NTSB Safety Recommendation Letter P-14-001

Page 1Official PDFNational Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 Safety Recommendation Date: March 10, 2014 In reply refer to: P-14-1 The Honorable Cynthia L. Quarterman Administrator Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Washington, DC 20590 On February 19, 2014, the NTSB adopted its report concerning the December 11, 2012, accident, in which a buried 20-inch-diameter interstate natural gas transmission pipeline owned and operated by Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation ruptured in a sparsely populated area in Sissonville, West Virginia. 1 Additional information about this accident and the resulting recommendations may be found in the report of the investigation, which can be accessed at our website, http://www.ntsb.gov, under report number PAR-14/01. As a result of this investigation, the NTSB issued four new safety recommendations, including three to Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation and the following recommendation to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration: P-14-1 Revise Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Section 903, Subpart O, Gas Transmission Pipeline Integrity Management, to add principal arterial roadways including interstates, other freeways and expressways, and other principal arterial roadways as defined in the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Functional Classification Concepts, Criteria and Procedures to the list of “identified sites” that establish a high consequence area. This safety recommendation is derived from the NTSB’s investigation and is consistent with the evidence we found and the analysis we performed. Chairman HERSMAN, Vice Chairman HART, and Members SUMWALT, ROSEKIND, and WEENER concurred in this recommendation. 1 Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation Pipeline Rupture, Sissonville, West Virginia, December 11, 2012, Pipeline Accident Report NTSB/PAR 14/01 (Washington, DC: NTSB, 2014). 201400209 8545#

Page 22 The NTSB is vitally interested in this recommendation because it is designed to prevent accidents and save lives. We would appreciate receiving a response from you within 90 days detailing the actions you have taken or intend to take to implement it. When replying, please refer to the safety recommendation by number. We encourage you to submit your response electronically to correspondence@ntsb.gov. [Original Signed] By: Deborah A.P. Hersman, Chairman#