LACEY, Wash. - The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently awarded the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission’s Pipeline Safety program with more than $1.6 million in federal pipeline safety grants.
The grants will help fund the UTC’s pipeline and damage prevention investigation and enforcement programs. This year, the UTC will receive approximately $1.3 million in a natural gas base grant, $272,207 in a hazardous liquid base grant, and $46,770 in a One-Call grant.
The pipeline and natural gas base grants specifically cover operating costs related to inspecting and enforcing pipeline safety regulations for natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines and underground natural gas storage facilities. One-Call grants fund efforts by state agencies to promote damage prevention.
PHMSA issues these grants to strengthen and support federal-state pipeline safety partnerships to improve safety and reduce risk associated with pipeline transportation.
Established by the Legislature in 1955, the UTC’s Pipeline Safety Program regulates the safety practices of 33 pipeline operators and conducts safety inspections on more than 44,000 miles of natural gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines in Washington.
The UTC regulates the rates and services of household goods movers; passenger transportation companies; investor-owned electric, natural gas, garbage, and water utilities; landline telecommunications companies; garbage haulers; commercial ferries; pipeline companies; marine pilotage; and a low-level radioactive waste repository.