The inspection of oil and gas pipelines in Michigan remains too much underground for the public good.
The late-July spill of more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River highlighted that hidden problem. There are 67,615 miles of transmission and distribution lines crisscrossing Michigan, ferrying liquids such as oil as well as gas. Some of those lines are regularly inspected. Some are not. Companies are not required to tell the public which are which, and finding the results of inspections isn’t as easy as it should be.
That calls for greater disclosure and accountability from oil and gas companies. If added accountability doesn’t occur, the state or federal government should step in to perform the inspections. Right now, that job is left exclusively to private companies.
The country’s 2.3 million miles of pipelines are technically overseen by the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the federal government. The agency requires that companies maintaining pipelines carrying hazardous liquids inspect them — if they are in “high-consequence areas.” That include areas with high population, a navigable waterway or an environmentally sensitive area or well field. Lines carrying natural gas face similar restrictions.
About 44 percent of liquids pipelines are in high-consequence areas. About 7 percent of natural gas pipelines fall into that category. Pipelines not in high consequence areas do not undergo required inspection. Many companies say they check the non-high-consequence areas, but they’re not required to let the safety administration know what they find.
Neither are companies required to make public which lines are “high-consequence” and which are not. So residents don’t know if the underground oil sluice near their home is considered important enough to regularly monitor.
In addition, people typically don’t know the results of inspections on high-consequence pipelines. Those inspections are required every five years for hazardous liquids lines and every seven for natural gas lines. Companies have to document the number of miles inspected and repairs performed. But they are not required to tell the safety administration what they found unless regulators ask for the records.
The section of pipe that burst in Calhoun County’s Marshall Township is owned by Enbridge Inc., a company based in Calgary, Alberta. The pipe that ruptured is part of a 286-mile line that runs from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario. Enbridge tested the pipe in 2007 and 2009. It performed 139 digs this year to check trouble spots, and reduced pressure on the line at one point.
All of that indicates effort in maintaining the lines. More may emerge in a Sept. 15 congressional hearing on the spill.
Nevertheless, the public remains too much in the dark about which pipelines owned by Enbridge and other companies are supposed to be inspected, and what maintenance the companies conduct.
Congress or the state Legislature should demand that energy companies make public which lines are subject to regular inspection. In addition, one of those bodies should demand that companies that own pipelines make regular public reports — probably more frequently than every five years — to a federal or state agency, detailing the condition of lines inspected and the maintenance performed.
The BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Enbridge spill in Michigan, have made people acutely aware of the damage that can be done when oil operations go wrong.
The public deserves to know more before such tragedies happen. Lawmakers should give us the tools.
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