The Smart Pig
smartpig@pstrust.org
In pipeline parlance, a smart pig is a high-tech device designed to root around inside pipelines. These intelligent little beasts inspect every square inch of the line, calling attention to any needed repairs.
I try to do the same thing for our readers. Send me a question and I'll root through the labyrinths of modern pipeline prevarications to get you the best answer piggily possible: the straight scoop, as we say back in the stye.
Editor's Note: The views and opinions expressed by this pig do not necessarily reflect those of The Pipeline Safety Trust, or any human being.
Is Information that Could Help Prevent Future Pipeline Catastrophes Hidden From the Public?
Dear Smart Pig,
In August of 2003, gasoline stations in my city of Phoenix had cars lined up into the streets waiting for gasoline because an 8-inch pipeline had ruptured. This break caused a bad release in a housing development outside of Tucson and a gasoline shortage here.
Newspaper reports revealed that pipeline safety inspectors for the State of Arizona had written up that pipeline on a number of occasions in the 1990's for numerous corrosion concerns.
Five years later, the pipeline broke.
After that break, I started investigating a much more important 20-inch Kinder Morgan pipeline coming into Phoenix from Los Angeles. I wanted to know how it might fare in a highly anticipated earthquake along the southern San Andreas fault. To my surprise, I found that information about pipelines is secret company information, not public infrastructure information.
I was told that states can only inspect interstate pipelines in their state because they have permission from the federal Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) to do so, and they can't share those results with anyone without OPS giving permission. The details of their agreement with OPS are secret too. Even though engineering techniques now exist which could lower the earthquake risk of these pipelines considerably, there's no way to publicly verify that the pipeline isn't properly engineered for its location. And the lack of public disclosure by OPS helps create this stonewall.
The only way to avoid disaster is to 1) Have enough information to see disaster coming and 2) Act on that information. How are we supposed to avoid future pipeline disasters if no one's ever allowed to know anything about how they were built and recent inspection results? With this arrangement, aren't pipelines in the U.S. inevitably headed for repeat disasters?
Marc de Celle, Founder,
The Center for Human Survival Studies
www.humansurvival.org
Dear Marc:
In this little piggy's opinion, if we can't make more information available to the public for independent review we will sooner or later have an unprecedented disaster.
Those affected by pipeline accidents or who have pipelines on their property are often committed to getting this information out. This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes:
"The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed."-Martina Navratilova
Perhaps too many pipeline folks and regulators are like the chickens. Of course, some will say I'm just pigtificating.
For more information, follow the link below:
Pipeline Safety Regulations Primer
Dear Smart Pig,
A pipeline company wants to put a gas pipeline through my property and I asked how close they were allowed to build it to my house. They said there are no regulations about how close they can put the pipeline to my house, but they will keep it at least 50 feet away. Is it true about no regulations, and is 50 feet a safe distance?
Howard Fritz, Idaho
Dear Howard:
Sad but true, there are no state or federal regulations that set the minimum distance that a pipeline can be built from a house. Some local jurisdictions are starting to develop "setback" zones for pipelines, but not in your area. Usually these setbacks are better than nothing, and may help prevent some people from damaging a pipeline by doing something stupid on top of it. (Can you say "Yahoo with a backhoe?") But even then, setbacks are usually not wide enough to protect a person from an explosion on a high pressure pipeline.
A "safe distance" varies from pipeline to pipeline, and also location to location. But if you want to have fun at one of the pipeline "open house" meetings that are probably going to be held in your area, get a copy of a report often referred to as the "C-FER Circle Report" (C-Fer is part of the name of the engineering company that did the study, you can get it at http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/p56/120467.pdf). Most of this report is difficult for humans to understand but if you pull out the chart on page eleven and ask them to explain how their 50 foot right-of-way compares to the several-hundred-foot hazard area in the chart, they will usually squirm.
The hazard areas in that chart (C-Fer Circles) are just one factor in determining safety, so don't squeal when you see them, but they are effective at focusing the mind on the subject of pipeline safety.
Good luck, Howard.
Pig out.
