Protecting America’s High Consequence Areas (HCAs)

Beginning in 2004, hazardous liquid pipeline operators have been required to submit performance measure reports covering their pipeline infrastructure and their Integrity Management programs. PHMSA uses these reports—due on June 15th for the previous calendar year—to monitor and report on industry progress in meeting the requirements of the Liquid IM Rule, to prioritize operators for future agency inspections, and to respond to inquiries about PHMSA’s oversight program. These performance measure reports provide information pertaining to operators’ Integrity Management Programs, including the various methods they use to assess the integrity of their pipelines, the number of pipeline miles assessed using each method, and the operator’s excavation and repair activities addressing time-sensitive conditions and anomalies discovered through these integrity assessments. After performing quality checks, PHMSA posts these reports for the public, and you can view them here. Accessing these reports provides you with information that is aggregated across the entire industry, as well as information that is specific to individual operators. For a basic overview of the progress being made under the Liquid IM Rule, please refer to the Quick Facts below.

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Quick Facts for Liquid Integrity Management

Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Repairs Repairs in HCA-affecting segments 2001-2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Totals    • Immediate category 1,191 1,701 1,364 807 880 5,943    • 60-day category 756 647 1,108 861 579 3,951    • 180-day category 2,397 3,178 5,272 2,747 2,433 16,027 Total Rule-required repairs in HCA-affecting segments 4,344 5,526 7,744 4,415 3,892 25,921 Other repairs in HCA-affecting segments and repairs outside of these segments 16,081 11,710 10,189 10,784 10,474 59,238 Total repairs both in and outside of HCA-affecting segments 20,425 17,236 17,933 15,199 14,366 85,159

Figure 1: Summary of Liquid Pipeline Repairs 2001-2007

Figure 2
This figure shows the miles of pipelines that have been inspected, or assessed, under the Liquid IM Rule. A single “inspection” often uses more than one inspection tool/device to adequately assess a particular pipeline. An “assessment” is complete when all of the required tools have successfully evaluated the pipeline. The top (blue) line represents inspections that have been performed as a result of the Liquid IM Rule—those performed on HCA-affecting segments as well as on segments adjacent to HCA-affecting segments. The bottom (red/green) line shows the mileage of HCA-affecting segments that have been fully assessed (and reassessed).

Figure 3
This chart shows the number of pipeline repairs made under the Liquid IM Rule, both those which were specifically required in HCA-affecting segments, as well as additional repairs which operators chose to make – many of them conservatively – either elsewhere on their pipelines or in HCA-affecting segments that were beyond what was required by the Liquid IM Rule.

Since the Liquid IM Rule’s inception, over 85,000 repairs have been made to the nation’s hazardous liquid pipelines. And since detailed reporting began in 2004, over 4,000 repairs have been made each year to provide additional protection to the nation’s most sensitive areas.

Figure 4
The Liquid IM Rule prioritizes repairs in three categories: those which must be addressed immediately, and those which must be addressed within 60 and 180 days respectively. And, as mentioned above, while pipelines are exposed to make these repairs, most operators choose to make additional repairs that are not required by the Liquid IM Rule, often on non-HCA affecting segments of pipe. This chart depicts the percentages of the various types of repairs made since the Liquid IM Rule’s inception.

Figure 5
Operators use a variety of tools and tests in order to check the integrity of their pipelines. As is shown, two of these tools are used most often. This is because of their ability to detect the most commonly occurring types of anomalies; other tools and tests are used to check for more specific - and less commonly occurring - concerns. This chart depicts the percentages of the various types of inspections and/or tests that have been utilized since the Liquid IM Rule’s inception.