The Importance of Landowner Communication

The Importance of Landowner Communication The Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (“PHMSA”) Recommended Practice BL 12 expects pipeline operators to conduct regular right-of-way maintenance programs. Regular maintenance ensures that vegetation doesn’t hinder critical monitoring and inspection efforts. The bulletin points out that beyond routine monitoring, “in the event of an emergency, a clear ROW is necessary…

Are You Compliant? PHMSA Advisory Bulletin: Centerline Surveys Essential

Are You Compliant? PHMSA Advisory Bulletin: Centerline Surveys Essential On December 13, 2016, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued an advisory bulletin to remind gas transmission line operators of best methods for identifying, mapping, and properly accounting for High Consequence Areas (HCAs). While the bulletin generally revisits standards previously conveyed, it speaks clearly…

Creating Value Through Our Mission

Creating Value Through Our Mission  Our mission at Southern Brush includes commitments to “help people develop” and “pursue excellence.” We want to do all we can to help everyone we work with and around to do the best they can, be the best they can, and enjoy their work as much as they can. We believe…

Right-of-Way Maintenance: Recommended Practices

Best Practices for a Right-of-Way Maintenance Program  The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) holds ultimate authority for interstate pipeline compliance in the United States (similar to the way that the IRS oversees tax compliance). As such, their guidance on how to manage a right-of-way maintenance program carries some weight. An operator would not want…

Pipeline Mapping: Critically Important to Avoiding Critical Incidents

Pipeline Mapping: Critically Important to Avoiding Critical Incidents  Moving oil and gas safely and efficiently from a wellhead to end-users stands as the sole and unambiguous purpose of pipelines. When either of those key elements — safety or efficiency — is lacking, it represents a problem. When both are missing, it signals a complete breakdown of purpose.…

High Cost of Non-Compliance

The High Cost of Non-Compliance Maintaining America’s pipeline infrastructure is not inexpensive. In fact, in order to maintain compliant operations for the nearly 2.5 million miles of pipeline in the United States each year, it takes an extraordinary amount of resources, intentionality, and focus. It is, in a word, costly. More Costly Than Expensive  But…

Safe Responses to Abnormal Conditions

Safe Responses to Abnormal Conditions At Southern Brush, we take safety extremely seriously. No job or task is so important or so urgent as to justify a safety-compromising shortcut. Period. And because our teams work on pipelines every day, we know how to identify safe conditions. But midstream companies and their contractors are not alone in…

Streams of Service

Streams of Service  Most “oilfield services” companies specialize in a single area of industry operation — upstream, midstream, or downstream (Williams provides a short and lighthearted overview of those sectors on their Pipe Up Blog). And while we at Southern Brush concentrate the majority of our work in the area of midstream right-of-way maintenance and…

A Core Commitment to Our Customers

A Core Commitment to Our Customers At Southern Brush, we’re committed to four core principles: Honoring God Always, Helping People Develop, Pursuing Excellence, and Earning a Profit. These principles serve as the foundation of our company culture and our approach to doing business. They may convey immediate and clear value to some customers. But others…