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In This Issue

  1. Register Now for the DOT Pipeline Compliance Workshop
  2. Standards Proposed to Reduce Corrosion
  3. Integrity Management Services
  4. Integrity Management Updates
  5. O&M Manual Up-To-Date?
  6. Operator Qualifications: Materials Available
  7. Need to Update Your Current Operator Qualification Program?
  8. Regulation of Liquid Gathering Pipelines
  9. RCP Services Spotlight – RCP Auditing, Due Diligence and Expert Witness Services
  10. PHMSA’s Public Awareness Expectations–API RP 1162
  11. Need to make sure your Public Awareness Program meets API RP 1162 standards?
  12. Pipeline Safety: Mechanical Damage Technical Workshop
  13. NPDES Stormwater Oil and Gas Exemption – Proposed Rule
  14. Coastal Zone Management Act Federal Consistency Regulations: Final Rule
  15. Will your SPCC Plan pass an EPA inspection based on the new SPCC Inspectors’ Guidance document?
  16. EPA Proposes Amendments to the SPCC Rule
  17. RCP’s Fantastic 1-Page Version of SPCC Regulation
  18. EPA Seeks Comment on Proposed NPDES Stormwater Permit for Industrial Activities

Integrity Management Updates

49 CFR Parts 192 and 195, Docket No. PHMSA-04-18938

At the request of the hazardous liquid pipeline industry, PHMSA has proposed revisions to the current Pipeline Safety Regulations for Pipeline Integrity Management in High Consequence Areas (HCAs).

The revisions are to: allow more flexibility in reassessment intervals for hazardous liquid pipelines by adding an eight-month window to the five-year time frame for operators to complete reassessment; and require both hazardous liquid pipeline and gas transmission pipeline operators to notify PHMSA whenever they reduce pipeline pressure to make a repair and to provide reasons for pressure reduction.

Another notification, including reasons for repair delay, would be required when a pressure reduction exceeds 365 days.

Also, PHMSA proposes to correct existing provisions for calculating a pressure reduction when making an immediate repair on a hazardous liquid pipeline. The proposed correction would allow operators to use another operating pressure when a specified formula is not applicable or results in a calculated pressure higher than operating pressure.

Finally, PHMSA seeks the submittal of engineering analyses and technical data. These submittals are to provide the basis for modifying the required time periods for remediating certain conditions found during a hazardous liquid pipeline integrity assessment. PHMSA will use this data to evaluate the scope and scale of repair issues to develop an accurate basis for determining if any additional flexibility is needed in the repair schedules.

The full text of the proposed regulations can be found at http://ops.dot.gov/

Anyone interested in filing written comments on the rule proposed in this document must do so by Feb. 13, 2006. Identify the docket number, PHMSA–04-18938, at the beginning of your comments. You can make comments on the DOT website at http://dms.dot.gov or send hardcopy comments to Docket Management System: U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL–401, Washington, DC 20590– 0001.

For more information, contact Shauna Turnbull by phone at (202) 366– 3731 or via e-mail at shauna.turnbull@dot.gov . For questions on technical issues, contact Mike Israni at (202) 366–4571 or via e-mail at mike.israni@dot.gov.