Safety Regulation for Small LPG Distribution Systems

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Craig E. Phillip

Craig E. Philip (NAE) is Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research. From 1993 to 2014, he served as President and CEO of Ingram Barge Company. He began his career at Consolidated Rail Corporation and later served with Southern Pacific Railroad where he was Vice President of their Intermodal Division. He has been actively engaged in transportation and logistics industry leadership, serving as chairman of the American Waterways Operators, the National Waterways Conference, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was a member of TRB’s Executive Committee and currently serves on the Marine Board. He served on the TRB Committee for a Study of the Domestic Transportation of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Ethanol. He also serves as a U.S. Commissioner of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure and on the US. Department of Transportation’s first National Freight Advisory Committee. He serves on the boards of the ArcBest Corporation, Seamen’s Church Institute, Red Cross of Tennessee, and Nashville Civic Design Center. In 2010, he was designated a Distinguished Diplomate in the Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port and Navigation Engineers. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2014. He earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Princeton and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from MIT.

Samuel T. Ariaratnam

Samuel T. Ariaratnam is Professor and Construction Engineering Program Chair in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of underground infrastructure management and rehabilitation, with a focus on trenchless pipe replacement and underground utility asset management. Previously, he served in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta. He was also employed as a visiting assistant professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy and at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Research Laboratories where he performed research in military construction and strategic planning while a graduate student. He has published over 150 technical papers in refereed journals and conferences, has co-authored eight textbooks, and is a co-holder of four patents. He is active in professional societies, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), where he is Fellow and Vice Chair of the Pipelines Division Executive Board; Distribution Contractors Association; North American Society for Trenchless Technology; Society of American Military Engineers; and Past Vice Chairman of the International Society for Trenchless Technology. He has received multiple awards, including ASCE’s John O. Bickel Award and Arthur M. Wellington Prize; the Young Civil Engineer Achievement Award from the University of Illinois; and an award of recognition from Halliburton Energy Services for contributions to underground technology. He was named to the Phoenix Business Journal's “Forty under 40” list in 2006 and North American Trenchless Technology Person of the Year in 2012. He is a registered professional engineer in Arizona and Ontario, Canada. He earned his B.A.Sc. from the University of Waterloo, Canada and his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bruce Benson

Bruce Benson is Public Utilities Engineer at the State of Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, within which he has worked in the Gas Pipeline Safety Unit for about 20 years. Mr. Benson is the lead agent conducting oversight of pipeline regulations in Connecticut for PHMSA, including an inspection program over hundreds of propane distribution systems. He coordinates pipeline operator audits for operations and maintenance, control room management, operator qualification, and distribution integrity management. He is a member of the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) and Society of Manufacturing Engineers. With NAPSR, his activities include serving on a number of committees to update industry guidance, including the American Public Gas Association Security and Integrity Foundation's Propane Small Operator Guide. Previously, as a Petty Officer, 2nd Class, he served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force as a nuclear-trained electronics technician. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of Connecticut.

Robert "Bob" J. Chipkevich

Robert J. Chipkevich is Principal of Chipkevich Safety Consulting Group, a transportation safety consultancy. He retired in 2010 from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) after more than 25 years of service. He headed the Board’s hazardous materials accident investigation program for 20 years, the pipeline accident investigation program for 15 years, and the railroad accident investigation program for 9 years. As the Director for accident investigations, he assessed hundreds of transportation accidents each year and launched investigation teams to the most serious accidents. While at the Board, he investigated on-scene many of the most serious hazardous material accidents in the United States across all modes of transportation. He testified before Congress more than a dozen times on transportation safety issues. Prior to becoming a Director at NTSB, he worked for the Federal Highway Administration in Boise, Idaho and served as Assistant Director of the Motor Carrier Division, Tennessee Public Service Commission in Nashville. He has served on numerous transportation safety committees, including the Federal Railroad Administration Railroad Safety Advisory Committee, the National Association of State Fire Marshals Pipeline Safety Committee, the Flight Safety Foundation, the American Lifelines Alliance, and the Association of American Railroads Tank Car Committee. He was a member on the TRB Committee for a Study of the Domestic Transportation of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Ethanol. He earned a B.S. in business with a major in transportation from University of Tennessee.

