Pipelines

Learn about oil and gas pipeline impacts through FracTracker articles, maps, and imagery.

Oil & Gas Pipelines

North America consists of a vast network of inter- and intrastate pipelines that transport products ranging from water to hazardous liquids to raw materials. The U.S. oil and gas pipeline network is estimated to be 2.6 million miles in length, delivering trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of tons of liquid petroleum products each year. The infrastructure’s main environmental health and safety risks include: land use and forest fragmentation, compressor station emissions, erosion and sedimentation, spills and leaks, and explosions.

Explore our site’s various articles about oil and gas pipeline issues below, listed in descending order by date.

The Falcon Public EIA Project

In the summer of 2018, FracTracker released a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA), including digital maps, of the Falcon Ethane Pipeline

Related Articles

Great Plains Action Society

Indigenous Communities’ Fight Against CO2 Pipelines in the Great Plains

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FracTracker Alliance and Great Plains Action Society have launched an environmental justice mapping tool to support Indigenous communities in their resistance against CO2 pipelines.

A Closer Look at Risks of the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub

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The U.S. Department of Energy's ARCH2 hydrogen hub project presents substantial risks to the environment and human health and safety.
FracTracker Alliance, 2024

Falcon Pipeline Criminal Charges Explained

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On April 19, 2024, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry charged Shell Pipeline Company LP with 13 misdemeanor charges for failure to report or underreporting industrial waste releases during the construction of the Falcon Pipeline in Pennsylvania.
Tennessee Pipeline Incident by Ted Auch, 2022, with support from LightHawk.Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2022

2022 Pipeline Incidents Update: Is Pipeline Safety Achievable?

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This analysis provides a top-level summary of pipeline incidents reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and examines whether or not safe oversight of the industry is possible.
Stacked pipes used in constructing oil and gas pipelines

A Contentious Landscape of Pipeline Build-outs in the Eastern US

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In this article, we’ll feature four contentious pipeline build-outs in the Eastern United States, show ways in which those pipelines impact natural and human communities, and provide examples of how environmental advocates have challenged these projects, with varying degrees of success.

Coursing Through Gasland: A Digital Atlas Exploring Natural Gas Development in the Towanda Creek Watershed

This digital atlas exploring natural gas development in the Towanda Creek watershed is the fourth in a series of FracTracker Alliance watershed impact analyses in the Susquehanna River Basin.
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