In response to a White House directive calling for the review of rulemakings proposed under the previous administration, the Department of Transportation has identified pending rules that will go into effect on the previously announced dates. (66 Fed. Reg. 9673, February 9, 2001)

The Department published its new drug and alcohol testing regulation on December 19, 2000. (65 Fed. Reg. 79462) A portion of this rulemaking went into effect on January 18, 2001, prior to the White House memorandum. The remainder of this rule goes into effect August 1, 2001. See the November 2000 Vessel and Facility Compliance Newsletter.

Because the effective date of this rule is more than 60 days after the date of the White House memorandum, allowing time for the required reviews, DOT does not believe that it is necessary to extend the effective date.

EPA will conduct EPCRA/TRI Training workshops across the country during the spring of 2001. These workshops are intended to assist persons preparing their annual reports on release and other waste management activities as required under sections 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA). These reports must be submitted to EPA and designated state officials on or before July 1, 2001. Information concerning the EPCRA/TRI Training workshops is available on EPA's web site at http://www.epa.gov/tri.

On February 1, 2001, a proposed consent decree in United States v. Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, Civil Action No. 99-S-2419, was lodged with the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. In this action, the United States sought civil penalties for alleged violations of Section 113(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7413(b), resulting from the alleged failure of Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) to obtain a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before construction in May 1979 of a natural gas compressor station, the Akron Compressor Station (also known as the "Niobrara Compressor Station"), located in Washington County, Colorado. The United States also alleges that NGPL operated the Akron Compressor Station as a major stationary source in violation of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7413, without an appropriate PSD permit, and without application of best available control technology.

Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, NGPL will pay a civil penalty of $215,000 for alleged violations of the CAA PSD program, and implement a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) that will be valued at $100,000 in order to resolve the United States' claims. The SEP requires NGPL to install equipment on two gas-fired compressor engines at the Crystal River Compressor Station in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and on two gas-fired compressor engines at the Well Draw Compressor Station in Converse County, Wyoming. When the SEP is completed, total nitrogen oxide (NOX) reductions at the two stations are expected to be about 400 tons per year (TPY). The proposed consent decree does not require that NGPL take any injunctive measures because NGPL no longer owns the Akron Compressor Station at issue in this case.

On February 8, 2001, in accordance with the Regulatory Review Plan published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2001, the DOT delayed the effective date of the final rule titled "Pipeline Safety: Areas Unusually Sensitive to Environmental Damage," published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2000, 65 FR 80530 , from February 20, 2001, to a new effective date of April 21, 2001. Also on February 8, and for the same reasons, the DOT delayed the effective date of the final rule titled "Pipeline Safety: Pipeline Integrity Management in High Consequence Areas (Hazardous Liquid Operators with 500 or More Miles of Pipelines)," published in the Federal Register on December 1, 2000, 65 FR 75378, from March 31, 2001, to a new effective date of May 29, 2001.

Editor's note: Denise Hamsher, a member of THLPSSC, pointed out to us that the moratorium on these rules will delay the effective date of the rules but will NOT change the COMPLIANCE dates imbedded in the regulations. In fact, according to OPS legal staff during the recent Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee meeting, we should plan on all the compliance dates remaining the same (unless specifically notified in federal notice otherwise).

The first bill approved by the US Senate this year concerned the pipeline safety act reauthorization. The House will consider the senate bill when drafting their own bill, compromises must be reached, and presidential approval must be received before any of the proposed requirements will become law. But… the current Senate bill gives a good indication of the types of requirements that future legislation (and subsequent regulations) will contain, such as:

1. requires operators to inspect pipelines every five years
2. expands state oversight of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines
3. increases outlays for safety efforts by $13 billion over several years
4. improves whistle-blower protections
5. requires pipeline operators to submit to federal or state agencies detailed risk assessments and inspection plans
6. provides additional DOT funds for research into technologies to detect pipeline flaws better
7. requires operators to submit to state or federal oversight agencies a plan to enhance the qualifications of pipeline personnel
8. requires owners and operators of pipelines to report to the DOT any spill of more than five gallons
9. increases from $25,000 to $500,000 the civil penalty for each failure by an operator to mark accurately the location of pipelines near construction and demolition operations or violations of other safety standards
10. increases the maximum civil penalty to $1 million.

RCP will conduct a 2 day workshop on DOT Pipeline Regulations on May 15 and 16th in Houston. This workshop will present an overview of all the current DOT regulations for pipeline operators, including recent regulatory initiatives such as operator qualification and pipeline integrity management. It will be followed by a half day workshop on May 17th dedicated to OPA-90 oil spill response planning for DOT pipelines. Both of these workshops are suitable for personnel who need a general introduction to DOT pipeline regulatory requirements. Additional information is available on our website HERE.

RCP will repeat our 2 day workshop on Pipeline Integrity Management on July 17 and 18th in Houston. This workshop presents a detailed analysis of the recent federal Pipeline Integrity Management regulation and the management programs / elements that it requires. We will also review recent state initiatives / proposed rules on pipeline integrity management. On the 18th we will discuss various methods of actually conducting a risk assessment for pipeline segments, and will work though several hands-on examples. We received very positive feedback from the Pipeline Integrity Management workshop that we conducted in March, and expect the July session to fill up rapidly. Additional information is available on our website HERE.

RCP is proud to announce the grand opening of their latest specialty website at www.USCoastGuard.org. This site contains links and downloads of interest to operators of regulated marine transportation facilities, as well as a calendar of upcoming events. It also contains all the previous editions of our popular Marine and Facility Compliance newsletters.

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