About Gas Leak Report

What is this site?

Gas Leak Report is an independent, public-interest platform that makes federal gas pipeline incident data searchable and understandable. We take raw data from PHMSA and present it with safety scorecards, interactive maps, and filters so anyone can explore the safety record of gas distribution operators across the United States. We are not affiliated with any utility, regulator, or advocacy group.

Where does the data come from?

All incident data comes from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Gas distribution operators are required by federal law to report incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or significant property damage. PHMSA publishes this data quarterly, typically with a six-month lag. We ingest the raw data and make it searchable without modification.

How are safety grades calculated?

Each operator receives a letter grade (A through F) based on their cumulative incident history from 2010 to present. The severity score is calculated as: (fatalities × 10) + (injuries × 3) + incident count. Grade thresholds: A = 0 (no incidents), B = 1–5, C = 6–15, D = 16–30, F = 31 or higher. These grades reflect raw incident totals and are not adjusted for operator size or miles of pipeline.

What counts as an incident?

This site covers gas distribution incidents — the network of pipes that delivers natural gas to homes and businesses. It does not include transmission pipelines, gathering lines, or LNG facilities. An incident is a reported event involving a release of gas that results in death, injury requiring hospitalization, or property damage exceeding $122,000 (adjusted periodically). Cause categories (excavation damage, corrosion failure, etc.) are defined by PHMSA and self-reported by the operator.

How can I use this data?

• Residents: Search your gas utility by name to see their safety grade and full incident history.
• Journalists: Find patterns across operators, states, or time periods. Filter by cause to investigate specific failure modes.
• Researchers: Explore 15+ years of incident data with filters for cause, location, year, and outcome.
• Advocates: Use operator safety scorecards as evidence-based context for regulatory and policy discussions.

What are the limitations?

This data has important limitations. Incident details are self-reported by operators to PHMSA and may contain inaccuracies. Publication lags mean the most recent 6 months of data may be incomplete. Safety grades are based on raw incident counts, not adjusted for the size of an operator's system — a large utility with millions of customers may appear to have a worse record than a small one simply because they have more infrastructure. Some older incident records lack precise location coordinates and will not appear on the map.

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