Gas pipeline rules don't apply to rural areas in Pa.

Just days after the Pennsylvania legislature voted to let localities tax natural-gas operations, state regulators are hiring inspectors to perform safety checks of pipelines and drafting new rules to "bring the state in line with the rest of the nation," Craig McCoy and Joseph Tanfani of the Philadelphia Inquirer report. A dispute is growing over the reach of such regulations, most of which will not apply in rural areas where the majority of 25,000 new miles of pipeline will be built. Federal officials are trying to close this loophole, but the industry is fighting it, "arguing that the hazards are remote and the cost would far outweigh any benefits," McCoy and Tanfani report. (Inquirer photo)

Some residents are saying this means rural people "don't count." Nancy Liebert of Eagles Mere, a 125-person community in Sullivan County, said companies and regulators don't consider the pipelines a big issue if they're located in rural areas. She added the state doesn't have regulations in place to keep up with the fast pace of the natural-gas boom. The Inquirer reported in December that the industry is building lines in rural areas with little oversight. "The regulatory gap persists even though new lines are large, high-pressure pipes – every bit as powerful, and as potentially dangerous, as more-regulated natural gas transmission lines that cross state borders," McCoy and Tanfani report. They write that state regulators often don't know where these lines are located. (Read more)