Sara R. Gosman

Sara Rollet Gosman is Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Professor Gosman specializes in risk and risk-based regulation of oil and gas development and transportation. Her research includes pipeline safety and risk analyses of hydraulic fracturing and pipeline planning, about which she has delivered presentations to PHMSA and at several legal conferences. She teaches courses in oil and gas law and energy policy. Professional activities include membership on PHMSA’s Gas Pipeline Technical Standards Committee and the Pipeline Safety Trust’s board of directors as vice president. Previously, she practiced law as a water resources attorney at the National Wildlife Federation and as an assistant attorney general in the environmental division of the Michigan Department of Attorney General. She earned her A.B. in religion from Princeton University, M.P.A. from the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, and J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Stephanie A. King

Stephanie A. King is Director, Model Development at Risk Management Solutions. Previously, she served as the Director of Risk Analysis at Weidlinger Associates, and Associate Director of the John Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University before that. Her work has focused for more than 25 years on hazard and risk analysis for regional and site-specific applications. She has managed research and development of advanced techniques for characterizing probabilistic damage and loss due to natural and man-made hazards. Professional activities include participation on the American Society for Civil Engineers Technical Council on Life-Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability, and Risk of Structural Systems and on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Consensus Committee for the Development of the Risk Assessment and Management for Critical Asset Protection Standard. She has served on several National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees, including as chair of the TRB project “Hazardous Materials Transportation Risk Assessment: State of the Practice.” She is a registered professional engineer in California. She holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Arizona State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in structural engineering from Stanford University.

Philip J. Oakes

Philip J. Oakes is National Program Director at the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), which represents fire officials responsible for adoption and enforcement of fire safety codes and regulation of natural gas and other pipelines. Mr. Oakes manages NASFM’s “Pipeline Emergencies” curriculum and delivers related training on pipeline incident response. Active in emergency response and training for more than 20 years in Wyoming, Mr. Oakes has been a firefighter, operations chief, and trainer. Mr. Oakes managed fire service training for the Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, where he helped the department achieve accreditation and supported the establishment of the State of Wyoming Fire Academy. The State of Wyoming has recognized his contributions as a hazardous materials incident commander and fire investigator. His professional affiliations include the National Fire Protection Association and Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association. He was also an American Petroleum Institute (API) committee member for the API Recommended Practice for Pipeline Emergency Preparedness and Response. He volunteers in his community as an ambulance attendant. He earned a B.S. in business administration from Columbia Southern University.

April Richardson

April Richardson is Director, Alternative Fuels Safety Department at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). The RRC Commission regulates the oil and gas industry, gas and hazardous liquid pipeline operators, the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and other natural resources.
Ms. Richardson has worked in the Alternative Fuels Safety (AFS) Department for more than two decades to promote the safe use of alternative fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas, and liquefied natural gas. She advises on regulatory policy for alternative fuels, ensures that regulated entities meet operator qualification standards, and oversees the inspections and regulatory enforcement programs. Earlier work at AFS included propane facility design review and implementation of the damage prevention program to minimize pipeline risks posed by operators and excavators. Her subject matter expertise has been recognized through appointments to several National Fire Protection Association committees, including Liquefied Petroleum Gases (NFPA 58). She attended Our Lady of the Lake University.

Ross T. Warnell

Ross T. Warnell is Owner and Principal at The Propane Doctor, a safety consultancy for the propane industry. Prior to consulting, Mr. Warnell retired from propane supplier Ferrellgas after nearly 30 years. During his career, he worked as a manager in retail and safety, retiring as Technical Standards and Procedures Manager, a position focused on propane system safety. He developed safety and technical policies and procedures for facilities and personnel, including materials to comply with federal regulations. He also led in the research and implementation of cathodic protection for underground propane systems and methods to reduce hazards from static electricity. He has been a member of the National Fire Protection Association. He earned a B.A. in economics from Arkansas Polytechnic College.

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The final version of TRB Special Report 327: Safety Regulation for Small LPG Distribution Systems is now available. The report examines the regulatory framework for gas pipeline systems that transport propane and other types of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for service to 100 or fewer customers. Most of the more than 12 million households and businesses that use LPG are on single-customer systems but a small number—between 3,800 and 5,800—are served by multi-user systems. These systems are potentially subject to federal safety regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

In response to a congressional request under the direction of PHMSA, the report reviews the safety regulatory framework that applies to small multi-user LPG pipeline systems, reviews what is known about their safety performance, and provides recommendations on ways to make their regulatory requirements more risk-based. The committee recommends that PHMSA develop more effective means of identifying small, multi-user LPG systems and to ensure they are inspected and their risks are better understood. The report recommends actions intended to allow more uniform interpretations of regulatory terms, the collection of condition and safety information on small LPG systems, and state regulators to seek permission from PHMSA to allow some small systems to opt out of certain federal regulatory requirements that are not applicable to their risks.

Publication information

124 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-48392-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-48393-X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25245

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Safety Regulation for Small LPG Distribution Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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