Feb. 23, 2026
Bellingham, WA – A new Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Advisory Bulletin falls short of addressing a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation stemming from a 2018 natural gas-fueled home explosion in Dallas, TX that killed one person and injured four others.
In reaction to this bulletin, Pipeline Safety Trust issued the following statement:
The fatal explosion was preceded by two gas-related incidents in the same area that involved the same pipe. Sadly, the operator chose not to report the previous incidents in a timely manner because at the time, it had not confirmed the gas leaks were from its pipelines.
In the wake of this tragedy, the NTSB recommended PHMSA expand incident reporting requirements in the pipeline safety code so that incidents are reported immediately even when an operator does not know the source of the natural gas.
PHMSA’s Advisory Bulletin, published five years after the NTSB recommendation, does not make actual changes to the codified incident reporting requirements; it is a guidance document that largely restates current requirements. Further, it does not meet NTSB’s recommendation because PHMSA avoids stating that operators are required to report incidents that meet the reporting thresholds even if they have not confirmed the source of gas. PHMSA continues to allow operators to hide behind the problematic “confirmed discovery” definition as a loophole from timely reporting.
A guidance document that simply restates existing requirements is not an appropriate response to the NTSB recommendation. The victims of this explosion deserve an enforceable rule, and so does every community living near gas, hazardous liquid, and carbon dioxide pipelines.
Read the PHMSA advisory bulletin here.
Read the NTSB safety recommendation here.
For More Information Contact: Kenneth Clarkson , Communications Director –
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