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The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on May 28, 2020, issued a pre-publication Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled Gas Pipeline Regulatory Reform.  The proposal is issued pursuant to the Administration’s executive orders directing federal agencies to reduce burdens and in response to comments from the industry.  In keeping with that intent, the proposed changes appear generally favorable to the gas pipeline industry and should ease certain regulatory burdens related to discrete areas of gas pipeline incident reporting, construction (welding requalification), operation (primarily distribution and plastic pipelines), and maintenance (rectifier inspections and low-pressure pipelines).
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Continue Reading PHMSA Issues Gas Pipeline Regulatory Reform Proposal

In an effort to relieve the economic impact associated with the response to COVID-19, President Trump recently signed an Executive Order (EO) designed to promote economic recovery by reducing regulatory burdens for businesses. Under the EO, all federal agencies are directed to (1) review regulations and rescind, modify, waive, or provide exemptions to those regulations that may impair economic growth and (2) consider whether any of the temporary modifications or waivers should be permanently adopted through formal rulemaking. While the EO is intended to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unclear whether it will have a tangible impact on enforcement of the federal pipeline safety or environmental laws for the oil and gas pipeline industry.
Continue Reading Executive Order Promotes Enforcement Discretion and Deregulation

PHMSA is proposing regulatory reform changes to the federal pipeline safety regulations at 49 CFR 190, 194, and 195, predominantly impacting liquid pipelines. Consistent with the Administration’s directives, the proposed revisions are intended to reduce regulatory burdens and improve regulatory clarity, without compromising safety and environmental protection. The proposed revisions were published in the Federal Register on April 16, 2020 and comments are due by June 15, 2020. These proposed changes would clarify and revise the requirements for how operators submit records to PHMSA; make important clarifications to the scope of pipelines that would require oil spill response plans; and, specific to liquid pipelines, substantially increase the property damage incident reporting threshold, allow remote monitoring of rectifier stations, and clarify integrity management guidance.
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Continue Reading PHMSA Proposes Regulatory Reform Rule

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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Continue Reading PHMSA Publishes Long-Awaited Final Rules

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is close to finalizing a rule applicable to the safety of natural gas transmission pipelines that has been nearly eight years in the making. Both Congress and the industry have urged PHMSA to issue a final rule and PHMSA has now signaled that the rule is currently awaiting final approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). With a final rule that could be published in the coming weeks or months, pipeline operators should be prepared to review and modify their compliance programs as appropriate.
Continue Reading Gas Pipeline Safety Rule Clearing Final Hurdle: Operators Should Prepare

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a notice seeking input from the public on existing guidance documents within DOT and its modal operating administrations, including PHMSA.  In particular, DOT seeks input on guidance documents that are no longer necessary, are cost-inducing, inconsistent or unclear, not conducive to consistent enforcement, or…

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) requesting comments on existing requirements for gas transmission pipelines following population growth.  This notice is the result of previous Agency requests for comment, Congressional mandates, Agency workshops, and industry comments dating back nearly a decade.  The proposed rulemaking could provide industry with additional options when population increases trigger class location changes, and thereby avoid costly pipe replacement or pressure testing.
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Continue Reading Proposed Revision to Class Location Requirements When Population Increases

Last week, PHMSA’s oil and gas pipeline technical advisory committees convened to review and discuss significant pending rulemakings and regulatory reform initiatives, among other topics.  At the same time, the White House touted its deregulation efforts, including the purported elimination of 22 regulations in the past year for each new rule passed.  For an agency that is facing outstanding statutory mandates to enact certain regulations, with reauthorization looming in 2018, it is expected that PHMSA will promulgate some new rules in the New Year.  It is not yet known, however, what the content of those rules will be and whether the expansive gas ‘mega rule’ will be among those finalized in 2018.  Given the overall regulatory climate to reduce regulation and burden, a little certainty might be appreciated in the New Year.
Continue Reading All I want for Christmas is … regulatory certainty?

A year ago, the oil and natural gas industry was preparing comments and responses to several expansive proposed rules issued by the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).  With the advent of the Trump Administration and its focus on deregulation, those pending rules have since been withdrawn and are being reevaluated (among hundreds of other administrative agency rules).  In the first 100 days of this Administration, the White House issued 58 executive orders and memoranda, nearly a quarter of which affected the pipeline industry directly or indirectly.  In the six months since, the President has continued to issue directives aimed at eliminating regulatory burdens and expediting energy infrastructure.  While these directives were met with initial relief from the industry, they lack clear deadlines and details and it has fallen on the various administrative agencies to interpret and implement them.  To complicate matters, the Administration has simultaneously issued budget cuts across the board and has been slow to appoint key leadership positions.  For an industry that relies on regulatory certainty, much remains uncertain.
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Continue Reading Deregulation at DOT:  Direction Unknown

The Department of Transportation formally requested public comment on existing rules and “other agency actions,” including but not limited to guidance documents and policy statements, that are good candidates for repeal, replacement, suspension, or modification without compromising safety.  This request covers all DOT modal agencies, including PHMSA, the FAA, the FRA, NHTSA, among others.   In addition to requesting comments, DOT indicated that it may hold a public meeting on these issues. Comments are due November 1, 2017.
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Continue Reading DOT Requests Comments on Regulatory Review