Page 18 - Tennessee 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1

by/nhrl/scnbl
Gas Plpellne Safety
have wntmn sevelal eululnns OVCI always lalluws Lhc leeulnnlendanuns lnlel-nallullal anel [’ubll(Affalr~ Tllls
llle yeals legalellng the ofIcn- of the cmc. Tlansenpls of the Individual ls lespunslble rel assul-lng
painful pnxess of rcgulatlng GPAC uleellngs used to be lwallablc lllal llle Current adallnlsllallons
p|pL‘lmL‘~ l aln lelnlndeel of tlic on llle PHMSA web slle (the PHMSA mgulalory leruml pollcics ale bclng

analogy of makmg sausage and passlng web ~llc ls Currently belng upgladeel lrnplcmcntnd. Al llle seeand cmc
leglslallun —botl\ ean be extremely and full mnnlunallly llas ycl to be lneellng, llls presence was qulle
unpleasanl la watch. l ll-led to End lesluled) but ale sllll ayallable ln llle apparent. By llle llllld cmc lneellng,
llle ullglnamlunlle analogy and, dockcl al XKYXKYIU.I('Xl4[/1!/Ul(5.XLIl/. [have «be poslllan was vacant. Clearly,
dependlng an wlllell suulee you eall nut chctknd llle total, bul lyplcally PHMSA ls euneemed wllll llle eusl
belleve, bulll Otto yun Blsm.1xtk(1315 eaell cmc gas Mega Rule aleellng of Lhc propomd ellanges but, in my

— 1898) and Mark Twaln (1335 — mm genelales suellellllllg elose lo BUD pages Dp|nlOn, |t would be ln [’HMSA’s besl
offered ealnlnenls. As a sleeplle,l of llansenpl lnlelesuas well as «be publlesbesl
would slellply add that, ln llle end, H I d V 7 lnlelesl) to try to get that poslllun filled
sausage ls usually nluell mole palalable “V” "“‘ “ "‘> P°““* as qulckly as pusslble. ln PHMSA’s
Lhan new leglslallun ul new regulatlon. derense, |I ls a polltlce1lpD~ll|un and
Baek ln 2011, PHMSA (llle Fedelal ‘ ‘ 1 .. , . l l , , s : PHNEA }'“’}:‘m“"“3‘"’.' “;fl“"f1‘“
plpcllnc safcty regulatory ageney; , ; lg ‘ l‘ is ~' l , ‘"3" ‘"5 W ° 3‘ ° “ ‘° °’ “ ‘°“'
slaned llle pmeess ul lellplelnellllng ' ' ‘ Nuw rel a 30,000-foot repufl on
major levlslans to dle legulalluns ’ , . é : , . llle aelual plugless; Nudllng ln
gavel-nlng natural gas plpellnes. nus ll “day 1 L “W llle Gas Mega Rule ls all Ihaleilrlh
was based on eunglesslunal dlleellles , ‘ sllanenng ln lcrm~ of mqulnng
(leglslanon), leeolnnlendanons lluul lg ; . 5 —, a E » e E l, llaeeable, venllable and Cumplclc

llle Nallonal Tlanspunallon Safety Q J. L ls § — ‘l« ‘e é s leeulds neeessaly Io eslabllsll sare
Buald (llley lnvesllgale plpellne as well a K V e * ' upelallng plessules sol gas plpellnes
as allllne lncldznts), denlands rlaln s 2,: ~e a >4 The eleyll ls, as they say, ln llle
plpcline safely aellvlsls, elelnands fium ' i‘ - ~ l ‘~ detl1|l~. wllen lllls pmeess slalled ln
environmental aellvlsls (wllo dun’l llke v , »« — 2011, Lhc pulllleal environment was
plpellnes — PERIOD), advelse pubhclty ll g : 7' ,5 ‘ [L e; eunsldelably diffcmnl PHMSA loukcd
mlatnd Io seyelal slgnllleanl lnelelenls, ' \ '\ = A ' ~ at all tlm Input and elullrully llled

llle results of plpellne lnspeelluns, lnput la accommndale all llle Input rluln
§'l?e’l“l»°l§“'l/?s‘Is‘r'1°.‘,'L'..°l§‘§?‘e§.§§‘§§§fZ’ ‘mnded*W°°‘*1“"mCa*MEga §‘§a“§2.";'§l°§§ ?§§ p'|1e11;l?~‘ul:h|f1I: el3l§13§l
what needed to be done The nauee of R““ GP“ "‘““"g‘ “““ ‘ ‘“" 1‘“Pl’Y Reglslel. In 2017, «be polllleal ellmale

_ Io lepan tlml llle aleellbels ll: Lhc _
plupused rulemakmg was publlslled GPAC H H H“ d d H ellanged. Tlle mtcgnty of plp2lmL‘~
Apnl 3, 2015 and gellelaled OVQI 400 M“ “ ‘“ P’“P“’“ “" W“ was, and ls, llle pnlnaly obleellve.
_ duallfied to p.1rl|:lpaIL‘;PHI\/lSA}Iad , ,

eulnlnenls (Over woo pagesl). As Md _ ‘ h V k” d Huwevel, eeunulnle iactun wele

of January 2013, «be plueess ls ~tlIl °“‘ ‘ ’ °"‘“‘“ °’ ‘“ ‘“’P"“ ‘"5 finally leeugnlzed as a eunsldelallun

. Ta dale t1'1I:r€ have been '° ”“ ‘°"‘"‘““’ ‘“‘“"’““‘ d“"“3 "'9 wllele ean lllnlled lesuulees be besl

gulng on ,

Lluee lneellngs of ale cas Plpellne P“P"°d“°‘“1"}‘“' P”'°‘‘' “"1 PHMSA lnvesled to enllanee plpellne ~af2ty’
Advisory cumlnluee (CPACD Tlle ”‘”"“ ' “‘ ‘M “‘ my °P‘"'°“' "‘°" PHMSA llad been pnmluling l-lsk-
CPACl\as15 lneulbels —5 each from °|’;“ ‘: d'l“."_’5““ WM‘ ““*’““ '° based legulauuns (a goud dung’) but
gavel-nulenl, llae gas p|pL‘llnQ lndustry, '“ “" ““ "°""’ PHMSA’- euneepl of what I! eusls lo
and llle pubIlc— and PHMSA almmt one lssue of pelsullal eoneeln lelales to upelale a plpellne ls, ln my Cxpcnentz,

llle PHMSA D|mCl0r of Covcrnmlznlal,
16 . leaaesseeall 2Dl£,!ssuel