Federal regulators issued an advisory bulletin that directed pipeline operators to meet their obligations under 2020 legislation to minimize planet-warming methane emissions from their infrastructure.
The Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2020, or PIPES Act, required operators to update their inspections and maintenance plans to address unintended leaks and reduce intentional natural gas releases from pipeline facilities. The act also ordered operators to revise their plans for replacing and remediating pipeline facilities that are known to leak.
The revisions by pipeline operators are due by Dec. 27, 2021, and tee up a review of the plans by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA. Congress ordered PHMSA and state authorities to inspect the plans by Dec. 27, 2022.
The secretary of PHMSA's parent agency, the U.S. Transportation Department, must then issue a report to Congress on the best available technologies, practices and facility designs for minimizing gas releases. The transportation secretary must also provide a timeline for updating regulations to spur the uptake of those tools if the agency decides to pursue new rulemaking.
In issuing the June 7 bulletin, the first related to the PIPES Act, PHMSA underscored the Biden administration's focus on mitigating climate change as well as efforts by congressional Democrats to tackle methane emissions through the periodic pipeline safety legislation. PHMSA rulemaking has historically been more focused on public safety, though the agency has long had a mandate to also protect the environment.
The agency noted that "the onshore oil and gas sector is the largest domestic industrial source of methane emissions." It said a third of the sector's estimated methane emissions come from facilities covered by the bulletin: all 2.8 million miles of the U.S. pipeline network, more than 17,000 underground natural gas wells and 164 LNG facilities.
"Minimizing methane emissions from pipelines will help improve safety and combat climate change, while creating jobs for pipeline workers," acting PHMSA Administrator Tristan Brown said in a June 7 news release. "Pipeline operators have an obligation to protect the public and the environment by identifying and addressing methane leaks."
PHMSA expected pipeline operators to comply with the new requirements by revising their operations and maintenance plans, which operators are already required to maintain under federal regulations, the agency said in the bulletin. Companies must tailor the written plans to their facilities, support their findings with technical analysis, and offer enough detail to outline how they have met each requirement, PHMSA added.
Specifically, the plans must offer details on how operators intend to eliminate leaks and minimize intentional and unintentional gas releases from common sources, such as bleeding from pneumatic devices, blowdowns, incomplete combustion, and overpressure protection venting, PHMSA said. PHMSA and state inspectors will evaluate the steps that operators outline for preventing fugitive and vented emissions.
In evaluating pipeline replacement and remediation plans, inspectors will scrutinize how pipe materials, system design, and the company's operations and maintenance history contribute to system leaks. They will evaluate whether plans adequately address leaks that result from these three factors.
While the new requirements focus on eliminating methane emissions, inspectors will continue to evaluate how the plans ensure public safety, PHMSA noted.
PHMSA stressed that U.S. code requires pipeline operators to continue revising their plans to address any new leak detection and repair regulations. Under the PIPES Act, the transportation secretary has the authority to update pipeline safety regulations necessary to protect the environment, so long as the new rules do not compromise pipeline safety. The agency has 180 days to update regulations after submitting its report on best available technologies, practices and facility designs to Congress.
