[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 112 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35051-35052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-14695]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

[Docket No. RSPA-03-15122; Notice 1]


Pipeline Safety: Petition for Waiver; Duke Energy Gas 
Transmission Company

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

ACTION: Notice; petition for waiver for extension of time.

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SUMMARY: Duke Energy Gas Transmission Company (DEGT) petitioned the 
Research and Special Programs Administration's (RSPA) Office of 
Pipeline Safety (OPS) for a 12-month extension of time to comply with 
the provisions of 49 CFR 192.611(d), which require pipeline operators 
to confirm or revise the maximum allowable operating pressure within 18 
months after a class location change.

DATES: Persons interested in submitting written comments on the waiver 
proposed in this notice must do so by July 11, 2003. Late-filed 
comments will be considered so far as practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by mailing or delivering an 
original and two copies to the Dockets Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001. The Dockets Facility is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except on Federal holidays when the facility is closed. 
Alternatively, you may submit written comments to the docket 
electronically at the following Web address: http://dms.dot.gov.
    All written comments should identify the docket and notice numbers 
stated in the heading of this notice. Anyone who wants confirmation of 
mailed comments must include a self-addressed stamped postcard. To file 
written comments electronically, after logging on to http://dms.dot.gov, click on ``Comment/Submissions.'' You can also read 
comments and other material in the docket at http://dms.dot.gov. 
General information about our pipeline safety program is available at 
http://ops.dot.gov.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Reynolds by phone at 202-366-
2786, by fax at 202-366-4566, by mail at DOT, RSPA, OPS, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC, 20590, or by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DEGT petitioned RSPA/OPS for a waiver from 
compliance with 49 CFR 192.611(d) for selected gas transmission 
pipeline segments in Pennsylvania. DEGT is asking for an additional 12 
months beyond the 18 months allowed by Sec.  192.611(d) to present, 
discuss, and have RSPA/OPS review alternative actions to maintain an 
equal or higher level of safety.
    Section 192.611(d) requires an operator to complete a class 
location change study whenever it believes an increase in population 
density may have caused a change in class location as defined in Sec.  
192.5. The operator must complete a study and confirm or revise its 
maximum authorized operating pressure within 18 months of the class 
location change. The operator is required to either reduce pressure or 
replace the pipe with thicker-walled pipe to lower pipe wall stress to 
acceptable percentages of specified minimum yield strength.
    DEGT's waiver request for an extension of time is specific to four 
pipeline segments on Line 12 and Line 19, which are part of its Texas 
Eastern Pipeline System in the state of Pennsylvania. These segments 
are located in the towns of Entriken, Perulack, Bernville, and 
Bechtelsville. The pipelines are 24-inch and 30-inch in diameter and 
the class locations have changed from Class 1 to Class 2.
    When these pipelines were built between 1954 through 1963, they 
were hydrotested to at least 100% of the pipe's specified minimum yield 
strength (SMYS) with the exception of 10 feet of pipe on the 
Bechtelsville discharge line, which was tested to 90% SMYS.
    DEGT has internally inspected each of these pipelines. DEGT first 
inspected the pipelines in 1986 using Tuboscope's conventional magnetic 
flux leakage (MFL) tool. Between 1996 and 2002, DEGT performed a second 
inspection of these lines using Tuboscope's conventional MFL tool and 
Tuboscope's high resolution MFL tool.
    During the same years, DEGT also inspected and evaluated the 
condition of the coal tar enamel pipeline coatings and evaluated the 
cathodic protection current demands on each of the pipelines. DEGT 
reported that the coatings were in good condition and that the cathodic 
protection systems were not experiencing excessive current demands.
    Because DEGT has internally inspected its pipelines and performed 
other tests in excess of the minimum requirements of 49 CFR part 192, 
RSPA/OPS will consider granting DEGT a 12-month extension from the 
requirements of Sec.  192.611 (d).
    DEGT further seeks to present an alternative technical proposal for 
permanent waiver of compliance with Sec.  192.611 by September 2003. 
RSPA/OPS will determine if the alternative will yield an equal or 
higher level of safety than that required by the regulation. If RSPA/
OPS decides that the alternative will yield an equal or higher level of 
safety, we will issue a Federal Register notice by December 2003 
announcing the proposed technical waiver of Sec.  192.611. The notice 
will provide an opportunity for public comment. If RSPA/OPS does not 
believe DEGT's proposal will yield an

[[Page 35052]]

equal or higher level of safety, DEGT will be required to fully comply 
with Sec.  192.611 by September 2004.

    Authority: 49 App. U.S.C. 60118(c) and 2015; and 49 CFR 1.53.

    Issued in Washington, DC on June 5, 2003.
Stacey L. Gerard,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 03-14695 Filed 6-10-03; 8:45 am]
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