Underground Construction - December 2020 - 12

WASHINGTONWATCH

Stephen Barlas | Washington Editor

GAO Report Cites Transmission Pipelines
As 'Generally Reliable'
Transmission pipelines received something
of an endorsement from the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) in a study that
found " Reports of serious interruptions
of service that interstate transmission
pipeline operators submitted to FERC
from 2015 to 2019 show that unplanned
service interruptions were generally
infrequent and limited in scope. "
GAO did the survey after a request
from two Rhode Island senators reacting
to an outage in their state where about
7,000 homes and businesses went without
heat for a week in January 2019. The
report published in October looked at
service interruptions to the customers
of natural gas transmission pipelines
between 2015 and 2019, and emerging
risks of pipeline service interruptions.
On the first score, pipelines got high
grades. After interviewing operators who
manage over nearly 94 percent of the
total interstate natural gas transmission
miles in the United States, GAO concluded
the transmission pipelines are " generally
reliable. " That was based on reports
of " serious interruptions of service "
interstate pipelines are required to
submit to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC). Operators must file
a report when the interruption of service
to a firm customer is unplanned and lasts
three or more hours. That happened 140
times from 2015 to 2019.
The reports don't tell the whole story,
however. Estimates based on these reports
do not include interruptions lasting
less than three hours or interruptions
on pipelines that lie outside of FERC's
jurisdiction, such as intrastate gas
transmission pipelines. Moreover, no
operator has ever been fined for failing
to submit a report, so there really is no
incentive to do so.
The takeaway from the report - besides
an " attaboy " for the industry - is GAO's
12

DECEMBER 2020 | UCONonline.com

The reports don't tell the
whole story, however.
Estimates based on these
reports do not include
interruptions lasting less than
three hours or interruptions
on pipelines that lie outside
of FERC's jurisdiction,
such as intrastate gas
transmission pipelines.
Moreover, no operator has
ever been fined for failing
to submit a report, so there
really is no incentive to do so.
belief that FERC needs to do a better job
of identifying and assessing " trends in the
frequency or scope of service interruptions
on interstate transmission pipelines "
because of the growing dependence of
electric utilities on natural gas.
" Without this analysis, FERC is not
well-positioned to take action, if necessary,
to fulfill its mission of working to ensure
reliable natural gas transportation, " the
GAO concluded. It recommended two
specific actions that FERC should take: use
available information, such as reports by
transmission pipeline operators on service
interruptions, to identify and assess risks
to the reliability of natural gas transmission
service; and develop and document an
approach to respond, as appropriate, to
risks it identifies to the reliability of natural
gas transmission service.

Industry Gets Half a Loaf
from PHMSA on
Class Location Changes
After nearly 10 years of trying, gas
transmission pipelines have finally

won a partial victory to convince the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA) to ease the class
location system for pipe replacement.
But the agency, in its proposed rule
published in mid-October, doesn't go
as far as the industry has wanted. This
included ditching the class location
system entirely for new pipe, which the
Interstate Natural Gas Association of
America (INGAA) wanted to be subject
to an alternative integrity management
system based on the potential impact
radius of a pipeline segment.
Instead, the PHMSA proposal focuses
exclusively on easing the class location
system for existing pipe, specifically
sections that are reclassified up to class
3 from class 1, as the result of increased
residential and/or commercial population
and buildings. Where " up-scored " sections
qualify - and not all will - their operators
can choose an alternative integrity
management program instead of having
to replace pipe.
The industry has argued the class
location system requires too much
unnecessary replacement of pipe. Classes
are based on population and buildings
within an area. PHMSA estimated that
based on two different scenarios, over
the next 20 years the number of pipeline
miles going from class 1 to class 3 would
be either 78 miles or 118 miles. Annual
cost savings from not having to replace
pipe would amount to approximately
$55 million for one scenario, and
$86 million for the other scenario.
" There are some things we like about
the proposal and some things we don't, "
said one industry official in Washington.
" We didn't expect it to come out fully
the way the industry wants. But it is
largely what we expected. "
Pipelines have pressed for the
elimination of the class location system
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