Federal officials have quietly canceled research into the dangers of pipelines carrying carbon dioxide and hazardous substances, according to a safety watchdog group.
Researchers at Texas A&M University had been looking into how far people should be from ruptured pipelines to be safe. But in September, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which was funding the work, canceled the research.
It was one of nine safety-related projects PHMSA canceled this year, according to the watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust. The projects, which cost a combined $7 million, included not just research on pipelines’ potential impact radius, but also on the safety of hydrogen pipelines and corrosion, a leading cause of pipeline accidents.
“It’s hard to understand why these projects were killed,” said Bill Caram, executive director of the Bellingham, Washington-based nonprofit. “PHMSA is a safety agency and each of these projects would have improved public safety.”
