Natural Gas Utilities Urge Senate to Focus on Excavation Damage Prevention in Pipeline Safety Reauthorization

Washington, D.C. – In testimony presented before the Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee today, the American Gas Association (AGA) urged Congress to include strong measures to deter excavation damage to pipelines in updated pipeline safety oversight legislation. Frank Bender, chair of the AGA Distribution Integrity Management Steering Committee and vice president of gas distribution and new business at Baltimore Gas & Electric Company (BGE), testified on behalf of AGA that legislation encouraging stronger state damage prevention programs would significantly decrease the number of incidents on natural gas distribution pipelines.  
 
“Excavation damage prevention presents the single greatest threat – and the single greatest opportunity for distribution safety,” Bender testified.  Bender cited U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics that show the number of distribution pipeline incidents caused by third party excavators has more than doubled since 2001. According to DOT’s data, 82 percent of all reported incidents on distribution pipelines between 2001 and 2005 were the result of factors the natural gas utility has little or no ability to control, such as third party excavation, earth movement, flooding and vandalism.  
 
“AGA is pleased that the provisions of the proposed reauthorization legislation (S. 3961), address the nine elements of an effective state damage prevention program and provide for additional funding for state implementation of the program,” said Bender.  
 
“Congressional attention to more effective state excavation damage programs can, and will, result in measurable decreases in the number of incidents occurring on natural gas distribution lines each year,” Bender stated. According to state safety statistics, the frequency of distribution incidents dropped considerably in states such as Virginia and Minnesota after they implemented strong enforcement programs.   
 
Bender’s testimony addressed additional important elements of pipeline safety reauthorization. He cited a recent report from the U.S. General Accountability Office that suggested allowing pipeline operators to reassess their systems based on technical data, risk factors and engineering analyses in order to determine reassessment intervals.
 
Today marked the first Senate hearing on reauthorization of the existing Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, which expires at the end of 2006. If Congress does not enact reauthorization in 2006, the existing law remains in effect until new legislation is passed. Similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives: the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved its reauthorization legislation in July (H.R. 5782) and that same month, the House Energy and Commerce held hearings on similar reauthorization legislation.
 
Distribution pipelines transport natural gas beneath local streets. They are smaller in diameter (between 1 and 20 inches) and operate at lower pressures than transmission lines. Natural gas utilities operate 1.9 million miles of distribution pipeline in the United States, including the natural gas service lines that connect mains to the customer’s meter. Natural gas utilities serve 63 million residential customers.  The industry spends an estimated $6 billion each year to maintain the system's excellent safety record.  

BGE delivers electricity and natural gas to approximately 1.2 million electric and approximately 634,000 gas customers throughout Central Maryland.  It is a subsidiary of Constellation Energy. For more information, please visit www.bge.com.