Effective July 3, 2008, PHMSA has amended its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations to:

• Define “regulated rural gathering line” as an onshore gathering line in a rural area that has a nominal diameter of 6 5/8” to 8 5/8”, located within ¼ mile of an Unusually Sensitive Area (USA), with an MOP greater than 20% of the SMYS (or greater than 125 psi if the SMYS is unknown or the pipe isn’t made of steel); and require operators of these lines to comply with a subset of the existing pipeline safety requirements.
• Narrow the regulatory exception for rural onshore low-stress hazardous liquid pipelines by extending all existing safety regulations, including integrity management requirements, to low-stress pipelines with a nominal diameter of 8 5/8” or more located within ½ mile of a USA. Operators of newly regulated low-stress pipelines that can show an undue economic burden from complying with all pipeline safety regulations may be able to obtain a special permit from PHMSA to comply with alternative safety requirements in order to keep operating.
• Require operators of all low-stress pipelines (even those that continue to be exempt), to comply with annual reporting requirements.

These rule modifications were first proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on September 6, 2006, and revised by a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on May 18, 2007. Additional rulemaking is anticipated that will ultimately eliminate the low stress piping exemption for all hazardous liquid pipelines.

PHMSA also reorganized and streamlined the applicability section of the hazardous liquid regulations to make them easier to interpret. This streamlining made it clear that PHMSA intends to regulate gathering pipeline segments that cross navigable waters, and that it does not intend to regulate non-low-stress pipelines that are already regulated by the US Coast Guard.

For a copy of the Final Rule on Low Stress and Gathering Line Exemptions, contact Jessica Roger.