[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 8, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23316-23318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-11570]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

[Docket No. RSPA-98-4957; Notice 29]


Pipeline Safety: Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution 
Pipeline Incident and Annual Report Forms

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

ACTION: Request for OMB Approval and Public Comment.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) published its 
intention to revise forms RSPA F 7100.2--Incident Report For Gas 
Transmission and Gathering Systems and RSPA F 7100.2-1--Annual Report 
For Gas Transmission and Gathering Systems (65 FR 47585-86 August 2, 
2000). The purpose of this notice is to give the public an additional 
30 days from the date of this notice to comment on the proposed changes 
in the natural gas transmission forms, and the information collection 
burden for both the revised natural gas transmission forms and the 
existing natural gas distribution forms. The natural gas distribution 
incident and annual report forms are not being revised at this time. 
Comments to the initial public comment request have been summarized in 
this notice.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before June 7, 
2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roger Little by telephone at 202-366-
4569, by fax at 202-366-4566, by mail at U.S. Department of 
Transportation, RSPA, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Room 7128, Washington, 
DC, 20590, or by e-mail to [email protected].

ADDRESSES: Copies of this proposed information collection and the 
revised forms, RSPA F 7100.2--Incident Report for Gas Transmission and 
Gathering Systems and RSPA F 7100.2-1--annual Report for Gas 
Transmission and Gathering Systems, can be reviewed in this docket at 
http://dms.dot.gov. Dockets Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Plaza 401, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 
20590-0001. Comments should be sent directly to the Office of 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management Budget, ATTN: RSPA Desk 
Officer, 726 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC 20503. See the 
Supplementary Information Section for additional filing information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Filing Information

    The Dockets facility is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except federal holidays. All comments should identify 
the docket number of this notice, Docket No. RSPA-98-4957; Notice 29. 
You should submit the original and one copy. If you wish to receive 
confirmation of receipt of your comments, you must include a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard. To file written comments electronically, after 
logging onto http://dms.dot.gov, click on ``Electronic Submission.'' 
You can read comments and other material in the docket at this Web 
address: 
http://dms.dot.gov. General information about our pipeline safety 
program is available at this address: http://ops.dot.gov.

Background

    RSPA posted a notice on August 2, 2000 in the Federal Register 
(Docket No. RSPA-98-4957) inviting comments on RSPA's proposed 
revisions to the Natural Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline 
Incident and Annual Report forms. This notice summarizes comments 
received during the comment period and updates the cost burden estimate 
for the revised natural gas transmission forms. Additionally, this 
notice updates the cost burden estimates for the existing Natural Gas 
Distribution Incident and Annual Report forms, which RSPA will consider 
revising at a later time.
    To ensure adequate public protection from exposure to potential 
natural gas transmission pipeline failures, RSPA collects information 
on reportable transmission pipeline incidents. Additional information 
is also obtained concerning the characteristics of an operator's 
pipeline system, needed for normalizing the incident information in 
order to provide for adequate safety trending. The requirements for 
reporting incidents are found in 49 CFR part 191. Reports on 
transmission incidents must be submitted to RSPA in writing within 30 
days of occurrence. The regulations require submission of the natural 
gas transmission annual report form by

[[Page 23317]]

March 15 of each year for the preceding year's operations.
    The information collected pertaining to reportable natural gas 
transmission incidents provide an important tool for identifying safety 
trends in the gas pipeline industry, but there are recognized problems 
with the current data collection. The National Transportation Safety 
Board (NTSB), the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector 
General, and the General Accounting Office have urged RSPA to revise 
the information collected on the natural gas transmission pipeline 
incident report form and annual report form to improve its usefulness. 
NTSB Safety Recommendation P-96-1 urges RSPA to:

develop within 1 year and implement within 2 years a comprehensive 
plan for the collection and use of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline 
accident data that details the type and extent of data to be 
collected, to provide the Research and Special Programs 
Administration with the capability to perform methodologiclly sound 
accident trend analyses and evaluations of pipeline operator 
performance using normalized accident data.

RSPA worked with representatives of the Interstate Natural Gas 
Association of America (INGAA) and the American Gas Association (AGA) 
to review the natural gas transmission incident and annual report forms 
to make the information collected more useful to industry, government, 
and the public.
    The reports that RSPA is currently revising covered by this Federal 
Register Notice are two of the four gas pipeline reporting forms 
authorized by Information Collection OMB 2137-0522, ``Incident and 
Annual Reports for Gas Operators.'' The proposed revisions are part of 
an ongoing process to revise all incident and annual reports. RSPA's 
calculations for natural gas distribution incident and operator annual 
reports reflect burden hours of unrevised formed. RSPA will look to 
revise natural gas distribution forms in the near future. At such a 
time when RSPA acts to revise the natural gas distribution forms, RSPA 
will publish a new notice with an updated burden hour estimate.

