pipeline

Sept. 4 (UPI) — The Transportation Department Thursday announced $86 million in federal grants to enhance safety programs along the nation’s 3.3-million mile pipeline network, or 85% of all pipelines in the United States.

“Safety is the number one priority of the Department of Transportation,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “The grants announced today will support our existing partnerships with states to support pipeline inspection, keep communities safe, and keep our energy economy moving.”

The plan earmarks $82 million for states to monitor and update safety programs for above-ground pipelines and another $4 million for underground natural gas pipelines.

California is slated to receive nearly $12.4 million in grants, the largest share, while New York is scheduled to receive more than $8.8 million. Illinois and Massachusetts are in line for more than $5 million each.

The grant programs allow states to support federal pipeline safety standards and reimburse them up to 80% for their costs related to personnel, equipment, inspections and regulation enforcement.

Weapons of war have increasingly found their way into the arsenals of domestic police forces.

Few people know that better than protesters in Bangladesh. During the 2024 student uprising, the UN estimates that as many as 1,400 people were killed – the vast majority of them by firearms used by state security forces.

But over the past few decades, police forces in wealthier parts of the world have also come to look and act more like armies. Leading the way has been the United States, where military tools and methods developed for faraway conflicts have found their way back home, onto the streets.

Hind Hassan travels to Bangladesh and France to investigate the companies providing military-grade equipment to police forces and speak with citizens who’ve been on the receiving end of excessive police violence.