PG&E admits it can't fill California PUC order for pipeline records

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Pacific Gas and Electric Co. told California regulators on April 21 that it will never find documents for some of its older gas pipelines, and that if the state doesn't accept "assumptions" about some pipes, the company will have to spend five years shutting them down and hydrostatically testing them.

In a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E said it cannot satisfy a state order to come up with "traceable, verifiable and complete" records on all 1,800-plus miles of its pipeline in and around urban areas.

The commission issued the order after it was revealed that PG&E's records incorrectly described as seamless the San Bruno pipeline that exploded Sept. 9, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. Federal metallurgists have concluded that the pipe failed at a seam weld, but PG&E never conducted inspections that might have detected the problem weld.

PG&E couldn't come up with records for more than 600 miles of gas transmission line by the state's March 15 deadline and has proposed that it pay a $3 million fine while it produces additional documentation by August. The utilities commission is still considering the deal.

In its April 21 filing, PG&E called the order for complete records "unprecedented" and said that full documentation would be a "very difficult, if not infeasible, threshold to achieve."

Before the March 15 deadline, the company enlisted hundreds of employees to search through more than a million boxed documents, looking for records to back up PG&E's stated safety levels on pipelines.

Instead of complete records, PG&E said, it wants the commission to accept what amount to educated guesses about some pipelines.

PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to Enbridge in Michigan spill

DETROIT, Mich. - U.S. regulators have ordered Canada's Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) to prepare a safety and repair plan for a failed oil pipeline in Michigan after warning in January the company appeared to be in violation of safety standards because it was not monitoring corrosion in the 41-year-old-pipe.
The order from the U.S. Department of Transportation was sent on July 28 and raises the stakes in an oil spill that sent some 19,500 barrels of crude into a Michigan river.
Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency said on July 29 that the spilled oil did not pose a threat to the Great Lakes since the spill appeared to be contained about 50 miles inland from Lake Michigan by work crews with booms.
In its safety order, regulators told Enbridge that it will have to take a number of precautionary steps before the 286-mile pipeline carrying oil from northern Indiana to Sarnia, Ontario, can be restarted.
Those steps include digging up 100 feet of the failed pipeline in the oil-clogged marshes near Marshall, Mich., submitting a safety plan for its renewed operation and holding pressure to 80 percent of capacity after a restart.
At its capacity, the pipeline flows at a rate of 190,000 b/d.
Enbridge will also have to tell the government regulators how it will monitor and test the pipeline in the future to avoid accidents, and detail every failure along its span for the past two decades.
In January, the Department of Transportation's pipeline regulatory arm had warned Enbridge that it appeared to be in "probable violation" of safety regulations.
It said then that inspectors found that the company had discontinued monitoring corrosion in the pipeline in 2007, and was only in the planning stages of implementing a new method of checking the pipeline using an electrical imaging technology.

Pennsylvania PUC sees bigger role in Marcellus pipeline regulation

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The state Public Utility Commission wants to clarify its role in regulating natural-gas collection and gathering pipelines in the Marcellus Shale region.
Century-old regulations need to be revised because of the explosion of Marcellus gas drilling in the state, the commission said. Also, the PUC's partner state and federal regulatory bodies are revising their roles, forcing the commission to survey the landscape.
The commission will hold a hearing on April 22, to solicit comments from invited representatives from special-interest groups and the industry.
Interstate natural gas pipelines are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The state commission's role over intrastate pipelines can be ambiguous.
In a statement, the commission cited the cultural and economic impact of shale exploration.
"This development will unleash billions of dollars of natural gas production and will have untold impact on our economy," the statement said. "However, this development creates numerous issues and unanswered questions, many of which impact this commission's core functions. We believe that these issues need to be examined and these questions answered sooner rather than later."

Oklahoma considering regulation of intrastate natural gas lines

OKLAHOMA CITY - A state agency has stepped forward asking for the authorization to monitor the currently the unregulated natural gas pipelines in Oklahoma.
Currently, no state or federal government agency monitors intrastate natural
gas gathering lines in Oklahoma or investigates accidents, even if they’re deadly. The Corporation Commission wants to change that.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt, so we'd kinda like to know where some of these pipelines are," said Brooks Mitchell, Corporation Commission appointing authority.
"We don't seem to have a problem with operators maintaining and taking care of their system, but what if we had a problem where people were not maintaining their pipelines," said Dennis Fothergill, Corporation Commission pipeline safety manager.
The commission met with people from pipeline companies to explain why it wants to regulate thousands of miles of natural gas pipeline and to help push a bill that died last session. The bill would give the agency the ability to regulate the natural gas pipelines that the federal government does not monitor.
The commission said it wants to eliminate accidents like the one that occurred last November when a pipeline ruptured in Alex and destroyed three homes and seriously burned one woman.
The bill would also allow the commission to investigate an accident like the one in November.
Enogex, a subsidiary of OG&E's parent company, operates the gas pipeline involved in the Alex accident. Enogex said the line was inspected about two weeks prior to the explosion, but why it happened remains a mystery.

Pennsylvania regulators seek more say on shale pipelines

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Since development of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation could potentially last 50 years, state regulators are seeking authority to make sure the underground pipelines carrying the natural gas are well maintained and safe.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission regulates the safety of natural gas pipelines in the state. The agency is pushing for state legislation to extend this authority over nonutility pipelines that will eventually be built throughout the Marcellus Shale, underlying a large part of Northeast and Western Pennsylvania.
While a federal pipeline safety agency was formed in the 1960s after some deadly pipeline explosions, states may also have some say in regulating the interstate lines in addition to lines existing solely within the state.
For example, state law requires that individuals or contractors notify a "one-call" center three days before excavation work to determine if natural gas pipelines are nearby. The center then notifies utilities of the pending work so they can mark the pipeline route.
Pipelines in Pennsylvania are typically made of cast iron or steel. They are subject to the freeze-and-thaw cycle of Pennsylvania winters. "We are seeing a lot of corrosion, breaking and cracking," said PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher.
PUC Chairman James Cawley outlined the agency's goals last month before the House Consumer Affairs Committee. The agency is seeking authority to inspect pipelines owned by commercial natural gas producers that are outside its traditional jurisdiction over public utilities. The agency also wants to increase fines for pipeline safety violations. Enabling legislation has yet to be introduced.
Currently, the PUC's gas safety division inspects and investigates complaints concerning the utility-owned natural gas distribution lines that connect to homes and businesses. The division carried out more than 600 inspections and issued 70 safety violations in fiscal 2007-08.