|
|
South Carolina
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
$1,422,874
|
|
South Dakota
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
$1,511,823
|
|
Tennessee
|
16
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
11
|
$84,118,516
|
|
Texas
|
531
|
53
|
15
|
345
|
112
|
16
|
58
|
$364,906,600
|
|
Utah
|
24
|
2
|
2
|
9
|
3
|
0
|
12
|
$7,443,279
|
|
Vermont
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
$205,536
|
|
Virginia
|
38
|
4
|
2
|
7
|
3
|
0
|
28
|
$51,174,094
|
|
Washington
|
19
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
0
|
8
|
$4,992,460
|
|
West Virginia
|
19
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
12
|
1
|
5
|
$5,819,593
|
|
Wisconsin
|
30
|
3
|
4
|
10
|
6
|
0
|
14
|
$16,420,926
|
|
Wyoming
|
40
|
4
|
3
|
28
|
10
|
0
|
2
|
$6,310,816
|
|
District of Columbia
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
$342,244
|
|
Median
|
30
|
3
|
2
|
8
|
6
|
0
|
11
|
$8,991,874
|
|
Source: Office of Pipeline Safety, PHMSA Pipeline Safety Program (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.); http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/.
|
Notes:
1) PHMSA defines significant incidents as those reported by pipeline operators with the following conditions:
a) fatality or injury requiring in-patient hospitalization; b) $50,000 or more in total costs (1984 dollars); c) highly
volatile liquid releases of five or more barrels or other liquid releases of 50 barrels or more; d) liquid release results in fire or
explosion. Significant incidents include all serious incidents. |
|