Pa. pipeline proliferation from drilling triggers worry over lack of regulation

Pa. pipeline proliferation from drilling triggers worry over lack of regulation

Associated Press

WAYNESBURG, Pa.

The expansion of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, and the resulting demand for more gas pipelines to carry it across the state’s Marcellus Shale regions, is stoking worry that there’s not enough regulation and government oversight of the pipes.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports in its Sunday editions that hundreds of miles of high-pressure pipelines have already been built but with no government safety checks — state or federal — or construction standards, inspections and no monitoring.

The state’s Public Utility Commission is poised to receive authority to enforce federal safety rules from lawmakers though a proposed law would still leave many unregulated across a wide swatch of the state.

Drilling and pipeline companies do maintain that the steel pipelines are safe and built to federal standards whether required or not.