Transportation Department Finally Adopts Widely Applauded Pipeline Safety Rule for Gas Distribution Pipelines

摘要

A six-year proceeding before the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) culminated on 12/4/09 in a Final Rule establishing an integrity management (IM) program for natural gas distribution pipelines.1 One industry official called it the "most significant rulemaking affecting natural gas distribution operators since the inception of the federal pipeline safety code." In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued 6/25/08, the PHMSA sought to require the development and implementation of an IM rule for distribution systems, as required by the 2006 Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2006. (FNGR No. 2701, pp7-9)