2 of New Jersey’s elected officials call for gas pipeline guidelines to better protect urban areas

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and Rep. Albio Sires (D-13th) are calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to better protect highly-populated urban areas from the explosive threat of natural gas pipelines. Arguing that PHMSA fails to safeguard densely-packed large urban populations, the officials are specifically demanding that PHMSA [...]

Anthony Wayne Bridge (Ohio) to close in 2013 for 2 years

Toledo’s Anthony Wayne Bridge will be closed to all traffic for two years, likely to start sometime in 2013, as part of a three-year, $50 million overhaul of the 81-year-old structure by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The fundamental main-span appearance of the bridge — which carries State Rts. 2, 51, and 65 over the [...]

PHMSA Proposes New Rule to Increase Enforcement of Pipeline Excavation Programs

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed new procedures geared to strengthen excavation damage prevention programs and increase penalties for violators. Excavation damage continues to be a leading cause of all U.S. pipeline failures and is the single greatest threat to the safety, reliability, and integrity of the [...]

Pipeline regulators propose broader public access

The California Public Utilities Commission on Monday proposed opening up public access to most records under the agency’s purview, a dramatic shift that would allow Californians to view documents detailing the safety records of natural-gas pipelines running under their neighborhoods. The move comes 18 months after the explosion of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. [...]

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey visits Allentown to call for greater transparency on pipeline safety information

Visiting the site of last year’s massive gas explosion in Allentown, U.S. Sen.Bob Casey, D-Pa., announced he was pushing for Pennsylvania to improve public transparency regarding pipeline safety information. In a letter he sent today to the chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Casey said improving that transparency will help reduce the amount gas pipeline incidents and [...]

New Jersey Natural Gas wants to spend $204M on new pipes

New Jersey Natural Gas wants to replace about 343 miles of distribution pipes, old mains that are in danger of corrosion and leaks. If approved by state regulators, the proposed five-year, $204 million project will occur throughout Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties. The Wall-based utility sent the proposal to the state Board of Public Utilities [...]

$67 million requested for pipeline safety

Federal pipeline safety programs would get an extra $67 million and nearly 120 new employees under a proposal President Obama announced Monday that brought cheers from safety advocates pushing to address accidents and growing safety concerns. The request, part of the president’s $3.8 trillion plan, would almost double the number of enforcement agents nationwide, according [...]

Corrosion threat on Ohio bridge deck discovered

Grout packed into bundles of steel cables that compress the Veterans’ Glass City Skyway’s concrete deck sections together may contain elevated levels of salts that would cause those cables to corrode prematurely, the grout’s manufacturer has warned the Ohio Department of Transportation. The I-280 bridge over the Maumee River, which opened five years ago, is [...]

Gas explosion investigation renders few answers, but corroded pipeline became evident

On Dec. 19, 2010, the home that Thuan Nguyen shared with his family in Chantilly, VA exploded. More than a year later, regulators still have not been able to pinpoint an exact cause for the disaster. In a November 2011 report, the Virginia State Corporation Commission released disturbing new details about the gas explosion, citing Washington [...]

Industry Challenges Texas Pipeline Ruling

Pipeline companies are asking the Texas Supreme Court to overturn a ruling they say jeopardizes new projects, escalating the battle over the costs of transporting oil and natural gas produced by the energy boom in South Texas. The industry says its costs are soaring as landowners, bolstered by a recent appellate-court opinion, seek much higher [...]