	Background

Pipelines transport about 65 percent of the crude oil and refined oil products and nearly all of the natural gas in the United States. Table 1 shows the three primary types of pipelines that form a 2.2-million-mile network across the nation. (2000). OPS Has Set an Ambitious Schedule for Implementing Integrity Management

OPS has to complete several important steps to implement its integrity management approach under an ambitious self-imposed schedule, including finalizing requirements for integrity management programs and inspecting the programs of more than 1,000 hazardous liquid and natural gas transmission pipeline operators. During this time frame, OPS also has to perform ongoing oversight activities, such as conducting standard inspections, investigating incidents, and inspecting pipeline construction. OPS Faces Additional Challenges in Implementing the Integrity Management Approach

In addition to meeting its ambitious schedule, OPS faces a number of other challenges in implementing its integrity management approach. Other challenges—such as ensuring that operators use pipeline safety assessment methods appropriately and establishing an inspection interval—have been addressed in OPS’s requirements for integrity management programs for hazardous liquid pipelines and must now be resolved for natural gas transmission pipelines before OPS can issue a final rule for these pipelines. To address this challenge, OPS has been developing an approach for overseeing pipeline security that does not involve the development of new regulatory requirements. OPS’s Plan for Obtaining Resources and Expertise Is Not Complete or Adequately Communicated to State Partners

OPS’s efforts to ensure it has the resources and expertise needed to implement its integrity management approach are hampered by the lack of an up-to-date assessment of current and future staffing and training needs and an examination of the workforce’s deployment across the organization—essential elements of a workforce plan.
What GAO Found

The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) is implementing a new approach to overseeing the safety of a 2.2-million-mile network of pipelines in the United States that transports potentially dangerous materials, including hazardous liquids, such as oil and natural gas. OPS has to complete several important steps to implement its integrity management approach within an ambitious, self-imposed schedule. The agency began applying this new regulatory approach to hazardous liquid pipelines in 2000 by issuing final rules requiring operators of these pipelines to develop integrity management programs. While implementing its integrity management approach, OPS must also perform ongoing oversight duties, such as inspecting the construction of new pipelines and investigating pipeline incidents. In addition to meeting its ambitious schedule, OPS faces a number of other challenges in implementing this new regulatory approach. These challenges include (1) enforcing the integrity management requirements consistently and effectively, (2) ensuring that natural gas transmission pipeline operators use assessment methods appropriately, (3) establishing an inspection interval for natural gas transmission pipelines, (4) measuring and reporting on the effectiveness of the approach, and (5) developing and implementing an approach for overseeing pipeline security. OPS's efforts to identify the resources and expertise needed to implement its integrity management approach are hampered by the lack of an up-to-date assessment of current and future staffing and training needs and an examination of the workforce's deployment across the organization--essential elements of a "workforce plan."