We’d like to keep an eye on efforts by  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood efforts to coordinate safety programs for oil and gas pipelines — currently a morass and a welter tied up in a Gordian knot. We’re not optimistic that the initiative will accomplish much on its own, but it may serve to highlight the antagonisms of transmission companies on the one hand and federal, state, and local authorities on the other, and let’s not forget about us.

Mr. LaHood said he had met with the executives of major natural gas companies to discuss better surveillance of pipelines and a new replacement schedule.

Cynthia L. Quarterman, the administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said her office did not have the authority to order replacement of pipes unless it found an “imminent hazard.” And, she said, pipes only had to be “fit for service.”

“There is no hundred-year deadline for any piece of pipe,” she said, although companies “have to assure it’s been operated and tested appropriately.”

But Mr. LaHood said “the point of this is to get everybody around the table and say, O.K., another 100 years in the ground is not going to cut it. We’re trying to work with all the stakeholders to reach a conclusion.”

Mr. Swift, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: “Part of the problem is there hasn’t been a focus on the replacement schedule, what we do with these 50 or 70 years down the line. People are aware it’s aging, but it’s a process we didn’t plan for gracefully.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 10:30 am.