PHMSA Announces LNG R&D Meeting – 11-15-22

Today, the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (87 FR 64539-64540) for a virtual 2-day meeting on “Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Research and Development (R&D) Public Meeting and Forum”. The meeting will be held on November 15^th, and 16^th. The PHMSA LNG research program will address LNG facility safety issues.

The agenda includes:

• LNG facility design and construction, including process, piping, and control system design; process hazard analysis; vapor handling; structural members; and construction testing requirements,

• LNG facility siting, including passive and active protection and potential safety gaps in 49 CFR 193 and industry technical standards,

• LNG facility fire protection system design, including firewater system design, fire and gas detection technology, emergency shutdown systems, and hazard controls, and

• LNG operation and maintenance, including plans and procedures (best practices), safe work practices, human factors, incident investigation and reporting, reporting requirements, inspection and testing, maintenance and repairs—including fugitive and vented methane emissions mitigation, corrosion protection, and personnel protection.

Public participation in the meeting is being solicited. Personnel wishing to participate need to sign up on the meeting web site by November 9^th, 2022. Personnel wishing to sign up to participate in a work group discussion on day 2 of the meeting need to do so by November 7^th.