U. S. Department of Transportation

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U. S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration
www.dot.gov
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National (Transmission) Pipeline Mapping System

• Jeff Wiese
• Program Development Director

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PHMSAs NPMS Challenge

• Meeting the substantive, safety-related needs of
  States, localities, and the public for pipeline
  information
• Planning and public protection purposes
• Land use planning
• Emergency management
• Environmental management
• Responsibly ensuring adequate security of a
  critical national infrastructure

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Background

• Two types of NPMS access - currently
• PIMMA (Pipeline Integrity Management Mapping
  Application) internet viewer
• Successful applicants receive username and
  password
• Current candidates for access are operators,
  Federal/ state/ local government
• Raw geospatial pipeline data
• Formal process to request this data on CD
• Current candidates for access are operators,
  Federal/ state/ local government

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History

• Timeline
• PIMMA opened to public Spring 2001
• PIMMA closed to public 9/12/2001
• Data classified as SSI in 12/2004
• Related Developments
• Creation of tool for generic public to view
  contact information for pipeline operators in
  their area
• Various unclassified studies raise questions on
  current access restrictions generally and on
  NPMS
• Coordination with other Federal agencies
  concerning policies for protecting critical pipe
  infrastructure
• DHS and TSA
• FERC and DOI

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Competing Needsand Challenges

• Who should access the NPMS,
• and what should they be able to see?
• Pressure to re-open data
• Public interest groups
• General public (public right-to-know)
• FERC, MMS, and some States are beginning to make
  some data public
• Pressure to keep data secure
• Industry concerned with the prospect of broadly
  distributing NPMS information
• DHS/TSA critical infrastructure data protection
  issues
• Challenge of adequately protecting NPMS
  information and addressing customer pipeline
  information needs

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Proposed Solution

• Public
• Provide access to NPMS data via the PIMMA
  internet application, but with restrictions on
  geographic scope and detail
• No ability to download data
• Government Officials
• Lift some restrictions for sharing data at the
  county level

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Proposed NPMS Access (General Public)

• Provide the public PIMMA access to data at the
  county level
• User may view one county at a time
• Adjacent county pipeline data will be hidden
• Level of detail limited to 124,000 scale
• Basic attributes will be provided as well as
  operator contact information

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Proposed NPMS Access (Government Officials)

• Retain nondisclosure agreement for Federal and
  state government officials requesting digital
  data
• Revise policy for local government officials
  requesting raw data
• One county (or smaller) only
• Lift current restrictions on public use or
  display
• Continue existing review process for PIMMA
  account
• Verification of user information

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Public PIMMA user may only access one countys
data at a time (Shown here Onondanga Co., NY)
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Note appearance of secondary roads
Sample map at 1 50,000 scale
Sample map at 1 24,000 scale (proposed limit)
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Solution Pros and Cons

• Pros
• Compromise provides a balance between competing
  needs problem focused
• Should meet local needs of the general public
• Local officials support unrestricted access to
  digital data for local use in their jurisdiction
• Cons
• Legitimate remaining industry concerns
• Cautious reception from security quarters