{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 32024029NOA","title":"ALLIANCE PIPELINE L.P. — Notice of Amendment","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2024-06-03","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of amendment citing 192.631(a), 192.631(b), 192.631(d), 192.631(h)(6).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-32024029noa.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-32024029noa.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-32024029noa","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/32024029NOA","body":"Notice of Amendment involving ALLIANCE PIPELINE L.P.. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 192.631(a),  192.631(b),  192.631(d),  192.631(h)(6). The case was opened on 2024-06-03 and is reported as closed as of 2024-11-07. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n32024029NOA_Closure Letter_11072024_(23-264637).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/32024029NOA/32024029NOA_Closure%20Letter_11072024_(23-264637).pdf\n\n32024029NOA_Closure Letter_11072024_(23-264637)_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/32024029NOA/32024029NOA_Closure%20Letter_11072024_(23-264637)_text.pdf\n\n32024029NOA_Notice of Amendment_06032024_(23-264637).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/32024029NOA/32024029NOA_Notice%20of%20Amendment_06032024_(23-264637).pdf\n\n32024029NOA_Notice of Amendment_06032024_(23-264637)_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/32024029NOA/32024029NOA_Notice%20of%20Amendment_06032024_(23-264637)_text.pdf\n\n32024029NOA_Operator Response to Notice and Request Time Extension_07012024_(23-264637).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/32024029NOA/32024029NOA_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice%20and%20Request%20Time%20Extension_07012024_(23-264637).pdf\n\n32024029NOA_Closure Letter_11072024_(23-264637)_text.pdf\n\nVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO: sburrows@pembina.com; hcburns@pembina.com;\nbbachmeier@pembina.com\nNovember 7, 2024\nMr. Scott Burrows\nPresident and CEO\nPembina Cochin, LLC\n4000 585-8 Avenue SW\nCalgary, Alberta, Canada\nRE: CPF 3-2024-029-NOA\nDear Mr. Burrows:\nFrom July 26 to September 14, 2023, representatives of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration (PHMSA), pursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code (U.S.C.),\nvirtually inspected Alliance Pipeline L.P.’s (Alliance) procedures for Control Room\nManagement (CRM) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. On April 1, 2024, Enbridge sold the Alliance\nPipeline to Pembina which included operations of the Control Room. As a result of the\ninspection, Alliance was issued a Notice of Amendment on June 3, 2024, which proposed\namendment of Alliance’s procedures.\nAlliance submitted its amended procedures on November 1, 2024. My staff has reviewed the\namended procedures, and it appears that the inadequacies outlined in this Notice of Amendment\nhave been corrected.\nThis letter is to inform you that no further action is necessary, and this case is now closed.\nThank you for your cooperation.\nSincerely,\nGregory A. Ochs\nDirector, Central Region, Office of Pipeline Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\ncc: Heather Christie-Burns, Pembina US, Vice President, Transmission Pipelines,\nhcburns@pembina.com\nBob Bachmeier, Manager Regulatory & Environment, US Ops, Pembina US,\nbbachmeier@pambina.com\n\n32024029NOA_Notice of Amendment_06032024_(23-264637)_text.pdf\n\nNOTICE OF AMENDMENT\nVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO: sburrows@pembina.com; hcburns@pembina.com;\nbbachmeier@pembina.com\nJune 3, 2024\nMr. Scott Burrows\nPresident and CEO\nPembina Cochin, LLC\n4000 585-8 Avenue SW\nCalgary, Alberta, Canada\nCPF 3-2024-029-NOA\nDear Mr. Burrows:\nFrom July 26 to September 14, 2023, representatives of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration (PHMSA), pursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code (U.S.C.),\nvirtually inspected Alliance Pipeline L.P.’s (Alliance) procedures for Control Room\nManagement (CRM) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. On April 1, 2024, Enbridge sold the Alliance\nPipeline to Pembina which included operations of the Control Room.\nAs a result of the inspection, PHMSA has identified the apparent inadequacies found within\nAlliance’s plans or procedures. The items inspected and the inadequacies are described below:\n1. § 192.631 Control room management.\n(a) General. This section applies to each operator of a pipeline facility with a\ncontroller working in a control room who monitors and controls all or part of a\npipeline facility through a SCADA system. Each operator must have and follow\nwritten control room management procedures that implement the requirements of\nthis section . . . .