Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Research and Special Programs Administrationthe predecessor agency to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued final rules in 1980 requiring that a manifest accompany each shipment of hazardous waste during transportation. In 49 CFR 172.205, PHMSA provided that the uniform manifest ``may be used as the shipping paper required by'' the Hazardous Materials Regulations, so long as it contained all the required information. On May 22, 2001, EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the hazardous waste manifest system. One of EPA's proposed changes would have allowed the uniform manifest to be prepared and transmitted electronically from the generator to the disposal facility, rather than requiring it to accompany the shipment. EPA is deferring final action on the electronic manifest pending further analysis, outreach, and possible supplemental proposals. Therefore, PHMSA is withdrawing an NPRM published on August 8, 2001, that would have amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations on the use of the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest for shipments of hazardous wastes. The changes proposed in that NPRM would have accommodated changes proposed by EPA. PHMSA proposed to require that, if the generator of a hazardous waste prepares an electronic manifest, either a physical copy of the electronic manifest or another document containing the information required for a shipping paper must accompany the hazardous waste in transportation.

Enstar Natural Gas Company (Enstar) has petitioned the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) for a waiver of the pipeline safety regulation that prohibits tracer wire from being wrapped around the pipe.

The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) plans to conduct several work group meetings in 2005 to evaluate ways to enhance integrity of gas distribution pipeline systems. The work groups include representatives of OPS, state pipeline safety regulators, the gas distribution industry, the Gas Pipeline Technology Committee, the Fire Marshal's Association, and the public. The next meeting will be held March 29-31, 2005, in Dallas, Texas.

This notice seeks public comment on the need for PHMSA to collect paperwork information from state agencies that maintain programs to regulate pipelines. The purpose of the paperwork is to ensure that these states are properly monitoring the operations of pipeline operators in their states, and to determine Federal grant amounts for these states. This notice is published (pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995) to measure the need for the paperwork collection from these state agencies, to find ways to minimize the burden on states that must respond, to find ways to enhance the quality of information collected, and to verify the accuracy of the PHMSA's estimate of the burden (measured in work hours) on the states. This notice also seeks approval from the Office of Management and Budget to renew the existing approval of this paperwork collection.

This notice seeks public comment on the need for PHMSA to collect paperwork information from hazardous liquid pipeline operators. The mission of PHMSA is to ensure the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the nation's approximately 154,000 miles of hazardous liquid pipelines. The requested paperwork will ensure that PHMSA can identify any trends in hazardous liquid pipeline safety and share it with the stakeholders for effective inspection programs, minimizing incidents. This notice is published (pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995) to measure the need for the paperwork collection from the hazardous liquid pipeline operators, to find ways to minimize the burden on operators, to find ways to enhance the quality of the collected information, and to verify the accuracy of PHMSA's estimate of the burden (measured in work hours) on private entities. This notice also seeks to renew the existing approval from OMB for this paperwork collection.

PHMSA proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to adopt standards for the design, construction, maintenance and use of cylinders and multiple-element gas containers (MEGCs) based on the standards contained in the United Nations (UN) Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Aligning the HMR with the UN Recommendations will promote flexibility, permit the use of technological advances for the manufacture of pressure receptacles, provide for a broader selection of pressure receptacles, reduce the need for exemptions, and facilitate international commerce in the transportation of compressed gases.

In accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5117(c), PHMSA is publishing the following list of exemption applications that have been in process for 180 days or more. The reason(s) for delay and the expected completion date for action on each application is provided in association with each identified.

The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) is granting Columbia Gas Transmission's (Columbia) petition for a waiver of the pipeline safety regulations to install fiberglass reinforced polyethylene pipe in its high pressure natural gas storage field operations.

On January 5, 1993, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) issued an interim final rule establishing oil spill response planning requirements for onshore oil pipelines (49 CFR Part 194). These regulations were issued pursuant to section 1321(j)(5) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). OPS is now adopting the interim rule as a final rule. This final rule makes minor amendments to some of the regulations in response to the written public comments received after issuance of the interim final rule and at a public meeting held in 1997 in New Orleans, LA. The amendments also reflect the experience that OPS has gained in implementing the rule; leading spill response exercises; and, responding to actual spills and harmonizes certain OPS requirements with related oil spill response regulations developed by the U.S. Coast Guard. The amendments are generally technical in nature and do not involve additional costs to pipeline operators or the public.