Are oil and gas pipelines safe?
From Prager University
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Yes, pipelines are very safer than rail, barge or truck. However, the risk should be taken into account when considering granting an easement or fighting eminent domain.
Pipelines are the safest mode of transportation but that doesn’t mean there is no risk. I worked in the pipeline industry for twenty years and can tell you that pipe does rupture. Natural gas pipelines will catch on fire and literally rip apart and come out the ground until the pressure drops. It will continue to burn until the gas is shut off. In the past some less than consciences operators bent pipe which led to quicker corrosion. That has been mostly replaced by now. Still pipes must have cathodic protection and pipeline operators run pigs through the pipes to measure wall thickness.
Looks to me like pipelines are demonstrably the safest and most economic way to move hydrocarbon from source to consumption. The facts simply stand for themselves. Of course any human endeavor will have some measure of mistakes and accidents.
Measured against trucks and rail cars, I’ll take a pipeline across my property anytime.
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