\n(b) Roles and responsibilities. Each operator must define the roles and\nresponsibilities of a controller during normal, abnormal, and emergency operating\nconditions. To provide for a controller's prompt and appropriate response to\noperating conditions, an operator must define each of the following:\n\n\n\nAlliance's procedures, “CRM-70-100,” Version 3.0, dated May 30, 2023 (CRM Plan) and “Gas\nControl Operations Manual GAS-MANL-0004,” Version 7.0, dated May 2, 2023 (Gas Manual),\nwere not adequate to define the controller's role during temporary, impromptu (unplanned)\nchanges in controller responsibilities, per § 192.631(b). The CRM Plan and the Gas Manual both\nprovided direction on when a controller would be absent from the console for periods of time.\nCRM Plan section 4.3.17 covered periods of time both less than and greater than 15 minutes\naway from the console. Gas Manual section 11 addressed an unattended control room. section\n11.1 requires the Gas Control Supervisor or Specialist to provide temporary relief for periods\nlonger than 15 minutes. This was a different requirement than the one included in section 4.3.17\nof the CRM Plan.\nThe Unattended Control Room process located in section 11 of the Gas Manual was not adequate\nto define a controller’s roles and responsibilities. The Flowchart in section 11.1.1 had two flow\npaths. If there are not two controllers on duty and the controller will be away for greater than 15\nminutes, a supervisor will either assume control of the console or monitor the console remotely\n(no control through Citrix). There was no limit on this action for how long the stand-in controller\ncould operate remotely, and there was no shift turnover or exchange of information requirement.\nIf there were two controllers on duty, then the procedure condition benchmark was when the\ncontroller was gone greater than 60 minutes. If the procedure answer was \"YES\" to this\ncondition, then a relief controller was secured and a \"mid-shift handover\" conducted. A mid-shift\nhandover was not defined by procedures as to what information was required to be exchanged.\nFor example, during the inspection the PHMSA inspector asked whether the mid-shift turnover\nrequired something less than a regular turnover or just something between the start and the end\nof a shift. Alliance was not able to offer an adequate response. This process was not complete\nand, in practice, was possibly more integrated than the flowchart provided.\nDuring the inspection, Alliance also described a practice that took place when a controller\nbecame incapacitated and while acting as the only controller in the control room. This practice\nwas not defined in procedure. This may have related to the inactivity alarm, but the procedure in\nsection 11.1 indicated that the inactivity alarm had been disabled since the start of COVID in\ncalendar year 2020. The function of the activity alarm needs to be verified and included in the\nprocedure if it is being utilized or disabled.\nAlliance’s procedures need to be amended to include further definition of mid-shift turnover\nrequirements, verification of the inactivity alarm and its inclusion in the procedure if required,\nformalization of the practice of what happens when a controller becomes incapacitated, and\nlimitation to how long a stand-in controller can operate remotely.\n2. § 192.631 Control room management.\n(a) General. This section applies to each operator of a pipeline facility with a\ncontroller working in a control room who monitors and controls all or part of a\npipeline facility through a SCADA system. Each operator must have and follow\n\n\n\nwritten control room management procedures that implement the requirements of\nthis section. . . .\n(b) . . . .\n(d) Fatigue mitigation. Each operator must implement the following methods to\nreduce the risk associated with controller fatigue that could inhibit a controller's\nability to carry out the roles and responsibilities the operator has defined:\nAlliance’s CRM Plan section 5 was not adequate to identify operator specific fatigue risks, per §\n192.631(d). Specifically, section 5 only provided consequences of fatigue rather than the\noperator specific risks that can cause fatigue. The risks should be identified in the procedure and\nused to develop mitigation strategies.\nThe procedure needed to be amended to identify operator specific fatigue risks. Post-inspection,\nAlliance amended the procedure to identify fatigue risks. This was reviewed and determined to\nbe adequate. No further action is required.\n3. § 192.631 Control room management.\n(a) General. This section applies to each operator of a pipeline facility with a\ncontroller working in a control room who monitors and controls all or part of a\npipeline facility through a SCADA system. Each operator must have and follow\nwritten control room management procedures that implement the requirements of\nthis section. . . .\n(b) . . . .\n(h) Training. Each operator must establish a controller training program and review\nthe training program content to identify potential improvements at least once each\ncalendar year, but at intervals not to exceed 15 months. An operator's program\nmust provide for training each controller to carry out the roles and responsibilities\ndefined by the operator. In addition, the training program must include the\nfollowing elements:\n(1) . . . .