Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration November 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

PHMSA is publishing this notice to solicit public comment on several requests for special permit from Williams Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company (Transco) and WilliamsNorthwest Pipeline Company (Northwest), seeking relief from compliance with certain requirements in the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations. After 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 requests.

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. Each mode of transportation for which a particular special permit is requested is indicated by a number in the ``Nature of Application'' portion of the table below as follows: 1 Motor vehicle, 2Rail freight, 3Cargo vessel, 4Cargo aircraft only, 5Passenger-carrying aircraft.

PHMSA is issuing this safety advisory notice to inform the public, industrial gas stakeholders, and relevant government officials of the risks associated with requalifying, filling, and transporting cylinders bearing the DOT specification markings ``DOT 4E'' or ``DOT 4BA'' that were produced by a company located in Thailand by the name of Metal Mate. Metal Mate does not have an approval from PHMSA to manufacture cylinders to DOT specifications; therefore, cylinders marked with the Metal Mate name are not DOT specification cylinders. They must not be used to transport hazardous materials in commerce to, from, or within the United States, or on a United States-registered aircraft. These cylinders may not perform to the marked DOT performance standard and may not be safe for commercial transportation or consumer use.