March 2013

On March 26, 2013, a coalition of environmental groups and private citizen landowners, headed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club, filed a petition with PHMSA and the USEPA seeking new regulation of pipelines transporting diluted bitumen (dilbit).  The petition, brought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Pipeline Safety Act (PSA), Clean Water…

On December 13, 2012, pursuant to an OMB information collection, PHMSA published a Federal Register notice soliciting comments from operators of hazardous liquid pipelines in HCAs regarding the information-collection requirements relative to the IMP provisions of 49 C.F.R. Part 195.452. Comments were invited on: (a) The need for the proposed collection of information for the…

TransCanada’s proposed new pipeline construction project to carry tar sands oil from Canada to the US Gulf Coast received considerable scrutiny when initially proposed. Because the new pipeline crosses an international border, it requires a Presidential Permit from the State Department, and that process in turn requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under…

Last year PHMSA proposed to revise release reporting forms (Form 7100.2 for natural gas or gathering line “incidents”, and Form 7100-1 for liquid pipeline “accidents”). The revised Forms are now available and should be used for future reporting required under either 49 C.F.R. Part 191 or Part 195. Notably, PHMSA also asks operators who…