American Gas - June 2011 - (Page 24)

Ever Vigilant U.s. DOT secreTAry rAy LAHOOD sHAres His pLAn fOr keepinG AmericA’s pipeLines sAfe. A Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood addresses natural gas industry stakeholders at the April 18 Pipeline Safety Forum, held to gather ideas and action items to further improve the safety of America’s pipeline system. s secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Ray LaHood leads an agency of 55,000-plus employees and $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation missions—as well as what lies underground—the nation’s 2.4 million miles of distribution and transmission pipeline, which delivers natural gas to more than 70 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. With reauthorization of the Pipeline Safety Act imminent, a new distribution integrity rule set to be implemented in August and ongoing monitoring of the transmission integrity rule instituted in 2003 on the agenda, DOT and its Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) already are strongly focused on natural gas industry pipeline issues. In the wake of recent explosions in San Bruno, Calif., and Allentown, Pa., Secretary LaHood has become even more vigilant about ensuring pipeline safety, meeting with stakeholders in Pennsylvania in early April and then hosting a national Pipeline Safety Forum on April 18 to gather ideas and develop action items. Among the results: DOT’s PHMSA launched a new pipeline safety awareness website, http://opsweb.phmsa.dot.gov/pipelineforum, and DOT unveiled a pipeline safety action plan (see www.dot.gov/affairs/2011/dot4111.html). During the forum, PHMSA explained that its priorities include: conducting more state and federal instituting more enforcement, refreshing integrity management rules inspections, through advance notices of proposed rulemakings, closing statutory exemptions (gathering lines), increasing data transparency, auditing public awareness programs, auditing distribution integrity management program implementation, accelerating control room management implementation, increasing operator cooperation with emergency responders and issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking for federal one-call enforcement. One of LaHood’s purposes in holding the recent gatherings was to improve coordination and collaboration among the various local, state, federal and industry stakeholders. A former legislator and teacher, LaHood has built successful collaborations in the past and is intent on creating a more comprehensive, coordinated effort among all transporphotos courtesy of u.s. Department of transportation 24 June 2011 AmericAn GAs http://opsweb.phmsa.dot.gov/pipelineforum http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2011/dot4111.html

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - June 2011

American Gas - June 2011
Contents
President’s Message
In the News
To Be the Best
Tech Talk
Ever Vigilant
Listing of Exhibitors in Alphabetical Order
AGA Operations Conference Exhibit Hall Floor Plan
Listing of Exhibitors by Booth Number
In the News
Marketplace
Places to Be
Jobline
Advertisers’ Index
Facts on Gas

American Gas - June 2011