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This
much we know:
Our nation's pipeline system is unsafe, and it can be much
safer. Pipelines hurt and kill people, damage property, and
foul our environment in far too many preventable accidents.
Yet the highly-profitable pipeline industry does little to
prevent accidents, knowing that there are few meaningful consequences
when accidents happen, and federal regulators have historically
done even less.
Consider
these facts:
There have been 19,214 oil pipeline accidents in the United
States since 1991, according to the Coast Guard's National
Response Center. In that same period, oil pipelines have spilled
nine times as much oil in the United States as tankers and
barges, according to consultant Dagmar Etkin, former research
editor of the Oil
Spill Intelligence Report. Since 1986, natural gas
pipeline accidents nationwide have killed 346 people and injured
1,501.
Inadequate
regulation is obviously a major cause. While tankers and barges
are regulated by a U.S. Coast Guard of some 35,000 uniformed
personnel and 10,000 civilians -- oil and natural gas pipelines
are regulated by the U.S. Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS),
with barely 80 personnel. The Pipeline Safety Act and the
OPS regulations that implement it are so lax that the industry
is virtually self-regulated. Under the powerful influence
of the oil and natural gas industry, Congress in the past
decade has weakened pipeline regulation. SEE TIMELINE.
Lack
of public awareness
Lack of public awareness of the pipeline industry and its
many accidents is the biggest reason for this shameful neglect
of pipeline safety. With a few notable exceptions, news media
cover pipeline accidents as if they are acts of nature, such
as tornadoes, which cannot be prevented.
Our
goal
Our goal at the Pipeline Safety Foundation is to raise that
public awareness and thus enable the public to achieve a level
of pipeline safety we need and deserve.
In
many cases we don't know what is being carried by the pipelines,
not to mention exactly where the pipelines are located. By
clicking on a map below you can get a general idea of locations
in your state or area. Choose a map for a larger version.
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