One more item of interest from the OPS Integrity Management Workshop in Houston this month was the nomenclature that Kinder Morgan is using to describe pipeline segments that "are in or could effect" a High Consequence Area. We think they did a great service to the pipeline industry by defining 3 distinct areas, as follows, and expect that others in the pipeline industry will quickly adopt these definitions as useful and fairly self-explanatory:

1. Direct Impact Zone: areas where a pipeline is physically located within an HCA.
2. Indirect Impact Zone: areas where a pipeline is within a certain buffer distance from an HCA (the distance to be used will vary depending on the pipeline size / flowrate / etc.).
3. Potential Transport Zone: areas outside the Direct and Indirect Impact Zones that could be impacted by a spill. These areas will depend on terrain, discharge volumes, product types, HCA sensitivities, etc.