PIPA General 
Pipeline safety can be enhanced by making risk-informed decisions for land use planning and development near transmission pipelines.
Abundant energy drives our nation's economy. Oil and natural gas provide energy for industrial processes, electricity generation, transportation, and residential use. Hazardous liquid and gas transmission pipelines play a crucial role by safely and efficiently transporting almost 100 percent of the natural gas and about 66 percent of the ton-miles of oil and refined petroleum products consumed in the United States. Many transmission pipelines were constructed in sparsely populated rural areas; however, community growth has turned many of these once rural areas into urban and suburban areas with residential, commercial and industrial development.
Community growth can have an impact on transmission pipeline safety. Placing people in proximity to transmission pipelines can pose potential risks of concern to all stakeholders, resulting from the unintentional release of products transported through the pipelines. Such releases can result from a variety of causes and may result in injuries or fatalities as well as property and environmental damage. Although the risk of any individual being injured by a transmission pipeline incident is very low, land development in proximity to pipelines can increase such risk.
One way to reduce transmission pipeline risk is for communities to be aware of transmission pipeline locations and informed of pipeline risks when making decisions regarding land use planning and development. To assist communities become risk-informed about transmission pipelines and make better land use planning and development decisions related to pipelines, PHMSA initiated and supports the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA).
PIPA is a collaborative effort by a spectrum of pipeline safety stakeholders. PIPA has developed recommended practices for protecting communities, protecting transmission pipelines, and communicating among stakeholders. The PIPA recommended practices can help communities make risk-informed decisions for land use planning and development adjacent to transmission pipelines. You can access the PIPA Recommended Practices through the enhanced menu on the left side of this page. The PIPA Report is available in its entirety from links there and below.
PIPA Report (Published November 17, 2010): Partnering to Further Enhance Pipeline Safety In Communities Through Risk-Informed Land Use Planning: Final Report of Recommended Practices
Table of PIPA Recommended Practices: Interactive list of Recommended Practices from PIPA Report
PIPA Risk Report (Published October 21, 2010): Building Safe Communities: Pipeline Risk and its Application to Local Development Decisions
PIPA Toolbox: Convenient access to PIPA-related events, presentations, press releases, articles, images and relevant reference documents.