RSPA 3-03       
Monday, February 3, 2003
Contacts: James Mitchell  
Joe Delcambre
Tel.:  (202) 366-4831

                                                                                                          
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Awards $627,000 for Pipeline Safety Research

Ellen G. Engleman, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), today announced three research contracts as part of a government-industry partnership to improve pipeline safety and reliability through technology.  

The awards implement the second phase of a new competitive pipeline safety research partnership.  DOT’s awards address pipeline enhanced operations, controls and monitoring solutions, and provide $627,000, which is matched through the partnership to make approximately $1.3 million available for research. 

“Public confidence is a major measure of success for this aggressive program of technology development,” said Administrator Engleman. “Technology is a key element in improving the safety and reliability of the growing pipeline infrastructure that is critical to our economy and way of life.” 

A government-industry leadership team that includes the U.S. Departments of Energy and Interior, and several state agencies, helped DOT build the blueprint for the new program and move from concept to award in one year.  The awards are for technologies that are ready for commercialization in three to five years, to move quickly to enhance pipeline safety.  

Awards announced today, selected from over 45 applications, address a mandate to improve pipeline technologies in the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act, enacted in December.  In particular, this research would improve RSPA’s ability to evaluate the adequacy of the processes of a pipeline inspection method known as direct assessment, to meet new integrity management standards, proposed by RSPA Jan. 28. 

The first awards, announced in November, provided $3.4 million for research on damage prevention and leak detection.  A DOT Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the third phase closed Jan. 31, 2003, and solicited proposals for research in the area of improved pipeline materials to extend the integrity and lifetime of installed pipelines and their various components.  Additional information on this BAA can be found at http://www.rspa.dot.gov/baa03baa0001.pdf 

The project awards are:  

• CC Technologies Services, Inc., Dublin, OH, and Pipeline Research Council International, Inc., Washington, DC, to develop a repair tool kit that will assist pipeline operators in determining available repair methods while defining anomalies in seam welds ($70,000);

• Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX; Pipeline Research Council International, Inc., Washington, DC; CC Technologies Services, Inc., Dublin, OH; Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, Washington, DC; and Southern California Gas, Los Angeles, CA, to develop a validation process for internal corrosion direct assessment in wet gas applications that is similar to an already proven dry gas process ($260,165)

• Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH; Pipeline Research Council International, Inc., Washington, DC; and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, Washington, DC, to develop methodology that would incorporate soils data into an external corrosion direct assessment to provide better predictions of corrosion damage to pipelines and to better manage pipeline integrity by characterizing defects or anomalies into a simple format for operator integrity management program usage ($297,000).

RSPA has public responsibilities for safe and secure movement of hazardous materials to industry and consumers by all transportation modes, including the nation=s pipelines; rapid response to emergencies by government agencies; training for transportation safety professionals; and applying science and technology to meet national transportation needs. 

For additional information: http://primis.rspa.dot.gov/rd; contact James.Mitchell@rspa.dot.gov or Gordon.Delcambre@rspa.dot.gov.  

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Briefing Room