On October 1st the Railroad Commission of Texas (TRRC) approved for publication a variety of regulatory changes to 16 TAC 8. The primary changes are to bring TRRC regulations in alignment with PHMSA requirements. A couple of reporting changes include: operators no longer have to submit to the TRRC certain PMHSA reports, but instead retain copies and only submit to the TRRC if requested to do so. There are proposals to shorten the time for reporting an accident/incident to one hour instead of the current two hours.
For the follow-up 30-day reports, the content has been expanded to include certain specific items but also to report all the items required by PHMSA. Construction Commencement reports have new requirements. The definitions for Priority 1, 2 and 3 segments are changed for DIMP risk analysis results. A prohibition for using cast iron, wrought iron and bare steel pipe in distribution systems is included in the proposal as well as a deadline of December 31, 2021 for the replacement of all known cast iron distribution pipe.