June 30, 2023
Stanley Chapman
Executive VP and President of U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines
TC Energy
700 Louisiana Street, Suite 300
Houston, Texas 77002
Re: Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0202
Special Permit from March 31, 2022, to March 31, 2032
Dear Mr. Chapman:
On June 22, 2022, and November 30, 2022, pursuant to 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 190.341, Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC (TCO)1 applied to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for a special permit. TCO requested to amend the previously granted special permit at Docket No. PHMSA 2019-0202 to waive compliance with 49 CFR §§ 192.611(a) and (d) and 192.619(a) for Class 1 to Class 3 location changes for an additional 0.587 miles of the 30-inch diameter Line MC – Line VC pipeline (Pipeline). The Pipeline is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia. A gas transmission pipeline operator is required by 49 CFR § 192.611 to confirm or revise the maximum allowable operating pressure of a pipeline segment where the class location has changed as defined in 49 CFR § 192.5.
On August 17, 2022, PHMSA published a Federal Register notice (87 FR 50691) announcing the Special Permit Request for Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0202. On January 5, 2023, PHMSA published an additional Federal Register notice (88 FR 908) for the second request under separate Docket No. PHMSA-2022-0166. The Special Permit Request letter, Final Environmental Assessment (FEA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), Special Permit Analysis and Findings (SPAF), and all other pertinent documents for this special permit have been combined and are available in Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0202 in the Federal Docket Management System located at www.regulations.gov.2 PHMSA received public comment on these special permit requests and has addressed such in the Final Environmental Assessment.
Subject to the stated terms and conditions, PHMSA grants the amendment to the special permit (enclosed) issued on March 31, 2022, based on the information provided by TCO and the findings set forth in the SPAF, FEA, and FONSI. This special permit provides relief from certain provisions of the Federal pipeline safety regulations for the Pipeline and requires TCO to comply with conditions and limitations designed to maintain pipeline safety as defined in the special permit. In accordance with 49 CFR § 190.341(j), PHMSA reserves the right to revoke, suspend, or modify this special permit if circumstances occur in which its continuance would be inconsistent with pipeline safety. If TCO elects not to implement the special permit conditions for the segments identified in the amended special permit, TCO must notify PHMSA within 60 days and comply with 49 CFR § 192.611(a) within 18 months of the date of this letter granting the special permit amendment.
My staff would be pleased to discuss this special permit or any other regulatory matter with you. Mary McDaniel, Acting Director of PHMSA Engineering and Research Division, may be contacted at (713) 272-2847, on technical matters; and Robert Burrough, Director, Office of Pipeline Safety, Eastern Region may be contacted at (609) 771-7809, for operational matters specific to this special permit.
Sincerely,
Alan K. Mayberry
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety
Enclosure: Special Permit – PHMSA-2019-0202
1. Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC is a subsidiary of TC Energy.
2. https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=PHMSA-2019-0202. PHMSA will also post all documents relevant to the November 30, 2022, request in Docket No. PHMSA-2022-0166, the docket number for which that request was initially assigned.