Federal pipeline safety regulators aren’t collecting the kind of information they need if they’re going to revise hazard estimates for natural gas pipelines, Congress’ watchdog agency said Wednesday.
Leaders of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) say they’re considering changes to a calculation that sets a “potential impact radius,” or PIR. Some people refer to the area as the “blast zone” around a pipe.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has urged PHMSA to change the industry-commissioned formula, saying it underestimates the area where people could be hurt or killed by a rupture. But in a report released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said PHMSA doesn’t currently collect the kind of data needed to assess the current formula.
“Without data on the full impact of these pipeline incidents, PHMSA may find it more difficult to assess the method’s accuracy,” the GAO said in the report.
