[Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0128]
The Voluntary Information-Sharing System (VIS) Working Group will meet at the Hilton Arlington, 950 North Stafford Street, Arlington, Virginia 22203 on November 29, 2017, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on November 30, 2017, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., ET.
The VIS Working Group is a recently created advisory committee. On December 15, 2016, the Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary) appointed 24 members to the committee. The first committee meeting convened on December 19, 2016. The last committee meeting was on June 29-30, 2017, to discuss existing integrity management regulations, assessment types and tools, geographic information system pipeline data, operator implementation, and the potential need for short-term subcommittees. The Secretary will publish the VIS Working Group’s recommendations on a publicly available DOT Web site. The VIS Working Group will fulfill its purpose once its recommendations are published online.
The VIS Working Group agenda will include briefings on topics such as the mission and objective of the VIS effort, best practices, examples of existing information-sharing systems, safety management systems, and the establishment of subcommittees. As part of its work, the committee will ultimately provide recommendations to the Secretary, as required and specifically outlined in Section 10 of Public Law 114-183, addressing:
(a) The need for, and the identification of, a system to ensure that dig verification data are shared with in-line inspection operators to the extent consistent with the need to maintain proprietary and security-sensitive data in a confidential manner to improve pipeline safety and inspection technology;
(b) Ways to encourage the exchange of pipeline inspection information and the development of advanced pipeline inspection technologies and enhanced risk analysis;
(c) Opportunities to share data, including dig verification data between operators of pipeline facilities and in-line inspector vendors to expand knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of in-line inspection technology and methodologies;
(d) Options to create a secure system that protects proprietary data while encouraging the exchange of pipeline inspection information and the development of advanced pipeline inspection technologies and enhanced risk analysis;
(e) Means and best practices for the protection of safety and security-sensitive information and proprietary information; and
(f) Regulatory, funding, and legal barriers to sharing the information described in paragraphs (a) through (d).
The meeting agenda and any additional information will be published on the VIS Working Group and registration page . The meeting will not be web cast; however, any documents presented will be available on the meeting Web site and posted on the E-Gov website under docket number PHMSA-2016-0128 within 30 days following the meeting. This meeting will be open to the public. Members of the public who wish to attend in person are asked to register here no later than November 19, 2017 to facilitate entry and guarantee seating. Members of the public who attend in person will also be provided an opportunity to make a statement during the meeting.
For information about the meeting, contact Cheryl Whetsel by phone at 202-366-4431 or by email at cheryl.whetsel@dot.gov.