On November 14, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Gas and Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committees (GPAC and LPAC) met in Washington, D.C. The committees are federally mandated and their role is to provide multi-stakeholder input on PHMSA initiatives, including rulemakings. The committees have 15 members each comprised of five members of the public, five regulators and five industry representatives. APGA membership is represented on the committee by Rich Worsinger from City of Wilson, N.C.
During this meeting, there was no discussion of new rules, instead PHMSA took the opportunity to brief members on a variety of programs underway. The one-day program included an update from industry on Pipeline Safety Management System (PSMS) adoption, a presentation from the National Transportation Safety Board on the September 2018 incident in Merrimack Valley, a briefing on the efforts to revise the American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice 1162 on Public Awareness programs, and an update on PHMSA’s Research & Development efforts.
PHMSA also provided a rulemaking update and provided a brief overview of the 12 rulemakings in progress at the office of pipeline safety. The rules applicable to APGA membership include: Gas Regulatory Reform, Automatic Shut-off Valves or Remote Control Valves for new Gas Transmission Pipelines, the second Gas Transmission Rule, and updates to the standards that are incorporated by reference into federal regulation.
The next GPAC meeting is scheduled for March 4-5, 2020 and is open for the public to attend.
More information on PHMSA’s Advisory Committees is at
https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/standards-rulemaking/pipeline/pipeline-advisory-committees.
For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at
ekurilla@apga.org.