On January 27, 2022, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced a public informational meeting on February 17, 2022 regarding PHMSA’s plan for forthcoming audits of updated inspection and maintenance plans to eliminate and minimize leaks pursuant to Section 114 of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2020. According to the notice, the purpose of the meeting is to review the requirements of Section 114, which required pipeline operators to update their inspection and maintenance plans by December 27, 2021, to (1) eliminate hazardous leaks, (2) minimize releases of natural gas, and (3) address the replacement or remediation of pipelines that are known to leak due to their material, design, or past operating and maintenance history.
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Leak Detection
Final Rule Imposes Expansive New Requirements for Liquid Pipelines
PHMSA recently finalized a rule that significantly revises certain aspects of liquid pipeline safety regulation under 49 CFR Part 195. Nearly nine years in the making, the final rule is intended to address PHMSA and NTSB accident investigation findings from the Marshall Michigan spill in 2010 as well as 2011 and 2016 outstanding Congressional mandates and GAO recommendations. A version of this rule was initially scheduled for publication in the Federal Register in the last week of the prior presidential administration in 2017. It was held back as a result of the regulatory freeze and subsequent deregulatory review by the Trump administration which pared down certain changes in the recent final rule.
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Continue Reading Final Rule Imposes Expansive New Requirements for Liquid Pipelines