{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 520190023M","title":"PALO ALTO, CITY OF — Notice of Amendment","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2019-09-03","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of amendment citing 192.285, 192.605(b)(1), 192.605(b)(4), 192.605(b)(8), 192.615(a)(3), 192.615(a)(5), 192.615(a)(7), 192.616(b), 192.616(i).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520190023m.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520190023m.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520190023m","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/520190023M","body":"Notice of Amendment involving PALO ALTO, CITY OF. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 192.285,  192.605(b)(1),  192.605(b)(4),  192.605(b)(8),  192.615(a)(3),  192.615(a)(5),  192.615(a)(7),  192.616(b),  192.616(i). The case was opened on 2019-09-03 and is reported as closed as of 2020-04-15. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n520190023M_Closure Letter_04152020.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520190023M/520190023M_Closure%20Letter_04152020.pdf\n\n520190023M_Closure Letter_04152020_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520190023M/520190023M_Closure%20Letter_04152020_text.pdf\n\n520190023M_Notice of Amendment_09032019.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520190023M/520190023M_Notice%20of%20Amendment_09032019.pdf\n\n520190023M_Notice of Amendment_09032019_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520190023M/520190023M_Notice%20of%20Amendment_09032019_text.pdf\n\n520190023M_Operator Response to Notice_10102019.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520190023M/520190023M_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_10102019.pdf\n\n520190023M_Closure Letter_04152020_text.pdf\n\nVIA E-MAIL TO MR. ED SHIKADA\nApril 15, 2020\nMr. Ed Shikada\nAssistant City Manager\nCity of Palo Alto\n250 Hamilton Avenue\nPalo Alto, CA 94301\nCPF 5-2019-0023M\nClosure Letter\nDear Mr. Shikada:\nOn August 13 through 16, 2018, a representative of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)\non behalf of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), pursuant to Chapter\n601 of 49 United States Code, inspected The City of Palo Alto’s (CPA) natural gas distribution system\nprocedures for Operations & Maintenance, Emergency Response and Public Awareness. As a result of\nthe inspection, CPA was issued a Notice of Amendment on September 3, 2019, which proposed\namendment of your procedures.\nCPA submitted its amended procedures on October 15, 2019. My staff reviewed the amended\nprocedures, and it appears that the inadequacies outlined in this Notice of Amendment have been\ncorrected.\nThis letter is to inform you no further action is necessary and this case is now closed. Thank you for your\ncooperation.\nSincerely,\nDustin Hubbard\nDirector, Western Region\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\ncc. PHP-60 Compliance Registry\nPHP-500 J. Dunphy (#161862)\nTerrence Eng, Program Manager, Gas Safety and Reliability Branch California Public\nUtilities Commission\n\n520190023M_Notice of Amendment_09032019_text.pdf\n\nNOTICE OF AMENDMENT\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\nSeptember 3, 2019\nMr. Ed Shikada\nAssistant City Manager\nCity of Palo Alto\n250 Hamilton Avenue\nPalo Alto, CA 94301\nCPF 5-2019-0023M\nDear Mr. Shikada:\nOn August 13 through 16, 2018, a representative of the California Public Utilities Commission\n(CPUC) on behalf of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),\npursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code, inspected The City of Palo Alto’s (CPA)\nnatural gas distribution system procedures for Operations & Maintenance, Emergency\nResponse and Public Awareness.\nOn the basis of the inspection, PHMSA has identified the apparent inadequacies found within\nCPA’s plans or procedures, as described below:\n1. §192.605 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies.\n(a) . . .\n(b) Maintenance and normal operations. The manual required by paragraph (a) of\nthis section must include procedures for the following, if applicable, to provide\nsafety during maintenance and operations.\n(1) . . .\n(4) Gathering of data needed for reporting incidents under Part 191 of this\nchapter in a timely and effective manner.\n\n\n\nThe CPA Operations manual does not contain written procedures to report incidents to the\nNational Response Center pursuant to §191.5. It also does not include the 30-day time limit\nfor incident reporting, nor is there a process to submit supplemental reports pursuant to §191.9.\nAdditionally, it does not contain procedures to report the events listed in §191.22(c).\n2. §192.605 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies\n(a) …\n(b) Maintenance and normal operations. The manual required by paragraph (a) of\nthis section must include procedures for the following, if applicable, to provide\nsafety during maintenance and operations.\n(8) Periodically reviewing the work done by operator personnel to determine the\neffectiveness and adequacy of the procedures used in normal operation and\nmaintenance and modifying the procedure when deficiencies are found.\nCPA’s Operations Manual does not have procedures to periodically conduct reviews required\nby §192.605(b)(8).\n3. §192.615 Emergency plans.\n(a) Each operator shall establish written procedures to minimize the hazard\nresulting from a gas pipeline emergency. At a minimum, the procedures must\nprovide for the following:\n(1) …\n(3) Prompt and effective response to a notice of each type of emergency, including\nthe following:\n(i) Gas detected inside or near a building.\n(ii) Fire located near or directly involving a pipeline facility.\n(iii) Explosion occurring near or directly involving a pipeline facility.\n(iv) Natural disaster.\n(5) Actions directed toward protecting people first and then property.\n(7) Making safe any actual or potential hazard to life or property.\nThe CPA Emergency Operations Manual does not adequately address §192.615(a)(3), (5), or\n(7). In 2018 the City of Palo Alto inactivated their previous Emergency Plan (December\n2014). Contained within the previous Emergency Plan are Sections 1.4 Action to be Taken and\n1.6 Example List of Emergency Levels where items from Part 192.615(a)(3)(i-iii) were\nlisted. The City of Palo Alto’s current Emergency Operations Plan did not incorporate\nSections 1.4 and 1.6 from their inactivated Emergency Plan and CPA should consider revising\nand reincorporating these sections. Further, Section 1.7 had statements regarding the\nprotection of people first then property, while the current Emergency Operations Plan does not\nstate this explicitly.