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Executive Summary

As the new home of NMPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Mexico can be
contacted with any questions regarding this report.

Recent injuries and deaths due to pipeline accidents and explosions have renewed the
public’s concerns regarding pipeline safety. On August 19, 2000 an explosion on an El
Paso Natural Gas Company pipeline near Carlsbad killed 12 people, two extended
families, including a six-month old infant. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated
incident. On June 10, 1999, in Bellingham, Washington, a pipeline exploded, killing two
ten-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man.

Pipeline Accidents Are Increasing
Many pipeline accidents happen each year. Pipelines pose a serious threat to public safety
and the environment. Each year in the United States, oil pipelines spill an average of 11
million gallons, an amount equivalent to the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
New Mexico has thousands of miles of oil and natural gas pipelines that crisscross the
state like a tangled net. The state’s 13,000 miles of intrastate natural gas pipelines could
stretch from Albuquerque to Bombay, India. New Mexico has a similarly poor track
record of safety on its pipelines with over 800 pipeline spills since 1985.

Pipeline accidents are increasing – 4 % per year between 1988 and 1998. According to
the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), from 1988 through 1998, 226 people died and 1,030
people were injured in major pipeline accidents. Natural gas pipelines were responsible
for three-quarters of these fatalities and injuries. Major pipeline accidents also caused
$700 million in property damage during the same ten-year period, nearly half attributable
to hazardous pipelines (those carrying crude oil or unrefined fuels).

The OPS decreased the proportion of enforcement actions in which it proposed fines
from 49 percent to about 4 percent during 1990 to 1998. A recent General Accounting
Office (GAO) report found the OPS had failed to implement 12 of the National Safety
Board’s recommendations since 1992, with an implementation rate lower than all other
Department of Transportation agencies.1 The OPS has also failed in implementing
statutory requirements (those passed and signed into law). Again, the GAO report found
that nearly half of statutory requirements have not been implemented. Ten of the 12
statutory requirements from 1988-1992 are now 5 to 11 years past the deadlines set forth
in the statutes.