Pipeline Safety GAO to Release Gas Pipeline Safety Report

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A congressional watchdog agency is set to release a report on the ability of pipeline operators to respond to gas releases.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office is expected to issue the report on Wednesday.

It comes a month after a 20-inch line owned by NiSource subsidiary Columbia Gas Transmission ruptured in West Virginia, triggering a massive fire. The Dec. 11 inferno destroyed four homes, damaged several others and charred a section of Interstate 77.

No one was seriously injured.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller has scheduled a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee that he chairs to look into pipeline safety. The field hearing will be held Jan. 28.