Materials Performance

DEC 2016

Materials Performance is the world's most widely circulated magazine dedicated to corrosion prevention and control. MP provides information about the latest corrosion control technologies and practical applications for every industry and environment.

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16 DECEMBER 2016 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE NACE INTERNATIONAL: VOL. 55, NO. 12 MATERIAL MATTERS Proposed Changes to Gas Transmission Pipeline Regulations Intended to Increase Safety A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR M) 1 issued by the U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administra- tion (PHMSA) (Washington, DC) outlines signif icant changes to the Pipeline Safety Regulations that are intended to increase the safety of onshore natural gas trans- mission and gathering pipelines across the country. The proposed rule would broaden the scope of safety coverage by adding new assessment and repair crite- ria for gas transmission pipelines, and by expanding these protocols to include pipelines located in areas of medium population density—moderate conse- quence areas (MCAs)—where an incident would pose risk to human life. "The signif icant grow th in the nation's production, usage, and commer- cialization of natural gas is placing unprecedented demands on the nation's pipeline system," says U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox x. "This proposal includes a number of commonsense mea- sures that will better ensure the safety of communities living alongside pipeline infrastructure and protect our environment." According to PHMSA, the proposed regulations address four congressional mandates from the Pipeline Safety, Regu- latory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011; one recommendation from the U.S. Government Accountability Off ice (GAO); and six National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (Washington, DC) recom- mendations, including the recommenda- tion that pipelines built before 1970 be tested, which was adopted in the wake of the San Bruno, California explosion. Cur- rently, these older pipelines are exempt from certain pipeline safety regulations because they were constructed and placed into operation before pipeline safety regulations were developed. In its investigation of Pacif ic Gas & Electric's natural gas pipeline failure and explosion on September 9, 2010, in San Bruno, the NTSB concluded that hydrostatic testing of grandfathered pipelines would likely have exposed the defective pipe that led to the pipeline failure. "Following signif icant pipeline inci- dents such as the 2010 San Bruno, Califor- nia tragedy, there was a pressing need to enhance public safety and the integrity of the nation's pipeline system," says PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez. "The proposal's components address the emerging needs of America's natural gas pipeline system and adapt and expand risk-based safety practices to pipelines located in areas where incidents could have serious consequences." PHMSA proposes changes to the integrity management (IM) requirements as well as changes to address issues related to non-IM requirements. This NPR M also proposes modif ying the regu- lation of onshore gas gathering lines. In the notice, PHMSA states that current regulatory requirements applicable to gas pipeline systems have increased the level of safety associated with the transporta- tion of gas. Still, incidents with various causes and signif icant consequences con- tinue to occur on gas pipeline systems. PHMSA also has identif ied concerns dur- ing inspections of gas pipeline operator programs that indicate a potential need to clarif y and enhance some require- ments. Based on this experience, this NPR M proposes additional safety mea- sures to increase the level of safety for those pipelines that are not in high conse- quence areas (HCAs), as well as clarif ica- tions and selected enhancements to IM requirements to improve safety in HCAs. The proposed rule addresses several IM topics that include, among other things, revising IM repair criteria for pipeline segments in HCAs to address cracking defects, non-immediate corro- sion metal loss anomalies, and other defects; adding requirements for moni- toring gas quality and mitigating internal corrosion; adding requirements for exter- nal corrosion management programs including aboveground surveys, close interval surveys, and electrical interfer- ence surveys; and explicitly including requirements for management of change currently invoked by compliance to industry standards. With respect to non-IM requirements, the NPR M adds requirements for moni- toring gas quality and mitigating internal

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