[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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