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The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), in partnership with state regulators, the pipeline industry and local safety officials, is investigating structured and formalized risk management programs as an alternative approach to pipeline regulation. The risk management program, called The OPS Pipeline Risk Management Demonstration Program, implements standards that individual companies can follow to develop processes for identifying pipeline-specific risks, allocating resources to the most effective risk control activities and monitoring safety and environmental performance. The program is designed to lead to superior safety and environmental protection, greater levels of public participation in the regulatory process, a more informed and effective regulator and increased efficiency and reliability of pipeline operations. On December 31,1998, Natural Gas Pipeline Company Of America (NGPL), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan was authorized by the OPS to initiate its own risk management demonstration project, making it the first natural gas pipeline company to be included in the program. NGPL plans to apply risk management to their entire pipeline system under OPS jurisdiction. We are in the process of incorporating risk management principles and processes into our on-going operational and business systems and integrating these systems into a comprehensive risk management program consistent with the Risk Management Program Standard. Seven NGPL pipeline segments have been proposed for risk management alternative activities. The locations of these projects are identified on the system map. Alternative risk control activities include enhanced damage prevention activities, hydrostatic testing and in-line inspection of extended segments surrounding the sections of the pipelines that have undergone class changes. These pipeline segments are on the Amarillo # 3 pipeline in Will County, Illinois, the Gulf Coast # 1 & 2 pipelines in Liberty County, Texas, and the Louisiana # 1 & 2 pipelines in Liberty County, Texas. Details of NGPL's risk management demonstration project can be found at the following web site: OPS Pipeline Risk Management Information System. |
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