On August 29th, PHMSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to incorporate by reference 28 updated industry standards and make several non-substantive edits and clarifications to certain other provisions of Parts 191, 192 and 195. PHMSA incorporates more than 80 consensus standards by reference into the pipeline safety regulations, many of which become outdated over time as new editions become available. There are, however, many updated standards available that PHMSA has not incorporated. For example, the 2004 edition of ASME B31.8S is still incorporated by reference under §192.7 instead of the more recent 2020 edition.
Most of the non-substantive edits are corrections of typos or incorrect code references. PHMSA is proposing to add a new Appendix G Guidance on Moderate Consequence Areas to Part 192 to provide guidance on moderate consequence areas that is currently provided by the FHWA’s Highway Functional Classifications Concepts, Criteria and Procedures document. The proposed appendix G includes guidance relevant to the terms ‘‘Designated Interstate,’’ ‘‘Freeway,’’ ‘‘Expressway,’’ and ‘‘Principal Arterial Roadway,’’ which appear in the definition of a moderate consequence area. The proposed appendix repeats the information from this document verbatim. PHMSA does not propose to make any substantive change to the definition of a moderate consequence area.
For a copy of this NPRM, contact Jessica Foley.