June 14, 2011

Phase Two Regs for Low-Stress Pipelines

In a final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous hMaterials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has extended the pipeline safety requirements at 49 CFR 195, which include integrity management provisions, to rural low-stress hazardous liquid pipelines that were not covered by previous regulations. The rulemaking constitutes Phase Two of PHMSA’s response to the 2006 Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act (PIPES Act). The statute directed PHMSA to issue regulations subjecting onshore low-stress hazardous liquid pipelines to the same standards and regulations as other hazardous liquid pipelines.

In its Phase One rulemaking, PHMSA addressed higher-risk, larger-diameter rural low-stress pipelines—those with a diameter of 8-5/8 inches or greater located within one-half mile of an unusually sensitive area (USA). The hazardous liquid IM provisions specify how pipeline operators must identify, prioritize, assess, evaluate, repair, and validate the integrity of hazardous liquid pipelines that could, in the event of a leak or failure, affect high consequence areas (HCAs).

HCAs include population areas, areas containing drinking water, USA, or ecological resources that are unusually sensitive to environmental damage, and commercially navigable waterways.

Also, in the Phase One rule, PHMSA included a “could affect” provision that exempted operators from the IM requirements if they could demonstrate that a release could not affect an HCA even within the one-half-mile buffer—for example, when the HCA is uphill from the pipeline.

Other Part 195 requirements address corrosion and third-party damage, installation of line markers, public education and damage prevention programs, and operator qualifications.

Under the Phase Two rule, rural low-stress pipelines less than 8-5/8 inches in diameter that are located in or within one-half mile of a USA are made subject to the safety requirements of Part 195, including the IM requirements. The “could affect” provision applicable to IM requirements also applies. Rural low-stress pipelines of any diameter that are located more than one-half mile from a USA are also made subject to the safety requirements of Part 195, excluding the IM requirements.

Pipeline segments will have to be identified within 9 months of publication of the final rule; baseline IM assessments will have to be completed within 5 years of publication; compliance with corrosion control requirements will have to occur within 3 years; and compliance with all other applicable requirements will have to occur with 12 months.

PHMSA’s final rule executing Phase Two regulations covering rural onshore hazardous liquid low-stress lines was published in the May 5, 2011, FR.