Previous Comments on Revision of Gas Transmission Forms

    Several comments were received in response to the 60-day notice. 
The following is a discussion of the major comments. Many comments were 
of an editorial nature including improving the presentation of the form 
itself and the clarity of the instructions, and are not discussed here, 
however, these editorial changes were made on the forms. A few gas 
pipeline companies states that 30 days is not sufficient time to 
provide the necessary information. RSPA has always provided the 
opportunity for operators to provide more extensive information in the 
form of supplementary reporting. Some operators claimed that they do 
not keep information by class location in electronic format. This they 
states would cause them considerable expense. RSPA does not agree that 
this is a costly endeavor. Companies are already required to keep 
information on miles by class location. Large companies have generally 
implemented computer databases to track such information. Smaller 
companies that may have the information in hard copy should not have a 
difficult task in tallying mileage by class location using adding 
machines or computer spreadsheets. To tally such information for 
example for a company of 800 or fewer system miles where such 
information is kept in hard copy would require examining hard copies 
for 800 data points, adding them to the appropriate class category, and 
summing the totals. Such calculations are hardly complex and time 
consuming. Some operators objected to reporting information by class 
location at all. RSPA believes that this information is important 
because some requirements are based on the class location. It is 
important for RSPA to know whether added protections that are required 
in more heavily populated areas are in fact having the appropriate 
impact on public safety. Some operators objected to the idea of 
providing information on the age of the pipe because they did not have 
age information on all of their pipeline. RSPA allows operators who do 
not have age information to check off unknown on the age category. RSPA 
believes that age information is important to understanding it defects 
in pipe are age related. One operator suggested that each form should 
be on the OPS website as electronic filing will make reporting less 
burdensome. OPS agrees with this suggestion and will do so in the near 
future. One operator objected to having to provide pipeline information 
by state as being costly. OPS believes that it is important for state 
pipeline safety offices that pipeline information to provided by state. 
One state pipeline program asked for separate information on cast iron 
and wrought iron. RSPA believes that this is unnecessary as the amount 
of pipeline made of these products is rapidly being replaced by other 
products. This state program also requested more information by 
diameter of pipeline and more detail on third party damage and near 
misses. While this information may be useful, RSPA did not wish to add 
an undue burden on pipeline operators.

Information Collection Burden for Incident and Annual Reports for 
Natural Gas Pipeline Operators

    Title: Incident Report for Gas Transmission and Gathering and Gas 
Distribution Systems (RSPA F 7100.2-1).
    OMB Number: 2137-0522
    Estimate of Burden: The average burden hours per response is 
approximately 6 hours for the revised transmission incident report; 3 
hours for the revised transmission annual report; 4 hours for the 
distribution incident report; and 2 hours for the distribution annual 
report.
    Respondents: Gas transmission pipeline operators and gas 
distribution pipeline operators. Estimated Number of Respondents: 900 
gas transmission pipeline operators and 1,200 gas distribution pipeline 
operators.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent per Year: Natural Gas 
Transmission Incident Reports--0.1; Natural Gas Transmission Annual 
Reports--1.0. Natural Gas Distribution Incident Reports--0.167; Natural 
Gas Distribution Annual Reports--1.0.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The burden for each 
gas transmission pipeline operator is an average of 6 hours per 
incident report form and 3 hours per annual report form. For all 900 
gas transmission pipeline operators, the burden estimate is 540 hours 
(6 hours  x  900 operators  x  0.1 incidents) for incidents and 2,700 
hours (3 hours  x  900 operators) for annual reports, for a total 
burden for natural gas transmission pipeline operators of 3,240 hours 
per annum.
    The burden for each gas distribution pipeline operator is an 
average of 4 hours per incident report form and 2 hours per annual 
report form. For all 1,200 gas distribution pipeline operators, the 
burden estimate is 801.6 hours for incident reports (4 hours  x  1,200 
operators  x  0.167 = approximately 800 hours for incidents) and 2,400 
hours (2 hours  x  1,200 operators) for annual reports.
    An estimated 570 telephonic notification reports are prepared and 
received telephonically at 0.5 hours per report. The approximate total 
time required for processing telephonic reports is 285 hours.
    The total burden for both natural gas distribution and natural gas 
transmission operators is (540 + 2,700 + 2,400 + 800 + 285) = 6,725 
hours per annum.
    Comments are invited on: (a) The need for the proposed collection 
of

[[Page 23318]]

information for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques.

    Issued in Washington, DC on May 2, 2001.
Stacey L. Gerard,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 01-11570 Filed 5-7-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-M