SR 219 Recommendations

SR 219, Chapter 5, made several recommendations for enhancing public safety near pipelines. Those included:

• Recommendations for improving damage prevention and public awareness programs;
• Recommendations for improving land use practices; and
• Recommendations for improving emergency preparedness programs

These recommendations called for actions on the part of:

• The federal government, state and local governments, and the private sector regarding damage prevention and public awareness programs;
• State and local governments and the private sector regarding improvements in land use practices; and
• The federal government, state governments, and the private sector regarding improvements in emergency preparedness programs.

SR 219, Appendix B, discusses some proposals for technical and operating measures to improve pipeline safety in densely populated areas. This includes specific measures that had been proposed at the time of the study in Congressional pipeline safety legislation or in advanced rulemaking by the U. S. Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). Included in those proposals were:

• Periodically inspecting and testing pipelines using hydrostatic testing and instrumented pigs;
• Restricting maximum operating pressures for liquid pipelines, as is required for natural gas pipelines; and
• Equipping pipelines with emergency flow restricting devices (EFRDs).

These proposals have been addressed, in part, in OPS Integrity Management regulations. Click here to view the entire report: SR 219, "Pipelines and Public Safety".