Opinion: CO2 Pipelines Provide Safe Transportation, Must Be Approved
by Andrew Black (Liquid Energy Pipeline Association/Agri-Pulse) Based on the current comprehensive regulatory framework in place and proven track record of safe CO2 pipeline operations across the nation, it is clear that pipelines, such as the Heartland Greenway, provide a safe means of transporting CO2 and should be approved.
Federal law and regulation impose comprehensive safety requirements on the construction and operation of CO2 pipelines. Congress in the Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Act of 1988 required the U.S. Department of Transportation to regulate CO2 pipelines under federal pipeline safety regulations. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in 1989 expanded its federal pipeline safety regulations to cover CO2 pipelines. Current PHMSA regulations at 49 CFR Part 195 prescribe hundreds of requirements on the construction, inspection, maintenance, monitoring and incident response for CO2 pipelines. PHMSA inspects and enforces compliance on pipeline operators violating federal CO2 pipeline safety requirements.
CO2 pipeline operators, as required by federal regulations and their own safety programs, must devote significant resources to ensuring their pipelines operate safely.
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These pipeline safety programs are having their intended effect of improving pipeline safety performance. According to federal government safety data of 5,000 miles of CO2 pipelines currently in operation, CO2 pipeline incidents are down 56% over the last 5 years. Compared to other liquids pipelines, CO2 pipelines are the safest. Since 2017, CO2 pipelines have experienced 55% fewer incidents per mile than crude oil pipelines and 37% fewer incidents per mile than refined products pipelines. READ MORE