The Department of Transportation (DOT) is amending a provision of its drug and alcohol testing procedures to change the instructions to medical review officers (MROs) with respect to reporting specimens as dilute or substituted. The change is based on the Department’s experience since the adoption of its current rule and new scientific information on the…
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Direct Assessment Market Report 2003
Direct Assessment Technology Partners (DATP) and Technical Toolboxes, Inc (TTI) have completed a comprehensive market study to assist companies interested in the growing Direct Assessment market within the Pipeline Industry. Access to this information can be had through the member’s only section at www.datp.net. For more information either visit www.datp.net or contact Gary R. White…
Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Operator Annual Report Form – Notice and request for comments
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the RSPA Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on July 26, 2002, announcing RSPA’s/OPS’s intention to collect pipeline characteristics information via a hazardous liquid pipeline operator annual report form. RSPA/OPS received comments on the proposed form and changed the form…
Anomaly Repair Requirements
We thought our readers would be interested in the following “Frequently Asked Question” from the OPS integrity management website: FAQ 7.21 Must anomalies identified during pig runs not considered “baseline” or “reassessments” under the rule be repaired in accordance with the rule’s repair criteria? ANSWER: Yes. The integrity management rule requires a program that integrates…
DOT Pipeline Compliance Workshop – July 30-31, 2003 – Houston
RCP will conduct a 2 day workshop on DOT Pipeline Regulations on July 30th and 31st in Houston. Day 1 of this workshop will present an overview of all the current DOT regulations for pipeline operators. Day 2 will review recent regulatory initiatives such as pipeline integrity management, high consequence area (HCA) analysis, community education…
OQ2 and Future OQ Rulemaking
The OQ2 working group has developed audit protocols that address most issues that industry and agency personnel had with the current OQ rule. The protocols can be downloaded from RCP’s website here through the DOT Gateway. There are a couple of issues (training requirements under OQ, and OQ requalification intervals) that cannot be addressed to…
Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee Meeting Transcripts
The full transcripts of the TPSS Committee meetings (the OPS natural gas advisory committee) on May 28-30 concerning the natural gas integrity management program are now available. The transcripts include a concise introduction describing the issues to be discussed at the meeting (a good idea for meetings in industry, as well!). The transcripts are rather…
Public Education – Future Activities
As mentioned in our January, 2003 newsletter, the Pipeline Safety Act of 2002 requires each owner or operator of a gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility, by December 17, 2003, to: “…review its existing public education program for effectiveness and modify the program as necessary. The completed program shall include activities to advise affected municipalities,…
Olympic Pipeline Sentencing Announced
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein has sentenced two former managers of Olympic Pipe Line Co. to prison for crimes that contributed to a gasoline spill and fire in Bellingham, Washington, on June 10, 1999. The incident took three lives, and became a focal point for pipeline safety advocates. Frank Hopf Jr., VP of Olympic at…
EPA Issues Construction General Permit, Including Coverage for Pipeline Activities in Texas
EPA’s Construction General Permit was published in the Federal Register on July 01, 2003 and covers all construction activity on sites one acre or larger (or smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan of development) in states, territories, and Indian country where EPA is the permitting authority. The new permit implements Phase…
Oberstar Asking for a List of Overdue Submittals to NPMS
Under the new pipeline safety act, operators of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines were required to submit mapping data to the Department of Transportation by June 17, 2003. Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.), the ranking Democratic on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants DOT to make sure they comply. Rep. Oberstar sent a…
Subsea Pipeline Spill Model
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has developed a Pipeline Oil Spill Volume Computer Model (POSVCM) to model worst case discharges from subsea pipelines. The program incorporates 3-dimensional seafloor bathymetry to better simulate plume dispersion. It can calculate the total mass of oil released, evolution of an oil/gas release over time, and the eventual surface thickness…
Provisions for Alternative Mitigation Measures During Permitting Delays
The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 amended the Federal pipeline safety laws to require that the Secretary of Transportation revise pipeline safety regulations, as needed, to allow operators to implement alternative mitigation measures if repairs to pipelines cannot be completed within specified time frames. As explained below, RSPA/OPS interprets existing pipeline repair requirements to…
DOT Pipeline Compliance Workshop – July 30-31, 2003 – Houston
RCP will conduct a 2 day workshop on DOT Pipeline Regulations on July 30th and 31st in Houston. Day 1 of this workshop will present an overview of all the current DOT regulations for pipeline operators. Day 2 will review recent regulatory initiatives such as pipeline integrity management, high consequence area (HCA) analysis, community education…
Muscular Dystrophy Lockup / Personal note from the editor
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is having a lockup to raise funds for MDA on August 7, and I’ve been selected as one of the “jailees”. The idea is that I need to “raise bail” for MDA, so they will let me out of the slammer. My bail is set at $3,000 – so they must…
Gas Pipeline HCA – Identified Site Guidance
The OPS has prepared a draft advisory bulletin to provide guidance to operators on what constitutes a good faith effort to discover “identified sites” as defined by 49 CFR 192.761(f). It states in part: “OPS will accept as a good faith search in satisfaction of 192.76 1 (f)( 1)-(4), a search by an operator that…
Texas Proposed Rule on Pipelines Crossing 3 or More Counties
The Railroad Commission of Texas has withdrawn from consideration the proposed new 8.120 concerning notifications for construction of new pipelines that cross 3 or more counties (see our April 2003 newsletter).
Texas Proposed Rule: Hazardous Liquid Pipelines Within 1,000 Feet of a Public School
The Texas Railroad Commission has proposed a rule concerning Hazardous Liquids and Carbon Dioxide Pipelines or Pipeline Facilities Located Within 1,000 feet of a Public School Building of Facility (16 TAC §8.315). This rule will require the operator of any jurisdictional Texas Intrastate Liquid Pipeline or Pipeline Facility located within 1,000 feet of a public…
Texas Final Rule: Hazardous Liquid Pipelines Public Education and Liaison
The Texas Railroad Commission has also approved a final rule concerning Hazardous Liquids and Carbon Dioxide Pipelines Public Education and Liaison (16 TAC §8.310). This rule contains identical requirements concerning public liaison with “fire, police, and other appropriate public emergency response officials” as contained in the recent Gas Pipeline regulation (see previous article in this…
Texas Final Rule: Natural Gas Pipelines Public Education and Liaison
The Railroad Commission of Texas has approved 16 TAC §8.235 relating to public education and liaison programs for gas pipelines. The rule requires that (for regulated intra-state pipelines in Texas): “Each operator … shall communicate and conduct liaison activities with fire, police, and other appropriate public emergency response officials. The liaison activities are those required…