[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 1, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36030-36031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-17477]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration
[Docket No. RSPA-97-2426; Notice 2]


Pipeline Safety: National Pipeline Mapping System

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Public workshops.

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SUMMARY: RSPA invites natural gas transmission and hazardous liquid 
pipeline operators, liquefied natural gas facility operations managers, 
mapping specialists, federal and state government agencies, and the 
public, to attend one of four public workshops on the national pipeline 
mapping system (NPMS). This digital mapping system, when complete, will 
show the location and selected attributes of the major natural gas 
transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines and liquefied natural gas 
facilities in the United States. At each of the workshops we will 
provide: An overview of the NPMS; details on the types of information 
OPS is requesting for the NPMS; facts about how we will use this 
information; technical specifications for submitting attribute data, 
geospatial data, and metadata; information about the national and state 
repository system; and advice on how to convert paper maps to digital 
data, should you want to convert.

DATES AND LOCATIONS: Four workshops will be held:
  July 14-15--Adam's Mark Hotels and Resorts, Houston, TX, 2900 
Briarpark Drive at Westheimer, (800) 436-2326;
  September 1-2--Hotel Arlington Heights, Arlington Heights, 
IL, 75 W. Algonquin Road, (847) 364-7600;

[[Page 36031]]

  September 23-24--ANA Hotel, San Francisco, CA, 50 Third 
Street, (415) 974-6400;
  October 28-29--Washington Plaza Hotel, Washington DC, 10 
Thomas Circle, (202) 842-1300.
    All workshops will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Specifics on registration and hotel 
accommodation information are available on the OPS Homepage-- http://
ops.dot.gov or may be obtained by calling Janice Morgan, (202) 366-
2392.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Transportation's Office of 
Pipeline Safety (OPS) is working with other federal and state agencies 
and the pipeline industry to create a national pipeline mapping system. 
The NPMS will be a digital mapping data base. This system, when 
complete, will show the location and selected attributes of the major 
natural gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines, and liquefied 
natural gas facilities in the United States. This would include 
information on interstate and intrastate natural gas transmission 
pipelines and hazardous liquid transmission lines. This would not 
include information on gas service lines, gas distribution lines, 
gathering lines, flow lines, or spur lines.
    OPS will add additional data layers to the system, including layers 
to describe population densities, areas unusually sensitive to 
environmental damage, natural disaster probability and high-consequence 
areas, hydrography, and transportation networks. OPS will use the 
system to depict pipelines in relation to the public and the 
environment, and to work with other government agencies and industry 
during an incident.
    The NPMS will provide federal and state governments and the 
pipeline industry with information on pipeline locations and their 
proximity to safety sensitive areas. For example, these include places 
where people live and work, community drinking water supplies, and 
national parks and historical areas.
    The NPMS will consist of multiple state repositories and a single 
national repository. The repositories will follow one mapping data 
standard to digitize, convert, and process the data.
    DOT strongly urges all natural gas transmission and hazardous 
liquid pipeline and liquefied natural gas facility operators to attend 
one of these meetings and to voluntarily provide mapping data for 
inclusion in the national pipeline mapping system. OPS will begin 
requesting pipeline operators to submit digital data early in 1999. OPS 
will accept paper data following collection of mapping data that has 
already been digitized.
    Two Joint Government-Industry Pipeline Mapping Quality Action Teams 
(MQAT) have worked to create the national pipeline mapping system 
digital pipeline location and attribute layer. The teams are sponsored 
by OPS, the American Petroleum Institute, the Interstate Natural Gas 
Association of America, and the American Gas Association. Represented 
on the teams are OPS, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of 
Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of 
Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the states of 
Texas, Louisiana, California, New York, and Minnesota, and the natural 
gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry.
    The first team, MQAT I, analyzed various mapping alternatives and 
determined a cost-effective strategy for creating a reasonably accurate 
depiction (plus or minus 500 feet, for a corridor width of 1,000 feet) 
of transmission pipelines and liquefied natural gas facilities in the 
U.S. The findings of MQAT I are described in a report titled: 
``Strategies for Creating a National Pipeline Mapping System'.
    MQAT II implemented the strategies outlined by the first team. MQAT 
II developed the national pipeline mapping data standards that will be 
used to create the digital pipeline layer in the national pipeline 
mapping system. These include standards for electronic data 
submissions, paper map submissions, and metadata (data on the data). 
The team has also developed standards that will be used by the pipeline 
mapping repository receiving the pipeline information. Both standards 
were pilot tested by state agencies, industry, and others to test the 
exchange of data that met the standards. A copy of the standards can be 
viewed and downloaded from the OPS Internet web site. The Internet web 
site is http://ops.dot.gov. The standards can also be obtained by 
calling (202) 366-4561.
    OPS has established a multi-phase approach to create the NPMS. This 
approach will allow industry and government to efficiently upgrade 
information in a manner that works with other business needs.
    OPS strongly urges all natural gas transmission and hazardous 
liquid pipeline operators and liquefied natural gas facility operators 
to provide mapping data. With federal and state agencies and operators 
all contributing, we can save time and money. To be successful, we need 
your help. Please attend one of four public workshops to learn how you 
can participate.

    Issued in Washington, DC on June 25, 1998.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 98-17477 Filed 6-30-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P