Gas Pipeline Transportation Safety

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is actually part of the Department of Homeland Security. It came into being after 9/11 and its primary focus is on air travel: it screens luggage and passengers at air ports to help prevent another terrorist hijacking like that on 9/11. I chose this agency because I can remember there being a time when one could go to the airport without being frisked, and that time is now gone. Three interesting facts about the TSA are that 1) it actually oversees all four modes of land-based transportation and provides support in the regulation and oversight of maritime security as well, 2) “in 2016, TSA officers detected 3,391 firearms in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints around the nation,” and 3) TSA has a pre-check that allows travelers to get through security quickly (TSA, 2017).
While these points are of course interesting, some critics of the TSA argue that the agency is actually more harmful than good—so here are three contrarian interesting points about the agency: 1) In 2017 it disclosed a 94% failure rate when it came to actually detecting dangerous carry-on items at its airport checkpoints; 2) the lines of people waiting to get through TSA checkpoints actually could be argued to serve as easy terrorist targets—the people are all lined up like ducks in a row; 3) more than 20,000 TSA employees have been accused of inappropriate conduct (Leff, 2017). These contrarian points indicate that there is still a great deal of controversy about the effectiveness of the TSA in terms of providing actual security for travelers and air transportation. Its work in the four main modes of land-based transportation receives far less scrutiny because most people are unaware of the TSA’s role in those areas.
2
One current event that recently occurred was the explosion of a gas pipeline in rural Ohio. The line was owned by Embridge, Inc., which is a Canadian company that owns the Texas Eastern Transmission gas pipelines, of some 9000 miles of pipe installed in the 1950s (Gatehouse Media Ohio, 2019). An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the explosion, but already there are cries of concern about the safety of the pipeline, as this is not the first significant explosion to result in property damage. 80-foot flames were reported at the scene of the incident and the explosion was felt for miles around. Concerned citizens expressed their anger this way: “Enough is enough; it’s time that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state of Ohio put the health and safety of people before the corporate profits,” said Teresa Mills of the Buckeye Environmental Network (Gatehouse Media Ohio, 2019).
This story is important because it highlights the need to ensure that the nation’s pipelines are safe and secure. Pipelines are important and cost-effective ways of transporting natural gas and oil—but if the lines are old and not well-maintained they can be hazardous to the lives and safety of people in the community, and that should take precedence over corporate profits (pipelines save money in shipping).
This story relates to course content regarding pipeline transportation in terms of the need for maintenance and safety in keeping the pipelines updated and in working order. When older lines fail, it is a failure of infrastructural safety and that is something the ownership has to address, and it is something the state also has to address in terms of holding the pipeline companies accountable through regulatory action and regulation screening.
References
Gatehouse Media Ohio. (2019). Investigation begins into Ohio pipeline explosion.
Retrieved from https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190122/investigation-begins-into-ohio-pipeline-explosion
Leff, G. (2017). New test: TSA failing to detect 95% of threats. Retrieved from
https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2017/07/03/new-test-tsa-still-failing-detect-95-threats/
TSA. (2017). 10 things you might not know about TSA. Retrieved from
https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2017/10/13/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-tsa