OMB Approves PHMSA Pipeline Valve and Rupture Detection NPRM

OMB Approves PHMSA Pipeline Valve and Rupture Detection NPRM

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) for “Amendments to Parts 192 and 195 to Require Valve Installation and Minimum Rupture Detection Standards”. This NPRM was submitted to OIRA in June 2019.

The abstract for this rulemaking in the Fall 2019 Unified Agenda (no change from the Spring 2019 UA) reports that:

“PHMSA is proposing to revise the Pipeline Safety Regulations applicable to newly constructed or entirely replaced natural gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines to improve rupture mitigation and shorten pipeline segment isolation times in high consequence and select non-high consequence areas.”

The rulemaking first appeared in the Unified Agenda in the spring of 2014.

There is a chance that this rulemaking could be published in the Federal Register later this week.