[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 61 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15321-15322]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7813]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
49 CFR Part 195
[Docket No. PS-121; Notice-4]
[RIN 2137-AD 05]
Pressure Testing Older Hazardous Liquid and Carbon Dioxide
Pipelines
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.
ACTION: Clarification of confirmation of direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: A member of the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety
Standards Committee (THLPSSC) has expressed concern that the compliance
dates for pressure testing are being extended and that the notice
confirming the direct final rule on extension did not accurately
reflect actions of the committee reviewing the rule. This member
requests clarification and the opportunity for public comment on the
extension of the compliance deadlines. This document clarifies the
actions of the THLPSSC and notes that compliance deadlines may be
addressed within a related rulemaking on the risk-based alternative to
pressure testing.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Israni, (202) 366-4571, e-mail:
[email protected], regarding the subject matter of this
document, or the Dockets Unit (202) 366-4046, for copies of this
document or other information in the docket.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A final rule issued in 1994 requires certain older hazardous liquid
and carbon dioxide pipelines to be pressure tested. Compliance dates
for pressure testing have been extended to allow development of a rule
to provide an alternative to pressure testing based on an evaluation of
the risks the lines pose to safety and the environment. On October 21,
1997, RSPA published a direct final rule [62 FR 54591] to extend for a
second time compliance dates for the pressure testing.
The THLPSSC, the federal advisory committee established by statute
to review pipeline safety standards, reviewed the direct final rule at
a November 18, 1997 meeting in Houston, Texas. At the meeting, two
members expressed concerns over delays in the rulemaking to establish a
risk-based alternative to pressure testing. These two members voted not
to approve the rule. The majority of the THLPSSC members approved the
direct final rule as ``technically feasible, reasonable, and
practicable.'' Following the committee meeting, the THLPSSC sent a
resolution to RSPA's Administrator urging for prompt adoption of a rule
providing for a risk-based alternative to pressure testing. A notice of
proposed rulemaking to provide a risk-based alternative was published
in the Federal Register on February 5, 1998 [63 FR 5918] There were no
subsequent comments objecting to the direct final rule, and believing
that the issues raised in the THLPSSC meeting had been addressed by the
publication of the risk-based alternative, RSPA confirmed the direct
final rule on January 26, 1998 [63 FR 3653].
In a letter dated February 24, 1998, the member of the THLPSSC
[[Page 15322]]
representing the Environmental Defense Fund, who had cast one of the
dissenting votes at the November meeting, expressed concern with the
direct final rule extending the compliance dates for pressure testing
and the process for its issuance. Extension of the compliance dates for
pressure testing delays testing of older pipelines, whose integrity may
be questionable and which may be prone to leaks and spills from
outdated materials, design, and/or construction practices. The member
points to previous extension of the compliance dates because of the
development of the risk-based alternative and argues that further
extension eliminates pressure on the Office of Pipeline Safety to
complete the risk-based alternative rulemaking promptly. This member
also contends that written comments objecting to the extension were not
submitted because RSPA indicated during the THLPSSC meeting that the
negative votes of the committee members would be considered adverse
comments.1
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\1\ The direct final rule process is designed to allow for
immediate issuance of rules for which comment is not deemed
necessary because of the lack of controversy. Thus the receipt of
adverse comments requires the agency to republish the rule either as
a proposal or as a revised direct final rule.
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The THLPSSC member encourages clarification of the advisory
committee actions (which is done above) and republication of the
extension of compliance dates for pressure testing for comment. RSPA
does not believe that extension of compliance dates is inconsistent
with prompt action on the risk-based alternative. RSPA believes that,
without an extension of compliance dates, an operator may be required
unnecessarily to plan for pressure testing lines which would likely
qualify for alternative testing. The compliance dates for pressure
testing established by the direct final rule are the same as those
proposed for pipelines which will be required, under the risk-based
alternative, to be pressure tested. Continuation of this consonance
assures that pressure testing of higher risk lines will not be delayed
by an operator's election of the risk-based alternative.
Given these identical dates for completing pressure testing,
comments by THLPSSC members or others on the issues of timing of
pressure testing may be submitted on the current proposed rule on the
risk-based alternative. That comment period is open until April 6,
1998, and RSPA encourages anyone concerned with the timing of the
pressure testing to comment on that proposal.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 20, 1998.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 98-7813 Filed 3-30-98; 8:45 am]
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