U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PHMSA
Office of Pipeline Safety
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Presentation Overview
• Energy Pipelines
• PHMSA Organization
• Recent Spills
• Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty Act of
2011 (Reauthorization & new requirements)
• PREP
• Where to go for additional information
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Energy Pipelines
• Natural gas, crude oil and petroleum product pipelines extend
across and into a majority of cities and counties in the U.S.
• Our national economy and security depend on these products
and our dependency on energy is growing
– Energy from oil and natural gas essential to our daily lives
• E.g., Transportation, heating, electricity generation
• Oil and natural gas supply approx. 2/3 of U.S. energy
needs
• Oil and natural gas are produced in distant regions
– Crude oil must be moved to refineries
– Refined oil products & natural gas must be moved to
consumers
• Pipelines = primary means of transporting oil & natural gas
– 100% of natural gas and approx. 67% of oil
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What is the Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration?
PHMSA
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
U.S. DOT Administrations
http://www.dot.gov
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Mission Statements
“To protect people and the
environment from the risks
inherent in transportation of
hazardous materials – by
pipeline and other modes of
transportation.”
Office of
Pipeline Safety
Office of Pipeline Safety
(within PHMSA)
“To ensure the safe, reliable, and environmentally
sound operation of the Nation’s pipeline
transportation system.”
http://phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Some of Our
Roles and Responsibilities
• Development and Implementation of
Safety Regulations
– Title 49 CFR Part 192 – Transportation of Natural and
Other Gas by Pipeline
– Title 49 CFR Part 195 – Transportation of Hazardous
Liquids by Pipeline
• Perform Comprehensive Inspections
• Monitor and Enforce Compliance
– Require remedial actions
– Assess civil penalties
– Initiate criminal action
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Enforcement and Compliance
• Operator compliance with pipeline safety regulations that
establish minimal federal safety standards is critical to
preventing pipeline accidents. Ensuring compliance involves
regular inspections of pipeline operator programs and
facilities and, when compliance violations are identified, the
application of appropriate administrative, civil, or criminal
remedies.
• Federal and state pipeline inspectors conduct these
compliance inspections and also conduct accident
investigations and respond to public complaints concerning
pipeline operations.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Recent Crude Oil Spills 2010 & 2011
• July 26, 2010, a 35-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River
near Marshall, Mich., once teeming with swimmers and
boaters, remains closed nearly 14 months after an Enbridge
Energy pipeline hemorrhaged 843,000 gallons of oil that
will cost more than $500 million to clean up.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Exxon Mobil Spill in Montana
• The company's 12-inch Silvertip pipeline broke beneath the
Yellowstone one weekend last July 2011, releasing an
estimated 63,000 gallons of oil. Less than 1 percent of the
oil that spilled was recovered during a cleanup that cost an
estimated $135 million.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. is working with government agencies on
a plan to speed up the response to oil spills along
Montana's upper Yellowstone River, after a major spill last
year left local officials scrambling to deal with an ill-defined
threat, state and federal officials said.
• The goal is to provide enough training and resources to
take action on major pipeline, refinery or railway spills
within 24 hours, or before outside help can arrive.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Reauthorization 2011
• New reauthorization law, “Pipeline Safety, Regulatory
Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011,”. Several sections
affect hazardous liquid pipelines:
– Sec. 8. Leak detection.
– Sec. 10. Transportation-related onshore facility response
plan compliance.
– Sec. 14. Biofuel pipelines.
– Sec. 15. Carbon dioxide pipelines.
– Sec. 16. Study of transportation of diluted bitumen.
– Sec. 17. Study of nonpetroleum hazardous liquids
transported by pipeline.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
H. R. 2845 Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, …..Act of
2011
• SEC. 8. LEAK DETECTION.
• Secretary of Transportation shall submit to the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate
and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House
of Representatives a report on leak detection systems
utilized by operators of hazardous liquid pipeline facilities
and transportation-related flow lines…………..
