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"The U.S. agency that inspects pipelines, federal officials say, lacks trained manpower, reliable data on accidents and the will to crack down on unsafe practices before deadly blasts occur. The pipeline industry has resisted calls from the National Transportation Safety Board and others for mandatory periodic inspections of pipelines and national employee-training standards. Meanwhile, the nation's pipelines continue to age, many of them now more than 50 years old and too narrow to accommodate the probes sent through pipes to inspect them internally for defects."