[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 67 (Thursday, April 6, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18020-18021]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-8454]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

49 CFR Part 195

[Docket RSPA-5455]
RIN 2137-AC34


Areas Unusually Sensitive to Environmental Damage

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

ACTION: Notice of Public Workshop and Initiation of Technical Review.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: RSPA is concluding a pilot test of a draft definition for 
areas unusually sensitive to environmental damage from a hazardous 
liquid pipeline release, commonly referred to as unusually sensitive 
areas (USAs). The draft USA definition was created through a series of 
public workshops and technical entities. The pilot was conducted to 
determine if the draft definition could be used to identify and locate 
unusually sensitive drinking water and ecological resources using 
available data from government agencies and environmental 
organizations. RSPA invites industry, government agencies, and the 
public to a workshop that will begin a technical review of USA pilot 
results. The purpose of this workshop is to openly discuss the pilot 
results and to provide the results to other government agencies, 
environmental groups, and academia for evaluation.

DATES: The workshop will be held on April 27, 2000, from 9 to 4 and on 
April 28, 2000, from 9 to 1 pm. Written comments on this initiative 
must be submitted by June 27, 2000.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the U.S. DOT, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW, Room 2230, Washington, DC. Non-federal employee visitors 
are admitted into the DOT building through the southwest entrance at 
Seventh and E Streets, SW. Persons who want to participate in the 
workshop should call (202) 366-4561 or e-mail their name, affiliation, 
and phone number to [email protected]. Send written comments 
in duplicate to the Dockets Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room #PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 
20590-0001. Persons who want confirmation of mailed comments must 
include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Comments may also be e-
mailed to [email protected] in ASCII or text format. The 
Dockets Facility is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, 
except on Federal holidays when the facility is closed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christina Sames, (202) 366-4561, or e-
mail [email protected], about this document, or the Dockets 
Unit, U.S. Department of Transportation, Plaza 401, 400 Seventh Street 
SW, Washington, DC 20590, for copies of this document or other material 
in the docket, including material from previous workshops. The public 
may also review material in the docket by accessing the Docket 
Management System's home page at http://dms.dot.gov. An electronic copy 
of any document published in the Federal Register may be downloaded 
from the Government Printing Office Electronic Bulletin Board Service 
at (202) 512-1661.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  

Legislative History

    The pipeline safety statute (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60109) requires the 
Secretary of Transportation to prescribe standards that establish 
criteria for identifying each hazardous liquid pipeline facility and 
gathering line located in an area that the Secretary describes as 
unusually sensitive to environmental damage if there is a hazardous 
liquid pipeline accident (USAs). When describing USAs, the Secretary is 
to consider areas where a pipeline rupture would likely cause permanent 
or long-term environmental damage. These areas are to include:
    1. Locations near pipeline rights-of-way that are critical to 
drinking water, including intake locations for community water systems 
and critical sole source aquifer protection areas; and
    2. Locations near pipeline rights-of-way that have been identified 
as critical wetlands, riverine or estuarine systems, national parks, 
wilderness areas, wildlife preservation areas or refuges, wild and 
scenic rivers, or critical habitat areas for threatened and endangered 
species.

Public Workshops to Date

    RSPA has held five public workshops on USAs. Participants at the 
workshops have included representatives from the Environmental 
Protection Agency; the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, 
Transportation, and Commerce; nongovernment agencies; academia; and the 
public.
    The first workshop was held on June 15 and 16, 1995, and focused on 
criteria being considered to determine USAs (60 FR 27948; May 26, 1995; 
Docket PS-140(a)). A second workshop held on October 17, 1995, focused 
on developing a process that could be used to determine if an area is a 
USA (60 FR 44824; August 29, 1995; Docket PS-140(b)). The third 
workshop on January 18, 1996, focused on guiding principles for 
determining USAs (61 FR 342; January 4, 1996; Docket PS-140(c)). The 
fourth workshop held April 10-11, 1996 (61 FR 13144; March 26, 1996; 
Docket PS-140(d)) focused on criteria, components, and parameters of 
terms that have been used when describing USAs and the scope and 
objectives of additional USA workshops.
    A fifth workshop was held June 18-19, 1996 (61 FR 27323; May 31, 
1996; Docket PS-140(e)) and focused on identifying critical drinking 
water resources and possible filtering criteria that could be used to 
identify drinking water resources that are unusually sensitive to a 
hazardous liquid pipeline release. The critical drinking water 
resources that were identified in that workshop include public water 
systems, wellhead protection areas, and sole source aquifers. Filtering 
criteria include the depth and geology of a drinking water resource and 
if the public water system has an adequate alternative drinking water 
supply. Transcripts of and information presented at these public 
workshops are in the Docket.

