{"operation":"document","citation":"PHMSA Guidance, PHMSA Notice of Enforcement Discretion Regarding Interim Final Rule for Pipeline Safety: Unusually Sensitive Areas for the Great Lakes, Coastal Beaches, and Certain Coastal Waters","title":"PHMSA Notice of Enforcement Discretion Regarding Interim Final Rule for Pipeline Safety: Unusually Sensitive Areas for the Great Lakes, Coastal Beaches, and Certain Coastal Waters","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2022-04-14","effective_on":"2022-04-14","summary":"PHMSA Notice of Enforcement Discretion Regarding Interim Final Rule for Pipeline Safety: Unusually Sensitive Areas for the Great Lakes, Coastal Beaches, and Certain Coastal Waters Document Coastal USAs Partial Enforcement Discretion (ALL Operators and State Partners).pdf (233.74 KB) The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is providing notice that it will ","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-phmsa-notice-enforcement-discretion-regarding-interim-final-a7d8e134.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-phmsa-notice-enforcement-discretion-regarding-interim-final-a7d8e134.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-phmsa-notice-enforcement-discretion-regarding-interim-final-a7d8e134","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulatory-compliance/phmsa-guidance/phmsa-notice-enforcement-discretion-regarding-interim-final","body":"PHMSA Notice of Enforcement Discretion Regarding Interim Final Rule for Pipeline Safety: Unusually Sensitive Areas for the Great Lakes, Coastal Beaches, and Certain Coastal Waters\n\nDocument\n\n Coastal USAs Partial Enforcement Discretion (ALL Operators and State Partners).pdf (233.74 KB)\n\n        The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is providing notice that it will not take enforcement action against regulated entities for alleged violations of obligations under 49 CFR 195.11 or 195.12 in connection with hazardous liquid pipeline facilities that are or will become subject to regulation as “regulated rural gathering lines” pursuant to § 195.11, or as categories 1 or 2 “rural low stress lines” pursuant to § 195.12(b)(1)-(2) and (c)(1)-(2), as a result of the amendments to § 195.6(b)(6), (7), and (c) codified by the IFR. PHMSA will continue to enforce the IFR's expanded definition of “unusually sensitive area” when identifying “high consequence areas” subject to the integrity management requirements. PHMSA will exercise its discretion to refrain from taking enforcement action until § 195.6 is finalized and the rule becomes effective. \n\nNothing in this Notice relieves operators from compliance with any other applicable provisions of the Federal pipeline safety regulations or other law, and PHMSA reserves the right to exercise all of its other authorities.\n\n          Issued Date: Thursday, April 14, 2022\n\n<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety\nAdministration\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE\nWashington, DC 20590\nApril 21, 2022\nNOTICE TO HAZARDOUS LIQUID PIPELINE FACILITY OPERATORS AND\nPHMSA STATE PARTNERS REGARDING INTERIM FINAL RULE (IFR) TITLED,\n“PIPELINE SAFETY: UNUSUALLY SENSITIVE AREAS FOR THE GREAT LAKES,\nCOASTAL BEACHES, AND CERTAIN COASTAL WATERS”\nRe: Limited Enforcement Discretion\nOn December 27, 2021, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\n(PHMSA) published in the Federal Register an Interim Final Rule (IFR) titled, “Pipeline Safety:\nUnusually Sensitive Areas for the Great Lakes, Coastal Beaches, and Certain Coastal Waters.”1\nThe IFR responded to a statutory mandate2 by revising the definition of unusually sensitive areas\n(USAs) at 49 CFR 195.6 to explicitly state that certain coastal waters, the Great Lakes, and\ncoastal beaches are classified as USAs. That amended regulatory definition expanded\napplication of PHMSA’s integrity management requirements to approximately 2,905 additional\nmiles of hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines that are either located within, or that\ncould affect, the Great Lakes, coastal beaches, or “certain coastal waters” (as that phrase is\ndefined in § 195.6, as revised). Because the definition of USAs at § 195.6 is also used to\ndetermine when certain hazardous liquid pipeline facilities are regulated as “regulated rural\ngathering lines” (pursuant to § 195.11) or as category 1 or 2 “rural low-stress lines” (pursuant to\n§ 195.12(b)(1)-(2)), the IFR’s revision of the definitions of USAs also resulted in some\nhazardous liquid gathering pipeline facilities becoming newly subject to regulation as “regulated\nrural gathering lines”, and resulted in some category 3 “rural low stress pipelines” becoming\nclassified as category 1 or 2 lines subject to integrity management program and reporting\nrequirements.\nOn March 1, 2022, GPA Midstream Association (GPA) and American Petroleum\nInstitute (API) petitioned for judicial review of the IFR.\n3 GPA and API in parallel requested\nfrom PHMSA a stay of the IFR — either in its entirety or, in the alternative, partially so as to\n“only require operators to comply with the amended USA definition in 49 C.F.R. § 195.6(b)(6),\n(7), and (c) for purposes of determining if a pipeline is in a high consequence area (HCA) as\n1 86 FR 73173 (Dec. 27, 2021) (IFR).\n2 PIPES Act of 2016, Pub. L. 114-183, at section 19; PIPES Act of 2020, Pub. L. 116-260 at Division R, section\n120.\n3 GPA Midstream Ass'n and Am. Petroleum Inst. v. DOT and PHMSA, No. 22-1037 (D.C. Cir.) (Petition).\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\n2\ndefined in § 195.450.”4 On April 15, 2022, PHMSA notified GPA and API that PHMSA\nintends to promulgate a final rule that addresses the concerns raised by GPA and API in their\nMotion, the comments PHMSA received on the IFR, and the recommendations and report of a\nforthcoming meeting of the Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committee.\n5\nThis Notice advises regulated entities that until that finalized rule becomes effective,\nPHMSA will exercise its discretion to refrain from taking enforcement action alleging violations\nof obligations under § 195.11 or § 195.12 in connection with hazardous liquid pipeline facilities\nthat are or will become subject to regulation as “regulated rural gathering lines” pursuant to §\n195.11, or as categories 1 or 2 “rural low stress lines” pursuant to § 195.12(b)(1)-(2) and (c)(1)-\n(2), as a result of the amendments to § 195.6(b)(6), (7), and (c) codified by the IFR. PHMSA\nrecommends that its state partners do the same. PHMSA will continue to enforce the IFR’s\nexpanded definition of “unusually sensitive area” when identifying “high consequence areas”\nsubject to the integrity management requirements. Nothing herein relieves operators from\ncompliance with any other applicable provisions of the Federal pipeline safety regulations or\nother law, and PHMSA reserves the right to exercise all of its other authorities.\nAlan K. Mayberry\nAssociate Administrator, Office of Pipeline Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\n4 Motion to Stay IFR Pending Jud. Rev., Doc. No. PHMSA-2017-0152-0010 (Mar. 1, 2022) (Motion).\n5 The D.C. Circuit has granted the parties’ joint motion to hold the petition for review in abeyance pending\nPHMSA’s issuance of a finalized rule. See GPA Midstream Ass'n and Am. Petroleum Inst. v. DOT and PHMSA,\nNo. 22-1037 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 22, 2022) (Order).","truncated":false,"body_characters":5967}