Pipeline Safety Trust

06/09/2026

Two houses exploded in one night in San Antonio. A preliminary NTSB report found that gas had migrated underground into a home without active gas service, where no alarm was there to detect it. Natural gas alarms can sense methane even when the odorant has been stripped, yet the federal government still doesn’t require them despite NTSB recommendations dating back to the 1970s.

https://pstrust.org/pst-statement-natural-gas-alarms-could-have-helped-prevent-injuries-in-san-antonio-home-explosions/

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06/04/2026

We need a federal CO2 Pipeline Safety Rule now.

In 2020, a CO2 pipeline explosion in Satartia, Mississippi sent over 40 people to the hospital. Many residents are still dealing with health effects to this day. Compared to other hazardous liquid pipelines, CO2 pipelines are largely unregulated - and thousands of miles of new ones are being proposed across the country.

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06/01/2026

On Monday, the watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust said it has “long opposed” extending the inspection intervals.

“We don’t yet know whether PHMSA has paired the longer intervals with adequate safeguards,” said Bill Caram, the group’s executive director, in a statement. “On a first read the proposal sets hard caps on the intervals and keeps PHMSA’s enforcement authority intact, but it stops short of requiring the remote inspection we have previously recommended.”

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said doubling the time window for performing the initial inspection of breakout tanks would save money.

05/30/2026

It is possible that after the gas line was hit that the gas migrated underground and into the apartment building, where it then reached explosive levels before igniting. It is also possible that the gas was ignited above ground as well. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what happened as we are still waiting for the investigation to unfold.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has sent investigators. NTSB will share some early details in a press conference soon and usually release a preliminary report within a month.

At the moment, Atmos Energy claims it did not have anything to do with the explosion, but that is hard to stomach since it sounds like it was gas from its pipeline.

Atmos has a history of incidents throughout Texas and other parts of the Gulf South that have resulted in fatalities and injuries. Just eight years ago, in Dallas, a 12-year-old girl was killed in her house when it blew up from an undetected gas leak from an Atmos Energy pipeline.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/article/how-struck-gas-line-caused-oak-cliff-explosion-22282784.php

A gas line was reportedly struck near an Oak Cliff apartment and may have leaked into the building, causing an explosion.

05/21/2026

In 2020, Congress passed the PIPES Act of 2020, mandating that PHMSA create rules to

modernize its leak detection and repair standards as well as mitigate intentional emission events.

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https://pstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/PST-Federal-Factsheet-Leak-Detection-and-Repair.pdf

05/19/2026

When it comes to Hydrogen Pipeline Safety, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

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05/15/2026

While the American Petroleum Institute has finalized its RP 1192 - Transportation of Carbon Dioxide by Pipeline. It’s important that communities know that it is not regulation.

We still need strong federal safety standards on CO2 pipelines to keep our communities safe.

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05/13/2026

For decades the NTSB has recommended the installation of Natural Gas Alarms or In-Home Methane Detectors.

These devices can detect a gas leak well before it ignites and would save lives.

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https://pstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/PST-Federal-Factsheet-In-Home-Methane-Detectors.pdf