GAO Notes Split Views Among Officials on Gas Odorization in More Pipelines

摘要

Pipeline safety officials and stakeholders disagree on the need to modify natural gas odorization in pipelines to increase public safety and detection of leaks, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a recent report (Gas Pipeline Safety: Stakeholders’ and Officials’ Views on Federal Odorizing Requirements, GAO-18-409). About two-thirds of state officials and half of the stakeholders reached by GAO said that additional transmission pipelines should be odorized for public safety. Thirty-one of the 49 state pipeline safety officials said current odorization requirements are not stringent enough for safety because of exemptions that apply to transmission pipelines in less populated areas, GAO said.