Commitment to Build Safe Pipelines

Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline Safety

The Pacific Connector system will be built and operated with public safety in mind. Millions of people depend on us to deliver natural gas in an environmentally safe, reliable manner 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Interstate pipelines are regulated by the U. S. Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety, which imposes a broad range of construction and operations standards. Pacific Connector has its own high standards for pipeline design, material specifications, construction, maintenance and testing. These standards must be met before a pipeline can be placed in service.

Pipeline Construction

Before construction begins, the Pacific Connector project team surveys environmental features along the proposed pipeline segments. Utility lines and agricultural drainages are located and marked. The pipeline's centerline and the exterior right of way boundaries are also staked.

At steel rolling mills, where pipe is fabricated, pipeline representatives carefully inspect the pipe to ensure that it is of high quality and meets or exceeds both federal and industry-wide standards. Protective coatings are applied to help prevent corrosion of the pipeline.

A system called cathodic protection is also applied to the pipeline to prevent corrosion.

Once the pipeline is in the ground and before it is placed into service, it is pressure-tested with water or inert gas in excess of its operating pressure to verify that it can withstand high pressure.

Most pipelines are installed using conventional excavation equipment to dig the trench, lifting equipment to install the pipe, and bulldozers and graders to backfill the trench. Individual joints of pipe are strung along the excavated ditches and welded together. The pipeline joints are then coated and inspected.

The ditch is then backfilled and the topsoil replaced. The land is reseeded, contoured and restored to look like it did (as nearly as possible) before construction.

Because our operations touch so many lives, safety and reliability are the most important aspects of what we do. We are committed to the highest standards of safety whether constructing, maintaining or operating our pipeline system.