• and the safety benefits and adverse consequences of
requiring operators to use leak detection systems.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Current Leak Detection Regulations
• Current regulation do not prescribe a leak detection system
for liquid operators,
• However if an operator uses a Computation pipeline
monitoring (CPM) system, it must comply with API 1130,
• Operators with a SCADA system must have and follow
written control room management procedures that
implement requirements such as:
– Define controllers roles and responsibilities,
– Provide adequate information & training to controllers,
– Establish a maximum limit on controllers hours of
service
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
H. R. 2845 Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty,
…..Act of 2011
• SEC. 10. TRANSPORTATION-RELATED ONSHORE
FACILITY RESPONSE PLAN COMPLIANCE
• Reaffirms the Secretary of Transportation’s authority to
enforce compliance with provisions of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act). The implementing
Executive Orders (12777 and 13826) vested the authority
to the Administrator (of U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency), the Secretary of the Department of the Interior,
and Secretary of the Department in which the U.S. Coast
Guard is operating.
• The existing oil spill response plan review and approval
process remains intact.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Section 10 (con)
• PHMSA will revise our internal handling of oil spill response
plans,
• Plans will become more transparent, with an increased
emphasis on a reproducible and accountable approval
process,
• More technical on-site review of spill response data from
our field inspections,
• PHMSA looks to improve our interagency information
sharing processes.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Section 15 Carbon Dioxide Pipeline
• Section 60102(i) is amended—
• (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall regulate’’ and inserting
• the following:
• ‘‘(1) TRANSPORTATION IN LIQUID STATE.—The Secretary
shall regulate’’.
• (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
• ‘‘(2) TRANSPORTATION IN GASEOUS STATE.—
• ‘‘(A) MINIMUM SAFETY STANDARDS.—The Secretary shall
• prescribe minimum safety standards for the transportation
• of carbon dioxide by pipeline in a gaseous state.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Sec. 16. Study of Transportation of Diluted Bitumen
• Not later than 18 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Transportation shall complete a comprehensive
review of hazardous liquid pipeline facility
regulations to determine whether the regulations
are sufficient to regulate pipeline facilities used
for the transportation of diluted bitumen.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
SEC. 17. STUDY OF NONPETROLEUM HAZARDOUS
LIQUIDS TRANSPORTED BY PIPELINE
• The Secretary of Transportation may conduct an analysis of
the transportation of nonpetroleum hazardous liquids by
pipeline facility for the purpose of identifying the extent to
which pipeline facilities are currently being used to
transport nonpetroleum hazardous liquids, such as chlorine,
from chemical production facilities across land areas not
owned by the producer that are accessible to the public.
• The results of the analysis shall be made available to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure and the Committee on Energy and commerce
of the House of Representatives.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
SEC. 21. GAS AND HAZARDOUS LIQUID GATHERING
LINES
• The Secretary of Transportation shall conduct
– a review of existing Federal and State regulations for
gas and hazardous liquid gathering lines located onshore
and offshore in the United States, including within the
inlets of the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
60140. Cover over buried pipelines
• The Secretary of Transportation shall conduct a study of
hazardous liquid pipeline incidents at crossings of inland
bodies of water with a width of at least 100 feet from high
water mark to high water mark to determine if the depth of
cover over the buried pipeline was a factor in any
accidental release of hazardous liquids.
• If the Secretary determines under paragraph (1) that the
current requirements for the depth of cover over buried
pipelines are insufficient, the Secretary shall develop
legislative recommendations for improving the safety of
buried pipelines at crossings of inland bodies of water with
a width of at least 100 feet from high water mark to high
water mark.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Preparedness for Response Exercise Program PREP
• USCG published a Federal Register Notice asking for
comments on the Preparedness for Response Exercise
Program (Docket USCG-2011-1178), (closed April 23,
2012.
• The Oil Pollution Act required that owners and operators of
oil-handling facilities submit oil spill response plans for
approval, and that each have an exercise program to
validate the elements of their oil spill response plans.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PREP continued
• PREP first published in 1994, as a joint effort to reduce the
need for the industry to have to satisfy different exercise
(drill) requirements placed by different agency regulations.
• Guidelines Last revised in 2002.
• Joint committee (USCG, USEPA, DOT/PHMSA, and
DOI/BSEE) meeting to begin work on comments.
• PREP Guidelines are not regulations, but can help the owner
and operators of facilities that are regulated by more than
one agency receive credit for conducting drills among the
federal agencies with jurisdiction.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Other Important Links
• PHMSA, Office of Pipeline Safety –
www.phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline
• For Federal Regulations –
www.regulations.gov
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Thank You
Alex Dankanich
(202) 550-0481
alex.dankanich@dot.gov