PHMSA Publishes Gas Pipeline Deregulation NPRM

Today the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (85 FR 35240-35254) concerning “Gas Pipeline Regulatory Reform”. The proposed changes to the Pipeline Safety Regulations (PSR) are intended to ease regulatory burdens on the construction, maintenance and operation of gas transmission, distribution, and gathering pipeline systems.

PSR Changes

The proposed amendments include:

• Provide flexibility in the inspection requirements for farm taps,

• Repeal distribution integrity management program (DIMP) requirements for master meter operators,

• Repeal submission requirements for the mechanical fitting failure (MFF) reports,

• Adjust the monetary damage threshold for reporting incidents for inflation,

• Allow remote monitoring of rectifier stations,

• Revise the inspection interval for monitoring atmospheric corrosion on gas distribution service pipelines,

• Update the design standard for polyethylene (PE) pipe and raise the maximum diameter limit,

• Revise test requirements for pressure vessels consistent with American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME BPVC),

• Revise welder requalification requirements to provide scheduling flexibility, and

• Extend the allowance for pre-tested short segments of pipe and fabricated units to pipelines operating at a hoop stress less than 30 percent of the specified minimum yield strength (SMYS) and above 100 pounds per square inch (psi).

Information Collection Requests

This NPRM would require changes to four currently approved information collection requests. Those are listed below.

• 2137-0635 Incident Reports for Gas Pipeline Operators,

• 2137-0522 Annual and Incident Reports for Gas Pipeline Operators,

• 2137-0625 Integrity Management Program for Gas Distribution, and

• 2137-0629 Annual Report for Gas Distribution Operators

NOTE: The NPMR incorrectly lists the titles for:

• 2137-0635 as “Incident and Annual Reports for Gas Pipeline Operators”,

• 2137-0522 as “Incident and Annual Reports for Gas Pipeline Operators”, and

• 2137-0629 as “Gas Distribution Annual Report”

The table below provides a summary of the current and proposed burdens for the four ICR’s listed above.

ICR # 2137-	Current Responses	Proposed Responses	Current Burden (hrs)	Proposed Burden (hrs)
0635	301	262	3,612	3,144
0522	10,547	2,247	80,101	71,801
0625	9,343	3,882	865,178	723,192
0629	1,446	1,446	24,582	25,189

Public Comments

PHMSA is soliciting public comments on this NPRM. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov, Docket # PHMSA-2018-0046). Comments need to be submitted by August 10^th, 2020.

PHMSA Publishes Pipeline Safety Regulation Update Final Rule

Today the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration published a final rule in the Federal Register (80 FR 12762-12781) updating various portions of the Pipeline Safety Regulations. The NPRM for this rulemaking was published in November 2011.

These amendments address several subject matter areas for both gas and hazardous material pipelines including:

● The performance of post-construction inspections;

● Leak surveys of Type B onshore gas gathering lines;

● Qualifying plastic pipe joiners;

● Regulation of ethanol;

● Transportation of pipe;

● Filing of offshore pipeline condition reports; and

● Calculation of pressure reductions for hazardous liquid pipeline anomalies.

Based upon public comments submitted in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) PHMSA made the following changes to the proposed rulemaking:

● Responsibility to Conduct Construction Inspections, expanded to include both gas and hazardous material pipelines and revised to more clearly identify the types of individuals who should be excluded from the required inspections {§192.305 and §195.204};

● Qualifying Plastic Pipe Joiners, to provide greater scheduling flexibility and require requalification of a joiner if any production joint is found unacceptable {§192.285(c)};

● Calculating Pressure Reductions for Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Integrity Anomalies, PHMSA is is adopting LPAC’s suggested language as it best clarifies that an operator must calculate remaining strength or reduce operating pressure until a repair can be completed {§ 195.452(h)(4)(i)};

● Alternative MAOP Notifications, PHMSA is changing the advance notification requirement from 180 days to 60 days {§ 192.620(c)(1)};

● Welders vs. Welding Operators, PHMSA is now citing Appendix A as being applicable to welding and welding operators {§192.225, §192.227, §192.229, §195.214, and §195.222};

● Odorization of Gas Transmission Lateral Lines, PHMSA is re-evaluating the proposal and may consider it in a future rulemaking.

PHMSA included a number of editorial type changes in the NPRM and all of them are included in the final rule. Additionally, the following editorial changes have also been included, but were not discussed in the NPRM:

● Hazardous Liquid Construction Notifications, PHMSA makes it clear that they do not want to be notified of hazardous liquid pipeline facility construction with a cost of less than ten million dollars, so § 195.64(c)(1)(iii) is being deleted.

● Electronic Submission of reports {§191.25, §192.805, §192.949, §195.56, §195.452, and §195.505}

The effective date for this rule is October 1, 2015 and immediate compliance is authorized.