Rural loophole curbing Pennsylvania pipeline inspections

Pennsylvania regulators are taking steps to begin safety checks of some natural gas pipelines in the Marcellus Shale regions - hiring inspectors and drafting new rules that will bring the state in line with the rest of the nation.

But a dispute continues over whether the state oversight goes far enough. The new safety-inspection and construction regulations still will not apply in the most rural areas of shale country, the hotbed for new pipeline projects, with up to 25,000 miles being built or on the drawing boards.

In Washington, U.S. officials are pushing to close that rural loophole, but the gas and pipeline industries are fighting hard to keep it in place, arguing that the hazards are remote and the cost would far outweigh any benefits.

In Pennsylvania's shale regions, some people say their safety doesn't seem to count.

"I guess they feel if it is in a rural area, it's not that much of a problem," said Nancy Liebert, an environmental activist in Eagles Mere, a picturesque 125-person town in Sullivan County.

"The whole thing is going so fast," she said. "We as a state and a country don't have the regulations in place to really do it right."

As The Inquirer reported in December in a four-part series, the industry is building "gathering" pipelines in rural areas with virtually no safety oversight. (Gathering lines typically link wells with interstate pipelines.)

The regulatory gap persists even though the new lines are large, high-pressure pipes - every bit as powerful, and as potentially dangerous, as more-regulated natural gas transmission lines that cross state borders. Even now, Pennsylvania regulators still don't know where these lines are located.

Unlike other gas-producing states, Pennsylvania had never taken on the task of enforcing federal laws for those types of pipelines in more-populated areas. That changed in December, when Gov. Corbett signed a law that gave the job to the Public Utility Commission.

The pipeline companies will pay for the increased enforcement, in fees assessed by mile of pipe. The agency is now working to hire seven inspectors and two more supervisors to handle the increased workload. But they won't be starting the work anytime soon.

There's a waiting list at the nation's only training academy for pipeline inspectors, a federal facility in Oklahoma City. But U.S. officials say they will allow Pennsylvania's trainees to go first.