Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: Repair Criteria, Integrity Management Improvements, Cathodic Protection, Management of Change, and Other Related Amendments.
Today (8/4/22), PHMSA sent to the Federal Register for publication a final rule revising the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations to improve the safety of onshore gas transmission pipelines. This final rule addresses several lessons learned following the Pacific Gas and Electric Company incident that occurred in San Bruno, CA, on September 9, 2010, and responds to public input received as part of the rulemaking process. The amendments in this final rule clarify certain integrity management provisions, codify a management of change process, update and bolster gas transmission pipeline corrosion control requirements, require operators to inspect pipelines following extreme weather events, strengthen integrity management assessment requirements, adjust the repair criteria for high-consequence areas, create new repair criteria for non-high consequence areas, and revise or create specific definitions related to the above amendments.
The effective date of this final rule is 9 months after date of publication in the Federal Register. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register 9 months after date of publication in the Federal Register. The incorporation by reference of other publications listed in this rule was approved by the Director of the Federal Register on July 1, 2020.
Here is a link to a version of the rule we sent to the Federal Register.