- How Safe Are America's 2.5 Million Miles of Pipelines? -- The nation's aging oil pipelines are roughly 70 times as safe as trucks when it comes to transporting fuel, but when a pipeline does fail (there are hundreds of ruptures and spills every year), the consequences can be catastrophic http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-safe-are-americas-2-5-million-miles-of-pipelines 3 comments politics