The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is a three-member board appointed by the Governor of Washington and confirmed by the Washington State Senate to six-year terms. The purpose of the UTC is to regulate the rates, services, and practices of privately owned utilities and transportation companies, including electric, telecommunications, natural gas, water, and solid waste collection companies, pipelines, commercial ferries, buses, and motor carriers. The UTC is based in Olympia, Washington and employs approximately 150 staff, including attorneys, economists, accountants, and engineers. The agency is primarily an economic regulator; however, the UTC also houses Washington's pipeline safety program which inspects interstate and intrastate hazardous liquid and natural gas pipeline operators as an agent for the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than 2,175,000 miles (3,500,000 km) of pipeline in 120 countries of the world. The United States had 65%, Russia had 8%, and Canada had 3%, thus 76% of all pipeline were in these three countries.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMI) (KMEP) is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc. The company, which is classified as an oil and gas master limited partnership (MLP), owns or operates petroleum product, natural gas, and carbon dioxide pipelines, related storage facilities, terminals, power plants and retail natural gas in the United States and Canada.
A gas leak refers to an unintended leak of natural gas or another gaseous product from a pipeline or other containment into any area where the gas should not be present. Gas leaks can be hazardous to health as well as the environment. Even a small leak into a building or other confined space may gradually build up an explosive or lethal concentration of gas. Leaks of natural gas and refrigerant gas into the atmosphere are especially harmful due to their global warming potential and ozone depletion potential.
The Algonquin Gas Transmission Pipeline is a 1,100 miles (1,800 km) long pipeline system, which delivers natural gas to New England. It is connected to the Texas Eastern Pipeline and the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipelines transport about 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per annum. It generally receives gas that originated in the Gulf of Mexico, although it also receives gas from an LNG terminal in Massachusetts. The Algonquin Gas Transmission is owned by Enbridge. The pipeline's compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts has had multiple unplanned gas releases since September 2020.
Texas Eastern Pipeline (TETCo) is a major natural gas pipeline which brings gas from the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas and Louisiana up through Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to deliver gas in the New York City area. It is one of the largest pipeline systems in the United States. It is owned by Enbridge. Its FERC code is 17.
Kinder Morgan, Inc. is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. The company specializes in owning and controlling oil and gas pipelines and terminals.
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission is an independent quasi-judicial body and regulatory agency responsible for regulating landline telephone, electricity, and gas utility companies operating within the District of Columbia. It was established by the US Congress in 1913.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the public utilities commission of the U.S state of Oklahoma run by three statewide elected commissioners. Authorized to employ more than 400 employees, it regulates oil and gas drilling, utilities and telephone companies.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a United States Department of Transportation agency created in 2004, responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the US's 2.8 million mile pipeline transportation. It is responsible for nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air. It oversees the nation's pipeline infrastructure, which accounts for 64 percent of the energy commodities consumed in the United States. Made up of the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) and the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS).
The Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Spectra Energy Corp, headquartered in Houston, Texas, operated in three key areas of the natural gas industry: transmission and storage, distribution, and gathering and processing. Spectra was formed in late 2006 from the spin-off from Duke Energy. Spectra owned the Texas Eastern Pipeline (TETCo), a major natural gas pipeline which brings gas from the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas to the New York City area, which was one of the largest pipeline systems in the United States. Spectra also operated three oil pipelines. In February 2017, Spectra Energy merged into the Canadian company Enbridge.
The San Bruno pipeline explosion occurred at 6:11 pm PDT on September 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California, when a 30-inch (76 cm) diameter steel natural gas pipeline owned by Pacific Gas & Electric exploded into flames in the Crestmoor residential neighborhood 2 miles (3.2 km) west of San Francisco International Airport near Skyline Boulevard and San Bruno Avenue. The loud roar and shaking led some residents of the area, first responders, and news media to initially believe that it was an earthquake or that a large airplane had crashed. It took crews nearly an hour to determine it was a gas pipeline explosion. As of September 29, 2010, the death toll was eight people. The United States Geological Survey registered the explosion and resulting shock wave as a magnitude 1.1 earthquake. Eyewitnesses reported the initial blast "shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet (300 m) in the air".
The Public Service Commission of West Virginia is the Public Utilities Commission of the State of West Virginia, U.S.A.
Cynthia L. Quarterman is an American lawyer and engineer, former Director of the Minerals Management Service and Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration from 2009 until her resignation on October 4, 2014.
Southern Union Company was a natural gas utility and energy resources company based in Houston, Texas. In 2012, the company was acquired by Energy Transfer Partners.
