The following information was provided to us from the SGA listserver on Operator Qualification Issues:

On July,14 AGA and industry representatives met with Bob Chipkevich, Director of Office of Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety and Rod Dyck, Deputy Director – Pipeline Safety from the NTSB. The purpose of the meeting was to brief NTSB on current industry implementation efforts on the DOT Operator Qualification (OQ) Rule and, if necessary, discuss the content of the Rule. This was accomplished primarily by giving the NTSB staff an overview of where operators and contractors currently are in preparing their plans, the development of consortiums, the work with regional associations, the American Public Gas Association (APGA), the DOT Transportation Safety Institute-led Pipeline Employee Performance Group and individual state safety representatives. The meeting was cordial and concluded with AGA offering to set-up further briefings with the agency, perhaps with some of the smaller operators in attendance. The full text of the announcement can be downloaded on RCP's website at http://www.your-rcp.com/downloads/misc/NTSB Meeting.htm.