The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an advisory bulletin on Tuesday clarifying the regulatory requirements regarding abandoned pipelines based on their operational status.
PHMSA regulations do not recognize status of “idle,” “inactive,” or “decommissioned” for hazardous liquid or gas pipelines.
The regulations consider pipelines to be either active and fully subject to all relevant parts of the safety regulations or abandoned.
In March 2014, a corroded weld seam on a pipeline began leaking crude oil below pavement in a Wilmington, California residential area. The spill amounted to nearly 28 barrels of oil from an incorrectly designated pipeline thought to be inactive but never cleaned and purged.
The May 2015 failure of a 24-inch natural gas auxiliary pipeline crossing the Arkansas River in North Little Rock, Arkansas, resulted in the release of 3,858 cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere, resulting in the temporary closure of the Arkansas River to vessel traffic for five days. While the pipeline had not been fully operational since 1972, it served as an emergency back-up pipeline. The company also maintained it as an active pipeline, subject to inspection and other maintenance protocol.
In October 2015, nearly 28 barrels of an oil-water mixture leaked from a Cypress, California pipeline thought to be abandoned in 1997.
As a result of the June enactment of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2016, PHMSA was required to issue the advisory bulletin.
Owners and operators have a responsibility to assure facilities for which they are responsible or last owned do not present a hazard to people, property or the environment.
PHMSA says it is working aggressively to enforce safety measures while improving pipeline and hazardous materials safety and awareness.
A link to the advisory bulletin can be found at