Infrastructure / U.S. gas pipeline networkGas pipeline info kept secret for security reasons, hampering disaster response
The United States has a 2.5-million-mile network of gas transmission lines; citing fears that terrorists might try to blow up the U.S. natural gas pipelines, federal regulators and the industry have made it extremely difficult for homeowners to learn the location of pipelines and any history of inspections and repairs — information that safety advocates say could save lives
Public records can reveal a lot about a neighborhood: who is not paying their taxes, where sex offenders live, whether a house for sale has lead paint. Yet, if a 2½-foot-wide pipeline carrying highly pressurized, explosive natural gas runs beneath the neighborhood, it is a different story.
Citing fears that terrorists might try to blow up the U.S. natural gas pipelines, federal regulators and the industry have made it extremely difficult for homeowners to learn the location of pipelines and any history of inspections and repairs — information that safety advocates say could save lives.
Fox News reports that in the wake of a deadly pipeline blast earlier this month in San Bruno, California, and serious leaks in Michigan and Illinois, the secrecy surrounding the U.S. 2.5-million-mile network of gas transmission lines is facing criticism.
Many of these secrecy practices were initiated after the 9/11 attacks, out of fear of another catastrophic attack. Before 9/11, for example, there were no restrictions on who could look at maps of the nation’s gas pipelines, but since then, full access to the information has been limited to industry and local, state and federal officials.
The federal government also has asked utilities to remove maps of pipeline infrastructure from their Web sites.
Lawmakers, safety advocates, and independent experts say crucial information is being denied to the public, including emergency workers who must respond when something goes wrong. They say homeowners, for example, have no clue to whether corrosion is eating away the pipeline steel under their feet.
“Large natural gas transmission pipelines are the equivalent of burying dynamite underground,” said Paul Blackburn, a public interest lawyer in Vermillion, South Dakota, who has worked on oil and gas pipeline matters. “The public needs to know lives are being put at risk and property is at risk.”
Fox News reports that the cause of the San Bruno explosion — which killed four people, injured dozens, and destroyed nearly forty homes — remains under investigation, and it is not clear what problems showed up in prior inspections of the 44-year-old Pacific Gas & Electric transmission line.
What is known is that many in San Bruno first learned of the existence of the pipeline on 9 September when gas leaking from the 30-inch line ignited and sent a fireball shooting hundreds of feet above the San Francisco suburb. Among those previously in the dark was San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane. He said he is learning “more
