Regulatory base
The PHMSA enforces the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968(), which was enacted in response to the Richmond, Indiana explosion, as well as the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Act of 1979 (), the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Safety and Enforcement Act (PIPES) Act of 2006, the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (P.L. 112), regulations (49 CFR Parts 190-199) and other statutes.History
Prior to 2005 the U.S. Department of Transportation had no focused research organization and no separately operating administration for pipeline safety and hazardous materials Transportation safety in the United States. The Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act of 2004 provided these, with an opportunity to establish mode government budget and information practices in support of then president Bush's 'Management Agenda' initiatives. Prior to the Special Programs Act of 2004, PHMSA's hazmat and pipeline safety programs were housed within the Transportation Department's Research and Special Programs Administration, known as RSPA.Office of Hazardous Materials Safety
The Office of Hazardous Materials Safety oversees the transportation of hazardous materials by air, rail, highway, and water, with the exception of bulk transportation of hazmat by vessel. The office promulgates a national safety program, which consists of evaluating safety risks, developing and enforcing standards for transporting hazardous materials, educating shippers and carriers, investigating hazmat incidents and failures, conducting research, providing grants to improve emergency response to incidents. The office website includes guidance documents, hazmat carriers' special permits and approvals information, reports and incidents summaries, penalty action reports, registration information and forms, the Emergency Response Guidebook for First Responders, Freedom of Information Act requests, and the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants program.Office of Pipeline Safety
The Office of Pipeline Safety oversees the nearly 3 million miles of the natural gas pipeline system in the United States and its hazardous liquid pipelines. about 80 percent of the funds states spend on pipeline safety comes from PHMSA. Several agencies collaborate on the 'federal pipeline safety program', authorized through the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015 such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Pipeline Risk Management Information System consists of integrity management programs originally created for transmission pipelines and has led to a reduced number of pipeline accidents. In 2001 the Liquid Integrity Management Program came into law, followed by the 2003 Transmission Integrity Management Program (TIMP) and the 2008 Distribution Integrity Management Program (DIMP). The Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996 requires that the Office of Pipeline Safety adopt rules requiring interstate gas pipeline operators to provide maps of their facilities to the governing body of each municipality, in which the pipeline is located. The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) was removed for a number of months from public use after September 11, due to security concerns. In 2012, it returned with restriction of use. National Pipeline Maps can still be bought fromPipeline safety record
In the years 1996-2015, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration reported a total of 11,199 pipeline incidents in a system that includes a total of of gas pipelines and of hazardous liquids pipelines in the United States as of 2015. 856 of those were considered "serious incidents", 86 were serious incidents involving hazardous liquids pipelines. This is an average of approximately 560 incidents per year in the last 20 years for all types of pipelines. These incidents caused a total of 360 fatalities and 1,376 injuries. More recent data however reveals that pipeline incidents as well as the total number of releases has decreased by over 50% since PHMSA was created and pipelines now safely deliver over 99.999% of all shipments, the highest safety percentage of any transportation system. PHMSA also works directly with stakeholders to educate and research root causes of pipeline and buried utility damage. Their work on damage prevention and implementation of the 811 "call before you dig" program have greatly reduced the number of incidents caused by excavation damage and improved pipeline safety.Regulatory failures
The 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion of a Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) gasline inLeadership
At the end of FY2012, PHMSA employed 203 staff in total, including 135 inspection and enforcement staff. Timothy P. Butters is the acting Administrator, since Cynthia L. Quarterman left in October 2014. The PHMSA has a 'senior leadership team' of eight people with the following positions: Administrator, Deputy Administrator, Chief Safety Officer, Chief Counsel, two Directors and three Associate Administrators. The current leadership team includes: Past leadership includes * Brigham McCown, first acting administrator July 1, 2005 until March 31, 2006 and first Deputy Administrator, July 1, 2005 until January 1, 2007. * Thomas J. Barrett, first permanent Administrator from March 31, 2006 - June 1, 2007. * Stacey Gerard, first Assistant Administrator/Chief Safety Officer, first acting Deputy Administrator until July 1, 2005. * Krista Edwards, Chief Counsel in 2006, Deputy Administrator, acting Administrator in late 2007. * Carl T. Johnson, Administrator from January 9, 2008 until 2009. * Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator from November 16, 2009 - October 4, 2014 *Timothy Butters, acting Administrator from October 4, 2014 - June 8, 2015 *Marie Therese Dominguez, Administrator from October 7, 2015 until 2016 *Howard "Skip" Elliott, Administrator from October 30, 2017 - January 20, 2021See also
* List of North American natural gas pipelines *Notes
References
External links
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