[[Page 18021]]

API Work

    In addition to the five public workshops, the American Petroleum 
Institute (API) held two meetings with technical experts to discuss 
unusually sensitive ecological resources. The meetings were held on 
October 23-24, 1996, and June 25-26, 1997. Representatives of RSPA, 
EPA, the Departments of Interior, Commerce, and Agriculture, and The 
Nature Conservancy attended these meetings. Attendees discussed 
possible ecological USA candidates and filtering criteria that could be 
used to determine which ecological resources are unusually sensitive to 
damage from a hazardous liquid pipeline release. The significant 
ecological resources that were identified during the meetings include 
threatened and endangered species, critically imperiled and imperiled 
species, depleted marine mammals, and areas containing a large percent 
of the world's population of a migratory waterbird species. Filtering 
criteria focused on the extent to which a species is endangered, areas 
that are critical to multiple sensitive species, and areas where a 
large percent of a species population could be impacted. Notes from 
these technical meetings are in the Docket.

Proposed Definition and Pilot Test

    RSPA recently proposed a definition for unusually sensitive 
drinking water end ecological resources in a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (64 FR 73464; December 30, 1999). The proposed definition 
was created through a series of public workshops and our collaboration 
with a wide-range of federal, state, public, and industry stakeholders. 
The identification of USAs uses a multi-step process that begins by 
designating and assessing environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs), 
determining which of these ESAs are potentially more susceptible to 
permanent or long term damage from a hazardous liquid release (areas of 
primary concern), and finally identifying filtering criteria to 
determine which areas of primary concern can be reached by a release 
and sustain permanent or long-term damage. The areas that result are 
the proposed USAs. Proposed section 195.6 gives a more detailed 
definition of USAs.
    OPS is concluding a pilot test to determine if the proposed 
definition can be used to identify and locate unusually sensitive 
drinking water and ecological resources using available data from 
government agencies and environmental organizations. Texas, California, 
and Louisiana were the states chosen to test the proposed USA 
definition due to the large number of hazardous liquid pipelines and 
the considerable drinking water and ecological resources that exist in 
these states. OPS will use the results to evaluate whether the proposed 
definition identifies the majority of unusually sensitive areas and 
whether environmental data is accessible and appropriate to support the 
proposed definition. Once OPS finishes the test, has a peer review and 
gets comment on the proposed definition, it will go forward with a 
final rule. API will also use the results of this pilot test to create 
an industry guidance document on USAs.

Workshop and Technical Review

    OPS is conducting a public workshop to discuss the results of the 
pilot test and to begin a technical review of the pilot results. 
Discussions at the workshop will include background on the USA 
initiative, the drinking water and ecological definitions, models that 
were used to apply the proposed definition, data that was gathered, how 
the data was processed using a geographic information system (GIS), and 
maps of the resulting USAs.
    The workshop will begin a technical review of the pilot results. 
Drinking water and ecological resource experts from federal and state 
agencies, academia, environmental groups, and others have been invited 
to participate in a formal technical review of the pilot results. These 
experts include the Department of Interior's Office of the Secretary, 
Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service; the Department of 
Agriculture's Forest Service; the Department of Commerce's National 
Marine Fisheries Service; the Environmental Protection Agency's Office 
of Groundwater and Drinking Water, and Office of Solid Waste and 
Emergency Response; state Nature Conservancies and Heritage Programs; 
state drinking water resource agencies; academia and other 
environmental experts. These reviewers will help to identify other data 
sets that might be utilized and other resources that might be 
considered, and to improve the definition's capability to identify 
USAs. OPS welcomes additional comments on the proposed definition and 
the pilot results. RSPA will use the final pilot results and comments 
received to move toward completing a USA definition by the end of this 
year.

    Issued in Washington, DC on March 31, 2000.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 00-8454 Filed 4-5-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P