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GAO-24-106690 1 (2024-04-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaoqco0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways About 300,000 miles of natural gas transmission pipelines across the United States carry products from processing facilities to communities and other large- volume customers. Pipelines are a relatively safe mode for transporting natural gas, but incidents can still occur that result in death, injury, and property and environmental damage. The Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) sets the federal minimum safety standards for these pipelines. In 2003, PHMSA established integrity management-a risk-based approach to managing certain gas transmission pipelines-as an addition to its existing pipeline safety regulations. Under this approach, operators are required to assess pipelines in high consequence areas (HCA)-generally, areas where an incident could have the greatest impact to public safety or property-to identify threats and mitigate risks. In October 2019 and August 2022, PHMSA issued final rules that both strengthened its gas transmission pipeline safety regulations and expanded some integrity assessment requirements beyond HCAs, including to newly defined moderate consequence areas (MCA). The Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 includes a provision for us to examine gas transmission integrity management programs following PHMSA's completion of a specific pipeline safety rulemaking.1 We are providing information on potential changes to the methods operators use to identify HCAs; how selected stakeholders, including pipeline operators and state inspectors, view the regulatory changes to gas transmission pipeline safety; and how PHMSA is overseeing the implementation of the 2019 and 2022 final rules stemming from the rulemaking. PHMSA officials told us they are considering regulatory changes to the calculation of a pipeline's potential impact radius. However, when a pipeline incident occurs, PHMSA does not collect detailed data comparing the actual impact of the incident with the potential impact radius that the operator had calculated for the pipeline. Without data on the full impact of these pipeline incidents, PHMSA may find it more difficult to assess the method's accuracy. Selected stakeholders identified key changes in the 2019 and 2022 final rules that they expect will improve gas transmission pipeline safety by increasing the pipeline mileage assessed, improving data and information, and strengthening requirements for operators to take preventative and remedial actions. Page 1 GAO-24-106690 Gas Pipeline Safety Page 1 GAO-24-106690 Gas Pipeline Safety

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