OMB Receives PHMSA Pipeline Location NPRM for Review

On Tuesday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking for review from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) concerning “Pipeline Safety: Class Location Requirements “. The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking for this action was published in July 2018.

According to the 2019 Spring Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“This rulemaking regards existing class location requirements for natural gas transmission lines, specifically as they pertain to actions operators are required to take following class location changes due to population growth near the pipeline. Operators have suggested that performing integrity management measures on pipelines where class locations have changed due to population increases would be an equally safe but less costly alternative to the current requirements of either reducing pressure, pressure testing, or replacing pipe. The ANPRM requested public comment to inform future regulatory or deregulatory efforts related to this topic.”