Secretary of Transportation Alan S. Boyd today announced the establishment of a new Office of Pipeline Safety to carry out the provisions of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968.

The Office will be responsible for establishing and enforcing Federal safety standards covering the transportation of natural gas or other flammable, toxic or corrosive gases.

Named to head the Office are William C. Jennings, Acting Director and Joseph C. Caldwell, Acting Deputy Director.

Jennings is also Chairman of DOT's Hazardous Material Regulations Board and Acting Director of the Office of Hazardous Materials. He joined the Office of the Secretary of Transportation last July 1. From November 1962 to July 1968, Jennings was Executive Director of the Regulatory Council, Federal Aviation Agency. Prior to joining FAA, he was Director of Corporate Law for Western Air Lines.

Jennings was born in Leoma, Tennessee, attended George Washington
University, the University of Tennessee and the Law School of Loyola
University of Los Angeles. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II
and the Korean War. He is married and has three daughters.

Caldwell previously was Associate Chief, Rail and Pipeline Division of DOT's National Transportation Safety Board. During this period he was detailed to the Office of the Secretary as Special Advisor on activities related to the then pending legislation on natural gas pipeline safety. From 1964 to 1967 he was Director of Ground Safety for FAA and was FAA's Southwest Regional Safety Engineer from 1962 to 1964.

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Prior to joining FAA, Caldwell was a safety engineer specializing in oil and gas operations, with Texas Employees Insurance Association and Employers Casualty Company. He was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1955. He attended Southwest Texas State and received a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Technological College. He was born in Marquez, Texas, is married and has one son.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

OFFICE OF PIPELINE SAFETY

POLICY STATEMENT

ATTACHMENT #2

This policy statement governs the Office of Pipeline Safety in the administration of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968.

The Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee is a source of practical as well as technical advice, on policy as well as regulatory matters. The Act requires that the Committee be consulted on the technical feasibility, reasonableness, and practicability of proposed regulations. We shall seek the advice of the Committee on a wide range of subjects in addition to regulations. To the extent the Committee is willing to respond, we shall consult with it on all of our functions which affect the public.

Our objective is safety. We shall issue regulations, of course, but they will not be an end in themselves. Regulation will be but one of many means to safety. We shall investigate system failures and research the causes of failures, defining safety problems and seeking solutions to those problems. We shall act as a clearinghouse for safety information, systematically distributing safety information acquired from government and industry research and development programs and from industry operating experience.

Our regulations will establish minimum safety standards for all phases of the construction, maintenance, and operation of gas pipeline facilities. They will apply to both privately owned and publicly owned systems.

So far as practicable, we shall state the regulations in terms of performance standards rather than design and construction specifications. We shall prescribe what must be done to reach a minimum level of safety, leaving industry free to develop and use improved technological means of meeting the required level. To ensure that industry does meet the performance standards, we shall prescribe tests and analytical procedures to check the level of performance.

Our performance standards will define the goal which must

be met by those who design, build, and operate pipeline systems. Industry will have to work out the deisgn and construction specifications to meet operational needs. We may reasonably expect industry to work in the future, as in the past, under the USAS B31.8 Code. The continued development and use of the Code will complement regulatory requirements provided the Code meets the prescribed standards.

Our safety regulations will be solutions to safety problems. Through analysis of system failures and other operating information, we shall identify and define safety problems. As we define each problem, we shall seek a solution. The solution may, or may not, be a regulation, depending upon technical feasibility, reasonableness, and practicability. Reasonableness and practicability will depend in part on a cost/benefit analysis.

The cost/benefit aspect of safety regulation is not a mathematical formula, weighing the cost of a regulation against the projected saving in life, injury, and property loss. The cost of complying with a regulation can be computed in dollars, but human life and suffering cannot. The cost/benefit analysis is, perhaps, more a state of mind than a formula. But it is a critically important state of mind, one which consciously considers technology and economics along with the desire for safety, seeking to minimize the hazard to the public within the limits of technical feasibility and economic practicability.

We shall conduct our regulatory proceedings in public. Industry, other governmental agencies, and the general public will have ample opportunity to participate--early and often-- in the identification and definition of safety problems, the development of alternative solutions to the problem, and the choice of regulatory solutions (where regulation is appropriate).

We shall seek the active participation of State agencies and their national organizations in a cooperative safety program. We appreciate their concern with local problems. We respect their experience in the promotion of safety in their State programs and hope to have the benefit of that experience in the development of a national program.

We shall seek a cooperative relationship with industry, founded on a mutual interest in pipeline safety. We shall draw upon the experience and talent of industry and industry's national organizations in all phases of our safety program. Our experience to date indicates that industry is willing to cooperate and we expect willing cooperation in the future. However, if the issue should ever arise, we shall not buy industry cooperation at the price of a weak regulatory program.

Finally, we shall always recognize that we perform a governmental function. Therefore, while we may deal on a daily basis with representatives of the affected industry, we recognize that it is our duty to ensure that the interests of the unorganized general public are served. Thus, in every act, we shall seek to serve the over-all public welfare.

We are distributing this statement to the public, because we want comment on our policies and our performance under the policies. Comments should be in writing, addressed to the Director, Office of Pipeline Safety, Department of Transportation, 800 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590.