Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration April 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On March 3, 2023, PHMSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), entitled ``Hazardous Materials: Adoption of Miscellaneous Petitions and Updating Regulatory Requirements (HM- 219D),'' proposing changes to update, clarify, improve the safety of, or streamline various regulatory requirements. In response to a request for an extension of the comment period submitted by Worthington Industries, PHMSA is extending the comment period for the HM-219D NPRM for an additional 45 days. Comments to the HM-219D NPRM will now be due by June 16, 2023.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations, notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the application described herein.

PHMSA is making necessary technical corrections to ensure consistency within, and the intended effect of, a recently issued final rule titled ``Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: Repair Criteria, Integrity Management Improvements, Cathodic Protection, Management of Change, and Other Related Amendments.'' PHMSA also alerts the public to its November 18, 2022, and April 19, 2023, responses to petitions for reconsideration of this final rule.

PHMSA is publishing this notice to solicit public comments on a request for special permit received from Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (FGT). The special permit request is seeking relief from compliance with certain requirements in the federal pipeline safety regulations. At the conclusion of the 30-day comment period, PHMSA will review the comments received from this notice as part of its evaluation to grant or deny the special permit request.

PHMSA is publishing this notice to: (1) solicit information pertaining to how the potential use of recycled plastic resins in the manufacturing of specification packagings may affect hazardous materials transportation safety; (2) ensure transparency of its current policy pertaining to the use of recycled plastics in the manufacturing of specification packagings; (3) seek input on this policy to better inform potential regulatory changes; and (4) gather information for the evaluation of future approval requests and to better inform decisions pertaining to potential regulatory revisions and other related work.

This notice announces that PHMSA will host a two-day public meeting titled: ``Safety of Underground Natural Gas Storage Public Meeting'' in Broomfield, Colorado. PHMSA is hosting this meeting as part of its core mission to improve safety through better communications between PHMSA and its stakeholders. The purpose of the public meeting is to share important safety information with the public and industry, as well as gather input to inform future rulemaking decisions.