PHMSA Revises Forms in 30-Day ICR for Pipeline Reports

On Wednesday the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) published their 30-day information collection (ICR) notice in the Federal Register (78 FR 71033-71036) for planned revisions to the various pipeline incident and MFF reporting forms. The notice includes responses to three sets of industry comments, including further changes to the reporting formats covered under the ICR.

The 60-day notice was published back in June and covered 6 separate incident and MFF reports required to be submitted by various pipeline operators. PHMSA received comments on that ICR notice from three organizations:

• Norton McMurray Manufacturing Company (NORMAC);

• Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA); and

• Pipeline Safety Trust (PST)

In response to these comments PHMSA is making the following additional changes to the forms:

(F 7100.1) PHMSA has revised the note in Part G1 of the instructions to clarify that non-corrosion bonnet, packing, or other gasket failures could be reported under “Incorrect Operations” or under “Equipment Failure.”

(F 7100.1 and F 7100.2) PHMSA has modified the instructions for Incorrect Operations and Equipment Failure in response to NORMAC's proposal for language clarification.

(F 7100.2) In a report titled, “PIPELINE SAFETY Better Data and Guidance Needed to Improve Pipeline Operator Incident Response” (GAO-13-168) the Government Accountability Office recommends that PHMSA improve the reliability of incident response data. PHMSA concurs with the GAO recommendation and has proposed this change to collect more meaningful data from which to calculate operator response time. PHMSA will calculate response time as “arrival on-site” minus “failure awareness.”

(F 7100.2) PHMSA has modified the instructions to accept onshore reports without a valid value for County/Parish and will ensure the database is appropriately configured.

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA has modified the instructions for Part C so that all gas transmission operators are required to submit volume transported data. 

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA is making a number of changes to the instructions for Parts Q and R as suggested by INGAA.

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA is modifying the instructions to clarify the effective date for the form.

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA has modified the “General Instructions” of Part Q to clarify that supplemental reports to change the record status are optional.

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA has expanded some details in Parts H thru R to explain the consistency between the requirements.

(F 7100.2-1) PHMSA has revised the instructions in Part M to clarify that only Third Party damages are to be reported under the heading “Third Party Damage/Mechanical Damage”.

Revised copies of the reports and instructions can be downloaded here (LNG Incident Report Form) and here (MFF Report Form).

PHMSA is soliciting comments on the revised forms and the revised information collection request. Comments may be submitted directly to OMB (oira_submissions@omb.eop.gov). Comments should be received by OIRA by December 27^th, 2013.