Canada's CEPA supports project for monitoring health and safety best practices

CALGARY, Alta. - The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) said on April 9 that it supports a new pilot project designed to review health and safety processes within pipeline contractor management systems.

The pilot project will utilize a risk-based management methodology to examine various aspects of participating organizations safety management systems, including documentation, investigations, metrics, primary controls and objectives over a six- to 12-month period.

"We realize that the contractor management process can be onerous for some of our contractor partners to manage," said Ziad Saad, vice-president, safety and sustainability. "The pilot project will help participating organizations identify areas within their business that could prevent, minimize or recover from potential health and safety incidents."

Pipeline Safety Trust annual conference to be webcast live on Nov. 17-18

The Pipeline Safety Trust's annual conference in New Orleans will be webcast live on Nov. 17-18. You can watch by going to this link - http://onlinevideoservice.com/clients/pstrust/2011Webcast/

The agenda for the webcast is below. All times are Central Standard Time. You can also ask questions live by sending an email to: questions@pstrust.org

An archive of the presentation will be available on the Pipeline Safety Trust’s website for a few weeks after the conference as well.

Pipeline Safety - Getting to Zero

Nearly everyone says getting to zero incidents is the primary safety goal, so how do we do that?

Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, Louisiana
November 17 & 18, 2011
All times are Central Standard Time

DAY ONE -Thursday, Nov. 17

9:00 - 9:10 Welcoming Comments - La Nouvelle Orleans

9:10 - 9:30 Opening Address - La Nouvelle Orleans Christopher Hart, Vice Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board

9:30 - 10:45 Congressional Reauthorization and PHMSA Rulemakings - Enough to avoid future tragedies?
Jeff Wiese, Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety, PHMSA
Andy Black , President & CEO, Association of Oil Pipe Lines
Alex Oehler, Manager, Federal Government Affairs, NiSource Inc.
Carl Weimer, Executive Director, Pipeline Safety Trust

10:45 - 11:00 Break

11:00 - 12:15 One Year Later - What has the Public Learned from the San Bruno Tragedy?
The Honorable Jackie Speier, U.S. Congresswoman, California (taped )
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
Rene Morales, Executive Director & Kimberly Archie, Chair, Gas
Pipeline Safety Foundation, San Bruno, CA
The Honorable Jim Ruane, Mayor & Connie Jackson, City Manager, San Bruno, CA

12:15 - 1:30 Lunch Break

1:30 - 2:30 San Bruno - Lessons Learned - Were PG&E's practices an anomaly or the tip of a bigger problem? How would we know?
Alan Mayberry, Deputy Associate Administrator for Field Operations, PHMSA
Terry Boss, Senior Vice President of Environment, Safety & Operations, INGAA
Nick Stavropoulos, Executive Vice President, Gas Operations, PG&E
Randy Knepper, National Vice-Chair, National Association of Pipeline
Safety Representatives

2:30 - 3:45 Health effects from spills - what is really known?
Deb Miller, Impacted resident and business owner from the Enbridge
spill, Ceresco, Mi
Michael & Nina Vought - Affected Citizens from the Chevron Spill,
Salt Lake City, UT
James Rutherford, Health Officer, Calhoun County, MI
Robin Carbaugh, Ombuds, Salt Lake City, UT

3:45 - 4:00 Break

4:00 - 5:00 With All the New Drilling, Gathering Pipelines Are Going In all Over - Is This a Problem?
Emily Krafjack, Community, Municipal & Environmental Liaison, Wyoming
County, PA
John Jacobi, Western Region, Community Assistance & Technical
Services Manager, PHMSA
Randy Knepper, National Vice-Chair, National Association of Pipeline
Safety Representatives

DAY TWO - Friday, Nov. 18

9:00 - 9:30 Day 2 Keynote - Pipeline Safety - A Call to Action
Cynthia Quarterman, Administrator, PHMSA

9:30 - 10:00 Public Awareness Program (video) relating to unsecured oil and gas sites
Vidisha Parasram, Acting Director, Office of Incident Screening and Selection,
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

10:00 - 11:00 You Don't Always Have To Be Told What To Do - Voluntary Industry Initiatives to Make Things Safer
Andy Drake, Vice President of Asset Integrity, Spectra Energy Transmission
Tim Felt, President and CEO, Colonial Pipeline
Christina Sames, Vice President of Operations and Engineering,
American Gas Association

11:00 - 11:15 Break

11:15 - 12:15 Aging infrastructure? Where's it a problem and what's the fix?
The Honorable Ed Pawlowski, Mayor, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Linda Daugherty, Deputy Associate Administrator, Policy & Programs, PHMSA
Mark McDonald, President, New England Gas Workers Association
Sue Fleck, Vice President of Engineering Standards & Policy, National Grid

12:15 - 1:30 - LUNCH BREAK

1:30 - 2:30 PIPA Implementation - Anything Happening?
Julie Halliday - Senior Program Manager, PHMSA
Susan Waller, Vice President of Stakeholder Outreach, Spectra Energy
James Davenport, Program Director, National Association of Counties
Rebecca Craven, Program Director, Pipeline Safety Trust

2:30 - 2:45 Closing

Senate passes pipeline safety bill after Rand Paul drops opposition

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill on Oct. 17 updating pipeline-safety regulations and increasing fines that federal regulators can impose on violators.

