OMB Approves PHMSA Class Location NPRM

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) rule on “Pipeline Safety: Class Location Requirements”. PHMSA submitted this NPRM to OIRA on July 7^th, 2020. The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking for this action was published in July 2018.

According to the abstract in the Spring 2020 Unified Agenda listing 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.”

This NPRM moved fairly quickly through the review process, so we may see faster than normal publication in the Federal Register, maybe even next week.

Interesting side note: with the approval of this NPRM there are only four DOT rulemakings under consideration at OMB. All of them are from the FAA. Three relate to overseas Flight Information Region restrictions in conflict areas and one deals with commercial space launch licensing requirements.