Who regulates energy pipelines?

An Enbridge's pump station along the Line 5 right-of-way at the Straits of Mackinac.

Federal agency has key role in oversight of Line 5

March 3, 2021

In a Dec. 8, 2020 letter, Congressman Robert E. Latta (R-Ohio 5) and nine of his colleagues asked the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) to clarify that PHMSA, not the state of Michigan, is the exclusive regulator of Line 5’s safe operation and maintenance.

While also urging PHMSA to reaffirm that Enbridge’s Line 5 is safe and fit for service, Rep. Latta and his colleagues spurred a good question: Exactly who is responsible for regulating the energy pipeline infrastructure across the United States?

Pipelines across the U.S.

The oil and natural gas pipeline infrastructure across the U.S. provides the energy to heat homes, businesses, hospitals, and schools. It helps generate the power that lights them and is essential to manufacturing thousands of items, including wind turbines, solar panels, vehicles, clothing, eyewear, and a variety of medical equipment.

Crossing approximately 2.8 million miles, the energy pipeline network in the United States is the largest in the world. It helps provide for life’s necessities and spurs growth across economic sectors. It also employs directly approximately 10 million people, according to studies by PwC, a multinational consulting firm.

Types of pipelines

Within the energy sector, there are two primary types of pipelines: natural gas pipelines and liquid pipelines. Natural gas pipelines serve homes, office buildings, power plants, manufacturers, hospitals, schools, and places of worship.

Liquids pipelines, such as Enbridge’s Line 5, transport crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Refineries throughout a five-state region and Canada’s two largest provinces rely on the light crude oil from Line 5 to help manufacture transportation fuel, including the jet fuel that serves the Detroit Metro Airport.

Line 5 is a liquids transmission pipeline. Transmission pipelines tend to be larger diameter pipe than distribution pipelines and carry large volumes of products. They can extend long distances and often across states, making them interstate transmission pipelines.

Distribution pipelines transport natural gas directly into homes, hospitals, schools, businesses, and other structures and are those with which people are most familiar. Generally, distribution pipelines are intrastate (within a state) and their safety regulated by the applicable state’s public service or public utility commission.

A quick history: Pipelines are as different as the people and businesses they serve

“Each type of pipeline has a vital role in our country’s vast energy network, though pipelines are not interchangeable,” said Mike Koby, vice-president, Enbridge U.S. liquids operations.

“They serve different purposes while sharing a commitment to providing safely and reliably basic necessities, such as home heat, and in the case of Line 5, also the product to manufacture thousands of everyday products and transportation fuel. People rely on us, which is one of the reasons our safety measures often exceed those that regulations require.”

PHMSA is responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the 2.8 million-mile pipeline transportation system in the U.S. The agency, which regulates all oil pipelines, was created under the Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act (P.L. 108-426) of 2004. Mineta is a former U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

“While we work with other regulatory agencies on a federal and state level, PHMSA retains oversight for Line 5,” said Koby.

U.S. federal agency says ‘no unsafe or hazardous conditions’ on Line 5

In its Jan. 11, 2021 response to Rep. Latta and his colleagues, PHMSA stressed in the letter that its “mission is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. PHMSA's pipeline safety program is responsible for the regulation and oversight of more than 2.8 million miles of energy pipeline systems. Enbridge's Line 5 is an interstate liquid pipeline subject to PHMSA's safety oversight.”

Additionally, PHMSA asserted it has “the authority and responsibility to inspect pipeline facilities, documentation,and records during construction and thereafter to ensure the pipeline operator complies with the Federal pipeline safety regulations…PHMSA is presently aware of no unsafe or hazardous conditions that would warrant shutdown of Line 5.”

The PHMSA letter is important on several levels

First, if there were safety and operational concerns with the twin pipelines, PHMSA, not the State of Michigan, has the power to take action.

Second, the letter states no unsafe or hazardous conditions exist to take such drastic action. In fact, in its 65-plus-year history, Line 5 in the Great Lakes has had no incidents. Line 5 is one of the most closely monitored and inspected pipelines in Enbridge’s vast system, according to the company.   

While PHMSA acknowledges that Line 5 continues to operate safely, Enbridge is moving forward with plans to implement additional safety measures related to Line 5 by constructing the Great Lakes Tunnel, making a safe pipeline even safer.

“Placed deep under the lakebed of the Straits, the Great Lakes Tunnel will house a replacement section of Line 5,” said Koby. “Lined with thick, reinforced concrete, the Great Lakes Tunnel will eliminate the risk of an anchor strike and virtually eliminate the potential of any release from Line 5 into the Straits.  We are proud to be making this investment in Michigan and advancing the continued protection of the waterways we treasure.  Equally important, it’s the right thing to do to give people confidence and peace of mind that they can continue to rely on Line 5.”