PHMSA Publishes 60-Day ICR Notice for 8 ICRs

Today the DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration published a 60-day information collection request (ICR) notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 8535-8538) covering eight separate ICRs that PHMSA will be requesting that OMB renew. Those ICRs are:

• Requirements for Cargo Tanks, 2137-0014;

• Hazardous Materials Incident Reports, 2137-0039;

• Flammable Cryogenic Liquids, 2137-0542;

• Container Certification Statement, 2137-0582;

• Response Plans for Shipments of Oil, 2137-0591;

• Hazardous Materials Security Plans, 2137-0612;

• Inspection and Testing of Meter Provers, 2137-0620; and

• Requirements for United Nations (UN) Cylinders, 2137-0621.

Publication of multiple ICRs like this typically means that no changes are being made and that is the case here. The total number of responses and the total burden hours for all of these ICRs remains the same as currently approved.

PHMSA is soliciting public comment on these ICR renewals. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # PHMSA-2013-0002) and should be submitted by April 14^th, 2014.

PHMSA Publishes 60-day ICR Notice for Pipeline Reports

Today the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a 60-day information collection request (ICR) notice in the Federal Register (78 FR 38803-38806) for the renewal of authority to collect pipeline safety information on seven separate pipeline reporting forms. This is an early renewal request because PHMSA is proposing changes to the information collected on these forms.

The forms covered by this ICR renewal request are:

• PHMSA F 7100.1 Incident Report—Gas Distribution System;

• PHMSA F 7100.1-2 Mechanical Fitting Failure Report Form for Calendar Year 20_ for Distribution Operators;

• PHMSA F 7100.2 Incident Report—Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline Systems;

• PHMSA F 7100.2-1 Annual Report for Calendar Year 20_ Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline Systems;

• PHMSA F 7100.3 Incident Report—Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities; and

• PHMSA F 7100.3-1 Annual Report for Calendar Year 20__ Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities

Gas Distribution Incident Report

Changes are being proposed in the following areas:

• Adding pipe material type of reconditioned cast iron;

• Adding commodity of landfill gas;

• Changing system types;

• Revise instructions for National Response Center number;

• Revise instructions for city;

• Revise instructions for county or parish;

• Revise instructions for incident preparer and authorizer; and

• Estimated response and burden hours revision.

Mechanical Fitting Failure Report

Changes are being proposed in the following areas:

• Reporting “Incorrect Operations” as an apparent cause; and

• Estimated response and burden hours revision.

Incident Report—Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline System

Changes are being proposed in the following areas:

• Restore MOAP established by section;

• Adding commodity of Landfill Gas;

• Revise instructions for National Response Center number;

• Revise instructions for city;

• Revise instructions for county or parish;

• Revise instructions for incident preparer and authorizer; and

• Estimated response and burden hours revision.

Annual Report—Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline Systems

PHMSA is proposing to remove Part C – Volume transported by transmission lines. In the future if PHMSA needs this data it will be obtained from the  FERC data which covers the largest component of the volume information.

Incident Report—Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities 

Changes are being proposed in the following areas:

• Limit location data to the State;

• Modify the “Regulated by” data; and

• Estimated response and burden hours revision.

Annual Report for Calendar Year 20_ Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities

Changes are being proposed in the following areas:

• Remove section A5;

• Require entry of interstate or intrastate field;

• Remove duplicative reporting; and

• Estimated response and burden hours revision.

Change to Reporting Burden

PHMSA noted that they expect only one of the above set of revisions to result in changes to their burden estimate; the Mechanical Fitting report. The number of reports is being revised based upon recent history and the time for submission is being reduced from 1 hour per report to 30 minutes. The total change in the burden estimate is shown below. PHMSA does not explain how a decreased number of reports and a decreased reporting time result in an increase in the total annual burden hours.

	Existing	Proposed
Total Annual Responses	21,864	12,164
Total Annual Burden Hours	83,131	96,471

Public Comments

PHMSA is soliciting public comments on the proposed changes to the forms and the ICR. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # PHMSA-2013-0084). Comments should be submitted by August 26^th, 2013.

PHMSA Clarifies Pipeline Safety Reporting

The Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice (78 FR 5866-5867) in Monday’s Federal Register (available on line yesterday) concerning certain reporting requirements for owner/operators of gas transmission pipelines and gathering lines. The notice extends the deadline for filing last year’s annual reports and notes discrepancies in many of the previously filed reports.

Filing Deadline Extension

PHMSA is extending the dead line for filing the 2012 annual report until June 15^th, 2013. This is due to the many recent changes in the reporting requirements and the fact that the new on-line reporting site has not yet been implemented. PHMSA expects to notify owner/operators by March 1^st that the new reporting system is operational.

OPID Validation

PHMSA had earlier extended the deadline for most pipeline and LNG owner/operators with Operator Identification Numbers (OPID) established prior to January 1, 2011, to validate their OPID data. They extended the deadline from June 30^th, 2012 to September 30^th, 2012. As of the end of November PHMSA notes that approximately 16% of those required to provide updated data have yet to do so.

Gas Transmission Annual Reports Discrepancies

Since 2004 PHMSA has collected data on gas transmission incidents in high consequence areas (HCA); first in the pipeline integrity management reports and, starting in 2010 in gas transmission and gathering annual reports. In addition owner/operators have been required to file incident reports and those reports have been required to indicate if the incident occurred in an HCA.

In this notice PHMSA indicates that there are serious discrepancies between the information provided in the incident reports and the annual reports. In only one year (2009) have the number of HCA incidents been the same in both sets of reports. Even then there were mismatches between the OPID of the submitting organizations. As a result, this notice reminds operators that:

“Gas transmission operators who have reported incidents in HCAs from 2004 through 2011 in either gas integrity management performance reports, gas transmission annual reports, or incident reports should submit supplemental reports as needed to correct the data.” (FR 78 5867)

LNG Annual Report Discrepancies

A similar problem exists in the annual reports that LNG operators have been required to submit to PHMSA since 2010. Incidents and safety related conditions (SRC) are required to be reported in the annual report as well as having to submit individual reports to PHMSA. Data from 2010 and 2011 show more incidents (2 vs 0) and SRCs (264 vs 5) reported in the annual reports than there have been individual reports submitted.

PHMSA notes that:

“LNG operators should review their annual reports and SRC reports and submit supplemental reports as needed to correct the data.”

Commentary

It is sad to see that there are so many discrepancies between regulatory reporting requirements and the actual data submitted to PHMSA. I suppose that it reflects the complexity of the regulatory environment. As such I applaud PHMSA’s publication of this notice rather than moving directly to taking to enforcement action. PHMSA does need the correct information to properly oversee the safety of the pipelines for which it is responsible.

On the other hand it is really sad to see that it has taken PHMSA so long to note some of these discrepancies. Just now trying to correct data inconsistencies that date back almost 10 years calls into question whether PHMSA has actually living up to its regulatory responsibilities. Hopefully this notice reflects a change in the attitude at PHMSA concerning those responsibilities.