\n2\n\n\n\n4. §192.605 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies\n(a) …\n(b) Maintenance and normal operations. The manual required by paragraph (a)\nof this section must include procedures for the following, if applicable, to provide\nsafety during maintenance and operations.\n(1) Operating, maintaining, and repairing the pipeline in accordance with each of\nthe requirements of this subpart and Subpart M of this part.\nThe CPA’s procedures for purging a pipeline do not adequately address all purging situations\nwithin the CPA distribution system. Specifically, the procedures do not address how to purge\npipe sizes less than 2 inches in diameter, greater than 12 inches in diameter and lengths of pipe\nless than 600 feet long. Further, the CPA Operations & Maintenance Manual valve inspection\nprocedure does not state what to do if a valve, the use of which may be necessary for the safe\noperation of a distribution system, is found inoperable and cannot be promptly repaired.\n5. §192.285 Plastic pipe: Qualifying persons to make joints.\n(a) No person may make a plastic pipe joint unless that person has been qualified\nunder the applicable joining procedure by:\n(1) Appropriate training or experience in the use of the procedure; and\n(2) Making a specimen joint from pipe sections joined according to the procedure\nthat passes the inspection and test set forth in paragraph (b) of this section.\n(b) The specimen joint must be:\n(1) Visually examined during and after assembly or joining and found to have the\nsame appearance as a joint or photographs of a joint that is acceptable under the\nprocedure; and\n(2) In the case of a heat fusion, solvent cement, or adhesive joint;\n(i) Tested under any one of the test methods listed under §192.283(a), or for PE\nheat fusion joints (except for electrofusion joints) visually inspected and tested in\naccordance with ASTM F2620-12 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7)\napplicable to the type of joint and material being tested;\n(ii) Examined by ultrasonic inspection and found not to contain flaws that would\ncause failure; or\n(iii) Cut into at least three longitudinal straps, each of which is:\n(A) Visually examined and found not to contain voids or discontinuities on the cut\nsurfaces of the joint area; and\n(B) Deformed by bending, torque, or impact, and if failure occurs, it must not\ninitiate in the joint area.\n(c) A person must be re-qualified under an applicable procedure once each\ncalendar year at intervals not exceeding 15 months, or after any production joint\nis found unacceptable by testing under §192.513.\n(d) Each operator shall establish a method to determine that each person making\njoints in plastic pipelines in the operator's system is qualified in accordance with\nthis section.\n3\n\n\n\nThe CPA Operations & Maintenance manual plastic pipe fusion procedure in Section 4.8 does\nnot meet the current requirements of §192.285. The O&M manual under Section 4.8 Plastic\nFusion Procedure has provisions from older version of Code for §192.285(c). CPA must\nreview Section 4.8 and §192.285, then update the Section 4.8 accordingly.\n6. §192.616 Public Awareness\n(a) …\n(b) The operator's program must follow the general program recommendations\nof API RP 1162 and assess the unique attributes and characteristics of the\noperator's pipeline and facilities.\n(i) The operator's program documentation and evaluation results must be\navailable for periodic review by appropriate regulatory agencies.\nCPA’s procedures using bottom-line results to measure the effectiveness of the public\nawareness program lack sufficient detail to meet the requirements of API RP1162, Section 8\n“Program Evaluation.” The public awareness plan requires tracking whether\nthe implementation of the public awareness program is impacting bottom line results, but do\nnot provide procedures specifying how that is achieved. Additionally, procedures to measure\nthe effectiveness of the public awareness program for the excavator, public official, and\nemergency official stakeholder groups are absent. The City of Palo Alto has informal\nprocesses in place to meet these requirements, but these processes should be formalized and\nincluded in the written public awareness program pursuant to API 1162 Section 8.\nResponse to this Notice\nThis Notice is provided pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60108(a) and 49 C.F.R. § 190.206. Enclosed\nas part of this Notice is a document entitled Response Options for Pipeline Operators in\nCompliance Proceedings. Please refer to this document and note the response options. Be\nadvised that all material you submit in response to this enforcement action is subject to being\nmade publicly available. If you believe that any portion of your responsive material qualifies\nfor confidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b), along with the complete original document\nyou must provide a second copy of the document with the portions you believe qualify for\nconfidential treatment redacted and an explanation of why you believe the redacted\ninformation qualifies for confidential treatment under 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\nin this Notice without further notice to you and to issue an Order Directing Amendment. If\nyour plans or procedures are found inadequate as alleged in this Notice, you may be ordered to\namend your plans or procedures to correct the inadequacies (49 C.F.R. § 190.206). If you are\nnot contesting this Notice, we propose that you submit your amended procedures to my office\nwithin 60 days of receipt of this Notice. This period may be extended by written request for\n4\n\n\n\ngood cause. Once the inadequacies identified herein have been addressed in your amended\nprocedures, this enforcement action will be closed.\nIt is requested (not mandated) that The City of Palo Alto maintain documentation of the safety\nimprovement costs associated with fulfilling this Notice of Amendment (preparation/revision\nof plans, procedures) and submit the total to Dustin Hubbard, Director, Western Region,\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. In correspondence concerning this\nmatter, please refer to CPF 5-2019-0023M and, for each document you submit, please provide\na copy in electronic format whenever possible.\nSincerely,\nDustin Hubbard\nDirector, Western Region\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\nEnclosures: Response Options for Pipeline Operators in Compliance Proceedings\ncc: PHP-60 Compliance Registry\nPHP-500 J. Dunphy (#161862)\n5","truncated":false,"body_characters":12947}