The Association of Oil Pipe Lines is an unincorporated nonprofit organization started in 1947. As a trade association, AOPL:
- Acts as an information clearinghouse for the public, the media and the pipeline industry.
- Provides coordination and leadership for the industry's ongoing Joint Environmental Safety Initiative.
- Represents common carrier crude and product petroleum pipelines in Congress, before regulatory agencies, and in the federal courts.
Information Clearinghouse
Pipelines play a vital transportation role in the economy of the United States, its commerce and its national defense. AOPL, in its information clearinghouse role, helps educate the public, the press and educational institutions about this role.
The Association of Oil Pipe Lines provides a forum for its members where they can exchange ideas and discuss methods to improve the oil transportation service offered by pipelines, hence better serving the public, commerce and national defense interests of the United States.
In this information clearinghouse role, AOPL also acts as a common ground forum where members can discuss and seek solutions to industry problems such as methods to improve safety and other matters of public interest. The Association also shares information with its members on developments of interest in the regulatory, judicial and legislative bodies of the states and of the United States.
Safety Initiative
In 1998, the U.S. pipeline industry launched a multi-company Joint Environmental and Safety Initiative under the auspices of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) and the American Petroleum Institute's (API) Pipeline Committee. The purpose of the initiative is to make further improvements in spill and accident prevention. A fundamental step in making improvements has been to understand the industry's current record in these areas and this briefing paper provides a "state of the industry" pipeline safety update.
One primary purpose of the industry initiative has been to compile the most reliable information on the industry's safety record to date so that the industry and its regulators will have a benchmark by which they can measure future performance. Show me publications about pipeline safety.
Regulatory Matters
The Association testifies before Congressional committees and otherwise represents the oil pipeline industry before the Congress on pertinent legislation. The Association also participates in administrative and judicial proceedings and cases affecting the industry, most particularly before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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