The National Academy of Sciences held a meeting on April 26 and 27, 2022, related to the required study from the 2020 PIPES Act regarding Remove Operated Valves, Automatic Shutdown Valves, and Emergency Flow Restricting Devices (ROV/ASV/EFRD). This was the third meeting of the group. Their report should be delivered to the three congressional committees with pipeline safety oversight by Dec 27, 2022, and will be used to determine the need/possibility of adding to the recently published Valve/Rupture detection rule.
Their charge is stated as follows:
The study will examine current federal regulatory requirements governing decisions about where and when to install these devices on existing pipelines, including regulatory criteria on factors to be considered and methodologies to be used for making such decisions. Consideration will be given to the treatment of public safety and environmental risks by these methodologies and the treatment of economic, technical, and operational feasibility. The study will identify and assess other potential methodologies for making such installation decisions on existing pipelines. In doing so, the committee will consider ASV, RCV, and EFRD technological capabilities; statutory and procedural limits on federal regulatory authority to require their use; relevant recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board; and current and proposed regulatory criteria for the installation of ASVs, RCVs, and EFRDs on newly constructed and fully replaced pipelines. The study will take into account issues associated with reliance on manual control valves, including human factors and accessibility concerns. As appropriate, recommendations will be made regarding regulatory or statutory changes that might be considered at the federal and state levels.
The meeting agenda and other reference materials are available at this link.