The bill follows recent natural-gas pipeline explosions, including an incident that killed eight people in northern California last year.

The bill is supported by the industry’s major trade associations - the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the American Gas Association and the Association of Oil Pipelines - as well as by the Pipeline Safety Trust, a safety advocacy group.

A similar measure won unanimous approval from the House Energy Committee last month and is awaiting a vote by the full House.

The bill requires that older pipes operating at high pressures be tested in an effort to incorporate the recommendations of investigators who looked into the explosion on Sept. 9, 2010, in San Bruno, Calif.

Under the bill, federal regulators could order that automatic shutoff valves be installed on new pipelines so leaks can be halted sooner. And it directs regulators to determine whether mandatory inspections of aging pipelines in densely populated areas should be expanded to include lines in rural areas. It would be paid for by industry fees.

It also authorizes federal regulators to hire more pipeline inspectors and allows fines of up to $250,000 for "major consequence" violations and a maximum of $2.5 million for a series of major violations.

The legislation cleared the Senate after Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) lifted his objections to the bill, allowing it to go forward with the unanimous consent of the Senate. Paul said in a statement that he had dropped his opposition because the bill’s sponsors had agreed to incorporate an amendment regarding safety testing of older pipelines.

Paul, a tea party ally and anti-tax activist, was elected to the Senate last year in part on the strength of his opposition to new federal regulations.

PHMSA draft report on pipeline safety called a dishonest PR puff piece

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nation's top pipeline regulators have produced a draft report on the state of the nation's gas-transmission system that misrepresents accident statistics, overstates the industry's track record and omits key issues arising from the San Bruno, Calif., explosion and other recent disasters, according to a copy obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle.

The draft "Report to America on Pipeline Safety" - rolled out to a select audience a month ago by officials at the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) - also takes a much friendlier tone toward the pipeline industry than the National Transportation Safety Board did in its findings into what caused a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. transmission line to explode a year ago in San Bruno, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the report in April in reaction to pipeline accidents in Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, as well as San Bruno.

A draft version was presented to a gathering of industry executives, government officials and two safety advocates in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 2. It is undergoing more review before it will be released, the pipeline agency said.

"We don't know if internal reviews will require a significant rewrite," the agency said in a statement.

Two prominent safety advocates who have been appointed to government committees to review pipeline safety initiatives gave the report a thumbs-down at the Aug. 2 meeting, a transcript shows.

"This report as currently configured is not credible," said Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline safety consultant from Redmond, Wash. "It contains many errors of fact."

Carl Weimer, executive director of the nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Wash., warned that the public is "going to start questioning the report right off the bat."

Donald Stursma, an Iowa pipeline official and a member of a federal gas pipeline advisory board, said at the session that the draft is "not really ready for prime time."

The critics were outnumbered, however, by a dozen industry officials who defended their safety record.

U.S. House Natural Resources Committee passes oil and gas bill

WASHINGTON - On July 13, the House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R. 2150, the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Access Act, by a bipartisan vote of 28 to 14.

As part of House Republicans' American Energy Initiative, the legislation, if passed and signed into law, will create new jobs, support current energy jobs in Alaska, and help lower energy costs by ensuring NPR-A resources are developed and transported in a timely and efficient manner.

"The passage of this bill signifies the bipartisan support for increased American energy production and recognition that the NPR-A should be used as intended - as a petroleum reserve to provide energy to the American people," said Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04). "Alaska has tremendous energy resources that are being kept under lock-and-key because of the Obama Administration’s policies."

The National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Access Act

• Affirms that the NPR-A is explicitly designated for the purpose of providing oil and natural gas resources to the United States.
• Requires that annual lease sales be held in the NPR-A in areas with the most oil and natural gas resources.
• Sets firm timelines for infrastructure permits to be approved to ensure that bureaucratic delays do not prevent oil and natural gas resources from being transported out of the NPR-A. It establishes a 60 day timeframe to approve infrastructure permits for leases where the Secretary has already issued a permit to drill and a six-month timeframe to approve infrastructure permits for all other existing and future Federal leases.
• Requires the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a right-of-way plan detailing how existing and future leases will be within 25 miles of an approved road or pipeline.
• Requires an updated comprehensive assessment, in consultation with the State of Alaska and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, of all oil and natural gas resources in the NPR-A.