PHMSA - PIPES

About PIPES Act

PIPES ACT 2016

Download PIPES ACT 2016 chart

President Barack Obama signed the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act on June 22, 2016. This bipartisan law strengthens PHMSA’s safety authority and includes many provisions that will help PHMSA fulfill its mission of protecting people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials.

The rulemakings chart is responsive to Section 3 of the PIPES Act 2016 which states that, “the Secretary of Transportation shall publish an update on a publically available web site of the Department of Transportation regarding the status of a final rule for each outstanding regulation…”

Section 3 (c) defines an outstanding regulation as:

(1) a final rule required under the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (Public Law 112–90) that has not been published in the Federal Register; and

(2) a final rule regarding gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities required under this Act or an Act enacted prior to the date of enactment of this Act (other than the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011(Public Law 112–90)) that has not been published in the Federal Register. In addition, PHMSA is to provide a description of all rulemakings regarding gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities published in the Federal Register that are not identified above.

PIPES Act Rules Chart

Rule Title/Subject/Docket No.	Rule and Significance	Legislation	Description of work plan - Projected Completion Dates Based on Currently Available Information	Updated Rulemaking Timeline (FR Publication Date)	Current staff Allocation - PHMSA staff assigned to more than one project at a time**	Resource constraints affecting process	Additional Details Affecting Rulemaking Progress	Additional Comments on Rulemaking Status

Pipeline Safety 2011
OPS: Safety of On-Shore Hazardous Liquid Pipelines PHMSA-2010-0229	FR - Significant	Pipeline Safety 2011 Sec 5(IM), 8 (leak detection); Sec 29 (seismicity); Sec 14 (bio fuels), Sec 21(c) (offshore gathering) PIPES Act 2016 Sec 14 (safety data sheets); Sec 25 (assessments)	OST Approval - Oct 17, 2016 ; OMB Approval - 12/20/16; FR Publication - 12/30/16	Projected:12/30/2016	10 staff	-		-
OPS: Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines PHMSA-2011-0023	FR - Significant	Pipeline Safety 2011 PSA § 5(e) (6 months); § 5(f)(3) - exp IM principal); § 23(a) testing; § 23(a) MAOP-incomplete records; § 29 - seismicity	Pipeline Adv Committee Meeting Dec 2016, & Feb 2017 PHMSA August, 2017 OST Projected: September 2017; OMB Projected: December 2017 FR Publication projected - 12/29/17	Projected: 12/29/2017	13 staff	Competing priorities.	Comment period ended 7/13/2016 and there are over 300 comments. Size, complexity of comments will lead to more study in drafting final rule.	-
OPS: Excess Flow Valves for Multi-Person Dwellings PHMSA-2011-0009	FR Non Significant	Pipeline Safety 2011 PSA Sec 22	OST Approval - 9/18/16; FR Publication - 10/14/2016	10/14/2016	N/A	-	-	Final Rule Published 81 FR 70987
OPS: Pipeline Rupture Detection and Mitigation for Onshore Populated and High Consequence Areas	NPRM - Signficant	Pipeline Safety 2011 PSA Sec 8; Sec 4	Workplan under revision	NPRM-TBD	9 staff	Other projects using resources;. competing priorities.	Currently re-drafting NPRM	-
OPS: Operator Qualification, Cost Recovery, Accident and Incident Notification and Other Changes PHMSA-2013-0163	FR (Pending Significance Determination)	Pipeline Safety 2011 PSA Sec 9; Sec 13	PHMSA Approval - 9/26/16; FR Publication Projected - 12/30/2016 unless non significant	Projected:12/30/16	22 staff	-	Pending significance designation from OIRA	-
PIPES Act 2016
OPS: Underground Gas Storage Facilities PHMSA-2016-0023	IFR - Significant	PIPES ACT 2016 Sec 12	OST Approval - 10/18/16 OMB Approval - Projected: 12/20/16 FR Publication - Projected 12/30/16	Projected:1/23/2017	4 staff	-	In OIRA 90-day review process	-
OPS: Emergency Orders Authority PHMSA-2016-0091	FR Non Significant	PIPES Act 2016 Sec 16	PHMSA Approval 9/26/16; IFR Publication - 10/14/16 Comment period ends 12/13/16. Publish FR by 3/19/2017	FR-03/19/2017	5 staff	-	In 60-day comment period; Workplan for FR TBD.	Published IFR on 10/14/2016. 81 FR 70980
OHMS: Gasohol (Hazardous Material Identification Number)	ANPRM- non-sig	PIPES Act 2016 Sec 15	Workplan under revision	ANPRM - Projected Dec 2016 NPRM - TBD FR - TBD	8 staff	-	Draft under Review	-
OPS: Unusually Sensitive Areas	-	PIPES Act 2016 Sec 19	-	-	2 staff	-	Under development	-
LNG	-	PIPES Act 2016 Sec 27	Workplan under development	-	5 staff	-	Under development	-
FAST ACT 2016
OHMS: Real Time Train Consist	NPRM - Significant	FAST Act 2016: Sec. 7302	Workplan under revision	NPRM - TBD	10 staff	Competing priorities.	Currently re-drafting NPRM	-
OHMS: Oil Spill Planning and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains PHMSA-2014-0105	FR - TBD	FAST Act 2016: Sec. 7302 & 7307.	PHMSA Approval - Projected 3/1/20/17; OST Approval - Projected 4/17/17; OMB Approval - Projected 07/17/17; FR Publication - Projected 07/28/17	FR - Projected July-17	8 staff	-	Comment period ended on 9/29/16. Reviewing and assessing comments	-
OHMS: Revision to Requirements for Hazardous Materials Grants PHMSA-2015-0272	FR- TBD	FAST Act 2016: Sec. 7203 & 7301 (RRR)	PHMSA Approval - 9/30/16; FR Publication - 10/14/16	NPRM - Oct-16 * Final Rule - TBD	7 staff	-	In 60-day comment period; Workplan for FR TBD	Published NPRM on 10/11/2016. 81 FR 70067
State Certification PHMSA-2015-0177	NPRM - non significant	PHMSA proposes to amend 49 CFR Part 198 by incorporating into PHMSA’s regulations the existing statutory procedures in the Federal pipeline safety laws regarding the certification of State authorities to regulate intrastate gas and hazardous liquid pipelines and the process by which PHMSA and State authorities may enter into interstate-agent and other agreements for State authorities to assist PHMSA in the regulation and inspection of both interstate and intrastate pipelines.
Periodic Update of Regulatory References to Standards PHMSA- 2016-0002	NPRM - non significant	This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposes to amend the Federal pipeline safety regulations to incorporate by reference new, updated or reaffirmed editions of the voluntary consensus standards that are applicable to pipelines subject to the requirements of the Federal pipeline safety regulations.
Plastic Pipes Rule PHMSA-2014-0098	FR (Pending Significance Determination)	PHMSA is proposing to amend the natural and other gas pipeline safety regulations (49 CFR part 192) to address regulatory requirements involving plastic piping systems used in gas services. These proposed amendments are intended to correct errors, address inconsistencies, and respond to petitions for rulemaking.

*Staff allocations listed in this chart identify the total number of persons assigned to each rulemaking project. However, PHMSA staff are often assigned to multiple rulemaking teams and have additional tasks that prevent them from working full-time on a single rulemaking project.
**Work plan Projected Completion Dates based on currently available information.

Acronyms used

OPS-Office of Pipeline Safety; Office of Hazardous Materials Safety; FR is Federal Register; OST is Office of the Secretary of Transportation; OIRA is Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; NPRM is Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Final Rule (FR) Interim Final Rule (IFR) Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking