[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 92 (Friday, May 14, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26600-26602]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10234]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0172]


Pipeline Safety; Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that the information collection requests (ICR) 
summarized below are being forwarded to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register notice 
soliciting comments on the following information collections with a 60-
day comment period was published on December 17, 2020.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 14, 2021.
    Privacy Act Statement: DOT may solicit comments from the public 
regarding certain general notices. DOT posts these comments, without 
edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to 
www.regulations.gov, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/
ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.
    Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both 
customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from 
public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this notice contain 
commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as 
private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or 
responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate 
the submitted comments as CBI. Pursuant to 49 CFR 190.343, you may ask 
PHMSA to give confidential treatment to information you give to the 
Agency by taking the following steps: (1) Mark each page of the 
original document submission containing CBI as ``Confidential''; (2) 
send PHMSA, along with the original document, a second copy of the 
original document with the CBI deleted; and (3) explain why the 
information you are submitting is CBI. Only the redacted copy will be 
placed in the public docket. Submissions containing CBI should be sent 
to Angela Hill, DOT, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, PHP-30, 
Washington, DC 20590-0001. Any commentary PHMSA receives that is not 
specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for 
this matter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Angela Hill by telephone at 202/680-
2034 or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995,\1\ before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit 
public comment on proposed collections of information. On December 17, 
2020, PHMSA published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting 
comments on several proposed revisions to Form PHMSA F7100.2-1, 
``Annual Report for Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering 
Pipeline Systems,'' and Form PHMSA F7100.4-1, ``Underground Natural Gas 
Storage Facility Annual Report,'' both under OMB Control No. 2137-
0522.\2\ PHMSA also proposed changes to Form PHMSA F7100.2, ``Incident 
Report--Gas Transmission and Gathering Systems,'' under OMB Control No. 
2137-0635.
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    \1\ 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
    \2\ 85 FR 82028.
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    During the 60-day comment period, PHMSA received comments from the 
National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) and a 
joint comment from the American Gas Association, the American Petroleum 
Institute, the American Public Gas Association, and the Interstate 
Natural Gas Association of America (collectively, the Associations).
    The comments received are organized by topic area, summarized, and 
addressed below.

A. Form PHMSA F7100.2-1 Annual Report for Natural and Other Gas 
Transmission and Gathering Pipeline Systems

    The Associations suggested that PHMSA modify the instructions for 
Part G to clarify that operators are only required to report baseline 
and reassessment data for moderate consequence area (MCA) segments 
subject to 49 CFR 192.710. The Associations recommended that Sec.  
192.710 be added to the form after ``MCA'' on Part G, sections d-h.
    PHMSA appreciates the Associations making the important distinction 
between MCA segments and segments required to be assessed under Sec.  
192.710. PHMSA has implemented the Associations' suggestion by 
replacing ``MCA'' with ``Sec.  192.710'' in Part G, sections d-h, to 
provide clarity. Further, PHMSA's proposed changes did not recognize 
this important distinction in Parts F and L of the form. Accordingly, 
PHMSA has changed ``MCA'' to ``Sec.  192.710'' throughout Parts F and 
L.
    The Associations commented that PHMSA should further clarify which 
relief valve and emergency shutdown (ESD) events must be reported under 
Part G1 of the annual form. Per the Associations, the instructions 
should clarify that leaks are not reportable in Part G1 since they are 
already included in Part M. The Associations commented that relief 
valve ``chatter,'' which can generally be rectified by adjustment of 
the relief device, is not reportable under Part G1. They suggested 
reporting only ``confirmed'' activations/events and stated that the 
proposed reporting changes do not require operators to implement new 
procedures to identify relief valve activations. The Associations 
suggested that the proposed changes should simply require operators to 
report the number of relief valve activations and ESD events that are 
observed (and currently recorded as abnormal operating conditions) by 
operator personnel. The Associations also recommended that PHMSA should 
not begin requiring the reporting of any intentional release data under 
Part G1

[[Page 26601]]

until the 2022 calendar year annual reports (due in March 2023) since 
operators need time to modify processes to collect and report relief 
valve activations and ESD events in the form PHMSA proposes to collect 
it.
    PHMSA is not implementing the changes suggested by the Associations 
regarding the reporting of relief valve and ESD events. PHMSA is 
withdrawing its proposal to move reporting of these events from the 
incident form (Form PHMSA F7100.2) to the annual form (Form PHMSA 
F7100.2-1) at this time because PHMSA's initial proposal inadvertently 
omitted notice to the public that the annual form would include an 
additional requirement that operators report the volume of natural gas 
released during these events. As currently noticed, PHMSA would not be 
able to collect the amount of gas released from relief valve and ESD 
events after making the change from the incident to the annual reports. 
The volume of gas released is important data that PHMSA currently 
collects via the incident reports so no changes will be made at this 
time to avoid any disruption in the data collected. PHMSA intends to 
address this issue in a future information collection amendment and 
will consider all of the comments provided at that time.
    NAPSR requested that a section for reporting excavation damages be 
added to the Annual Report for Natural and Other Gas Transmission and 
Gathering Pipeline Systems. NAPSR commented that, for consistency, the 
added section should reflect the ``causes'' from the existing Section D 
of the Gas Distribution Annual Report (Form PHMSA F7100.1-1). The 
addition would include excavation damage, root cause, and the total 
number of one-call ticket requests by state. NAPSR stated this addition 
will provide for accurate and consistent statistical data across all 
pipeline types.
    PHMSA did not propose the change requested by NAPSR in the 60-day 
notice, so it cannot be added to this information collection proposal. 
PHMSA intends to address this issue in a future information collection 
change.

