**6. Conclusions**

Expansive pipeline networks carry natural gas from source to use. Communities grapple with their stance on these conduits and need specific information to do so prudently. This article examines the costs communities face in the particular case of hosting natural gas transmission lines in the United States. Several community characteristics have a statistically significant e ffect on the cost of pipeline incidents, as does the age of the pipeline.

Reportable incidents along onshore natural gas transmission pipelines occur about three times per 10,000 miles (16,093 km) of pipeline per year. The low probability of an incident is coupled with the potential for catastrophic harm. Extensive media coverage of the worst disasters exacerbates community fears. The resulting uncertainty leaves many communities discomforted by the prospect of hosting a pipeline. Without remedies for the uncertainty, both full information and safety regulations fall short of solving the problem.

Given the ongoing pattern of tragic pipeline incidents, communities need solutions that provide certain compensation. Possibilities include variants on the precautionary polluter pays principle. This would place the burden on those most informed, most able to minimize the risks, and most able to spread the risks broadly across many communities. This approach would alleviate uncertainty for communities and remove the need for costly litigation over compensation for damages. This type of solution might also reduce the need for some other regulatory measures because it causes the pipeline operators to internalize the external costs of risky behavior. The remedies discussed here could apply similarly to pipelines carrying other substances in any country.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** The author thanks Gabrielle Gilkison and Skyler Palmer for excellent research assistance. **Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