\n(6) Control room team training and exercises that include both controllers and other\nindividuals, defined by the operator, who would reasonably be expected to\noperationally collaborate with controllers (control room personnel) during normal,\nabnormal or emergency situations. Operators must comply with the team training\nrequirements under this paragraph by no later than January 23, 2018.\nAlliance’s CRM Plan section 9, subsection 4.3.13.4.4, was not adequate to identify other\nindividuals, defined by the operator, who would reasonably be expected to operationally\ncollaborate with controllers (control room personnel) during normal, abnormal or emergency\nsituations, per the requirements of § 192.631(h)(6). Specifically, section 9 stated “list of\npersonnel required to participate in CRTT (Team Training) is maintained in the Learning\nManagement (LMS) system.” CRM Plan section 11, subsection 4.2.2.12, referenced Appendix D\nof the CRM Plan, which listed groups that support the control room. This section detailed a task\nassigned to a supervisor under workload management that stated, “develop and maintain a list of\n\n\n\ninternal and external resources necessary for the Control Room to meet its operational objectives,\nthat shall include functional area, and position/job title (Appendix D).” While this is a reasonable\nlist, it was not intended to define who collaborates with the control room for the purpose of Team\nTraining. This definition should be included in the CRM Plan.\nThe procedure needed to be amended to include the groups and general job titles of individuals\nwho operationally collaborate with control room personnel to augment the procedure and clarify\nwho should be included in the LMS system for Team Training. This addition would ensure that,\nif there are groups that need to be added or deleted, the procedure review will drive the LMS list\nmodifications.\nPost-inspection, Alliance provided amendments to the procedure and a new Appendix E, to\ninclude job groups and titles of individuals who operationally collaborate with control room\npersonnel. This was reviewed and found to be adequate. No further action is required.\nResponse to this Notice\nThis Notice is provided pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60108(a) and 49 C.F.R. § 190.206. Enclosed as\npart of this Notice is a document entitled Response Options for Pipeline Operators in\nEnforcement Proceedings.\nPlease refer to this document and note the response options. Be advised that all material you\nsubmit in response to this enforcement action is subject to being made publicly available. If you\nbelieve that any portion of your responsive material qualifies for confidential treatment under 5\nU.S.C. § 552(b), along with the complete original document you must provide a second copy of\nthe document with the portions you believe qualify for confidential treatment redacted and an\nexplanation of why you believe the redacted information qualifies for confidential treatment\nunder 5 U.S.C. § 552(b).\nFollowing the receipt of this Notice, you have 30 days to submit written comments, revised\nprocedures, or a request for a hearing under § 190.211. If you do not respond within 30 days of\nreceipt of this Notice, this constitutes a waiver of your right to contest the allegations in this\nNotice and authorizes the Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety to find facts as alleged in\nthis Notice without further notice to you and to issue an Order Directing Amendment. If your\nplans or procedures are found inadequate as alleged in this Notice, you may be ordered to amend\nyour plans or procedures to correct the inadequacies (49 C.F.R. § 190.206). If you are not\ncontesting this Notice, we propose that you submit your amended procedures to my office within\n30 days of receipt of this Notice. This period may be extended by written request for good cause.\nOnce the inadequacies identified herein have been addressed in your amended procedures, this\nenforcement action will be closed.\nIt is requested that Alliance maintain documentation of the safety improvement costs associated\nwith fulfilling this Notice of Amendment (preparation/revision of plans, procedures) and submit\nthe total to Gregory A. Ochs, Director, Central Region, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety\n\n\n\nAdministration. In correspondence concerning this matter, please refer to CPF 3-2024-029-NOA\nand, for each document you submit, please provide a copy in electronic format whenever\npossible.\nSincerely,\nGregory A. Ochs\nDirector, Central Region, Office of Pipeline Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\ncc: Heather Christie-Burns, Pembina US, Vice President, Transmission Pipelines,\nhcburns@pembina.com\nBob Bachmeier, Senior Advisor Regulatory Pembina US, bbachmeier@pambina.com\nEnclosure: Response Options for Pipeline Operators in Enforcement Proceedings","truncated":false,"body_characters":14368}