The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) recently published their findings on the challenges associated with the existing transportation infrastructure that are the result of the increased oil and gas production in North America. The report aggregated and massaged data from 36 studies and other publications from federal, state, and tribal government agencies; industry; academics; and other organizations.
Essentially the lack of pipelines due to the remote location of the new sources has resulted in the increased usage of just about any type of transportation mode to get oil and gas products to market. Not really, it just seems that way. The report primarliy focuses on truck, rail and pipelines with barges and other minor modes mentioned along the way. Pipelines is called out as the "Safest" mode. No surprise there unless you've been living under a rock. Not surprsing (due the fast pace of the industry no doubt) the information is a little dated with most of the data cited from 2010-2012 and anncedotal references made to 2013 when they could. What surprised me was the small amount of FDOT pipeline inspections performed (<5%). Luckily they use a risk based appproach so those inspection resources are well deployed.
No surprise - they recommended more regulations as cited below to address high pressure gathering pipelines in rural areas.
"To address the increased risk posed by new gathering pipeline construction in shale development areas, we recommend that the Secretary of Transportation, in conjunction with the Administrator of PHMSA, move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address gathering pipeline safety that addresses the risks of larger-diameter, higher-pressure gathering pipelines, including subjecting such pipelines to emergency response planning requirements that currently do not apply"
Read the entire report