The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA” or the “Agency”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM” or the “Proposed Rule”) that provides increased flexibility to gas transmission pipelines that experience a certain change in population surrounding the pipeline (from a Class 1 to Class 3 location). These changes have been the subject of numerous Special Permit approvals for some time, and the industry has long requested that PHMSA codify this process to avoid unnecessary pipe replacements of short segments. If finalized, the Proposed Rule would provide operators an alternative option to implement integrity management (“IM”) requirements to ensure that a pipe segment is subject to appropriate class location safety factors and thereby avoid unnecessary and costly pipe replacements or pressure reductions. Comments are due by December 14, 2020.
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Pipeline Integrity
PHMSA Publishes Long-Awaited Final Rules
Tomorrow’s Federal Register will include three final rules published by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that have been years in the making: (1) Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure Reconfirmation, Expansion of Assessment Requirements, and Other Related Amendments; (2) Safety of Hazardous Liquid Pipelines; and (3) Enhanced Emergency Order Procedures. All three rules have been lingering at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review for at least several months, and probably none have been more anticipated than the gas transmission and liquid pipeline rules.
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Final Gas Mega Rules Expected to be Issued in 2019
The Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) convened in Washington D.C. at the end of March, 2018, to continue discussions from May and December 2017 regarding PHMSA’s proposed gas and gathering pipeline mega rule (“Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines” [PHMSA-1011-0023]. The meetings included discussion and voting on a number of provisions concerning…
Agencies Instructed to Withdraw 2 Regulations for Every 1 Proposed in Executive Order
During the campaign, President Trump promised to remove two regulations for every new one enacted. On Monday, January 30, 2017, he sought to make good on that promise by signing an Executive Order (EO), titled Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs.
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