1. Pipeline Safety Issues
Christina Sames
Vice President Operations and Engineering
AGA/EEI Beyond the Boardroom
October 2013

2. Natural Gas Getting It to Homes, Businesses and to Work for America

4. Natural Gas Systems: Pipeline Infrastructure
2.4 million miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure
Gathering Lines: 20,000 miles
Transmission: 300,000 miles
Mostly steel, larger diameter, higher pressure
Distribution: 2.1 million miles
1.2 million miles of main
900,000 miles service lines
Multitude of materials (steel, cast iron, plastic)
½” – 12” diameter, pressures as low as psi
Make no mistake, safety is the number one priority of the natural gas industry.
We want what customers want—safe and reliable access to and delivery of natural gas to the millions of customers who use it every day.
We are consistently working to advance safety to help ensure this is possible.
In 2012, Congress passed and the President signed the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011 with full bipartisan support.
AGA and its members were fully engaged to make sure that sound legislation was put in place to advance safety
We continue to work with federal and state regulators to implement this important legislation.

5. Pipeline Safety Oversight
Legislative
Prescriptive Pipeline Safety Act
Reauthorized every four years
DOT
National oversight
Federal standards: Baseline
National Transportation Safety Board
Investigates significant accidents
Issues recommendations to DOT, states, industry, others
States
Adopt federal standards
Add other requirements; state regs on the rise
Public
Want information and to be involved
Strong public/political reaction to PL incidents

6. Pipeline Safety Facts
Safety form of transportation in the US (DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
Leading cause of serious incidents: Excavation damage
Decline in serious pipeline incidents: About 10% every 3 years for the last 20+ years
Dramatic decline in pipeline leaks over last 20+ years
Significant efforts underway by industry that go beyond regulation to improve the safety of the system
Passed S. 275 on October 17, 2011
Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
- Passed H.R on September 8, 2011
Energy & Commerce Committee
- Passed H.R on September 21, 2011

7. Serious Pipeline Incidents
Rare events
So when they occur, they make headlines

8. 2010 – 2011: Unprecedented Series of Serious Incidents
BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill – 4/10
Kalamazoo River MI, liquid pipeline failure and oil spill – 7/10
San Bruno CA, NG transmission – 9/10
Philadelphia PA, NG distribution (CI) – 1/11
Allentown PA, NG distribution (CI) – 2/11
Yellowstone River, liquid pipeline – 7/11
Others

9. Repercussions of Incidents:
Loss of public confidence in operators, DOT, and state oversight
Pipeline safety questioned by Congress, NTSB, others
Numerous Congressional hearings
NTSB investigations, hearing, recommendations
DOT actions
Advisories, Safety Action Plan, Report to the Nation, Pipeline Safety Forum, push to states on enforcement and penalties, regulatory actions

10. Current Environment
Growing public intolerance to risk – but highly rate sensitive
Uninformed media (with drivers all their own)
Internet-speed information exchange with no editorial control
Polarized political atmosphere – advantage over policy
DOT pushing states to issue more fines/penalties. Want to be seen as strong regulator & enforcer
All resulting in an increasing number of new regulations under development
Passed S. 275 on October 17, 2011
Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
- Passed H.R on September 8, 2011
Energy & Commerce Committee
- Passed H.R on September 21, 2011

11. Biggest Pipeline Safety Initiatives In Place
Transmission Integrity Mgmt: Comprehensive program to assess/repair lines in high consequence areas; reassess every 7 years
Distribution Integrity Mgmt: Requires operators know their system, ID risks to system, implement measures to mitigate risks and measure performance. Applies to all distribution lines
Excavation Damage Prevention
Excavation damage is the leading
cause of serious pipeline accidents but progress is being made

12. What’s Currently on the Table?
DOT is taking action on over 80 mandates from Congress and recommendations from NTSB, GAO, and the OIG
Largest Initiatives
Integrity Verification Process: Will apply to transmission pipelines. Expected cost for intrastate transmission operators: Nearly $20 billion IF the regulation follows legislation (DOT want to expand). Cost to interstate operators is unclear
Initiatives that look at the safety culture of a company
Metrics that indicate the safety of the infrastructure, including leading indicators

13. Other Actions: Distribution
Manage existing infrastructure and finance “smart modernization”
Accelerate rehabilitation, repair and replacement programs for high risk pipelines. Focus: on cast iron, bare steel, older plastic
Enhanced leak detection and emergency response
Refining distribution integrity management programs
Excavation damage prevention

14. Other Actions: Transmission
Pressure testing older lines that do not have a record of a post construction pressure test
Record review
Emergency response enhancements
Adding automatic shutoff and remote control valves

15. QUESTIONS?
Christina Sames Vice President, Operations and Engineering