B. Form PHMSA F7100.2 Incident Report--Gas Transmission and Gathering 
Systems

    The Associations recommended additional changes to ensure a clear 
distinction between ``intentional'' and ``unintentional'' releases 
through relief valves and ESDs.
    PHMSA is not implementing the changes suggested by the Associations 
regarding the reporting of relief valve and ESD events. As explained 
above, PHMSA is withdrawing its proposal to move reporting of relief 
valve activation and ESD events from the incident report (Form PHMSA F 
7100.2) to the annual report (Form PHMSA F 7100.2-1) at this time 
because PHMSA's initial proposal inadvertently omitted notice that 
operators would be required to report the volume of natural gas 
released during these events on the annual report. PHMSA intends to 
address this issue in a future information collection change and will 
consider these comments at that time.

C. Form PHMSA F7100.4-1 Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility Annual 
Report

    The Associations recommended adding an additional category of wells 
as Part C10c in the report. The Associations stated that by adding 
``number of wells plugged and abandoned during the calendar year'' as 
an additional category in C10, there would be no duplication among 
counts in C10. PHMSA agrees and has added C10c.
    The Associations recommended that PHMSA clarify what is meant by 
``wells plugged but not abandoned'' and stated they believe this 
category is not intended to include temporary plugs.
    PHMSA agrees and has modified the instructions for the report by 
explicitly excluding ``temporary bridge plugs.''

II. Summary of Impacted Collection

    Section 1320.8(d), Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, requires 
PHMSA to provide interested members of the public and affected agencies 
an opportunity to comment on information collection and recordkeeping 
requests. This notice identifies an information collection request that 
PHMSA will submit to OMB for revision.
    The following information is provided for this information 
collection: (1) Title of the information collection; (2) OMB control 
number; (3) current expiration date; (4) type of request; (5) abstract 
of the information collection activity; (6) description of affected 
public; (7) estimate of total annual reporting and recordkeeping 
burden; and (8) frequency of collection.
    PHMSA will request a 3-year term of approval for this information 
collection activity. PHMSA requests comments on the following 
information:
    1. Title: Annual and Incident Reports for Gas Pipeline Operators.
    OMB Control Number: 2137-0522.
    Current Expiration Date: 1/31/2023.
    Type of Request: Revision.
    Abstract: This mandatory information collection covers the 
collection of data from operators of natural gas pipelines, underground 
natural gas storage facilities, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) 
facilities for annual reports. 49 CFR 191.17 requires operators of 
underground natural gas storage facilities, gas transmission systems, 
and gas gathering systems to submit an annual report by March 15, for 
the preceding calendar year. The revision to this information 
collection includes changes to the form and instructions for PHMSA 
F7100.4-1, ``Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility Annual Report,'' 
and revisions to the form and instructions for PHMSA F7100.2-1, 
``Annual Report for Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering 
Pipeline Systems.'' The revisions to the ``Underground Natural Gas 
Storage Facility Annual Report'' Form provide clarity on submitting 
data and include no new data elements. The revisions to the ``Annual 
Report for Natural and Other Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline 
Systems'' Form include collecting the number of miles in high 
consequence areas in accordance with 49 CFR 192.903 and the type of 
risk model used; and to reorganize some data fields to streamline the 
reporting of certain data elements.
    Affected Public: Operators of Natural Gas Pipelines, Underground 
Natural Gas Storage Facilities, and LNG Facilities.
    Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
    Annual Responses: 10,547.
    Annual Burden Hours: 80,101.
    Frequency of collection: Annually and on occasion.
    2. Title: Incident Reporting for Natural Gas Pipeline Operators and 
LNG Facilities.
    OMB Control Number: 2137-0635.
    Current Expiration Date: 1/31/2023.
    Type of Request: Revision.
    Abstract: Operators of natural gas pipelines and LNG facilities are 
required to report incidents, on occasion, to PHMSA per the 
requirements in 49 CFR part 191. PHMSA proposes to revise the form and 
instructions for the Incident Report--Natural and Other Gas 
Transmission and Gathering Pipeline System (PHMSA F7100.2) to include 
details on when operators are to answer questions E6 through E8 of the 
incident report.
    Affected Public: Natural Gas Pipeline Operators and Operators of 
LNG Facilities.
    Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
    Estimated number of responses: 301.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 3,612.
    Frequency of collection: On occasion.
    Comments are invited on:
    (a) The need for the renewal and revision of these collections of

[[Page 26602]]

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.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2021, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.
John A. Gale,
Director, Standards and Rulemaking Division.
[FR Doc. 2021-10234 Filed 5-13-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P