HR 6496 Introduced - Valve Standards Expansion

Last week, Rep Carbajal (D,CA) introduced HR 6496, the Valve Safety Fairness Act of 2023. The bill would require PHMSA to take such actions as are necessary to apply the final rule of the Administration, titled “Pipeline Safety: Requirement of Valve Installation and Minimum Rupture Detection Standards”, to Type A gas gathering lines. While the rulemaking did apply to Type A gas gathering lines, that specific coverage was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for The District of Columbia Circuit. No new funding is authorized by the bill.

The Rulemaking

On April 8^th, 2022, DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a final rule, establishing new safety requirements for large-diameter hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines. In the Executive Summary of the final rule, PHMSA reported that:

“This final rule is the culmination of a decade-long PHMSA rulemaking effort responding to congressional mandates, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations, and Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations to revise the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations at 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 192 and 195 to prevent the catastrophic loss of life, property damage, and environmental harm experienced from ruptures on large-diameter hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines, such as those that occurred near Marshall, MI, and San Bruno, CA, in 2010.”

In part, the rulemaking codified “a suite of design and performance standards prescribing the installation, operation, and spacing of rupture-mitigation valves (RMV) or alternative equivalent technologies on most new or entirely replaced, onshore, large-diameter (6 inches or greater), gas transmission, Type A gas gathering [emphasis added], and hazardous liquid pipelines.”

The Lawsuit

In 2023, Keith Coyle (no relation) argued in a lawsuit against PHMSA that the Final Rule should not apply to gathering lines because “PHMSA unlawfully failed to disclose the economic basis for regulating gathering pipelines when it proposed the standard, and also failed to make a reasoned determination that regulating these pipelines was appropriate.”

Senior Circuit Judge Ginsberg, writing for the Court, agreed, noting that:

“PHMSA said nothing about the practicability or the costs and benefits of the standard for gathering pipelines until promulgating the final rule, even though the law required it to address those subjects when publishing the proposed rule for public comment and peer review. The PHMSA also ultimately failed to make a reasoned determination that the benefits of regulating gathering pipelines would exceed the costs, and that doing so would be practicable, as required by law. We therefore grant the petition for review.”

The Court concluded: “We therefore grant the petition for review and vacate the final rule as it applies to gathering pipeline facilities.”

Congressional Response

The short text in this bill would provide PHMSA with the authority to bypass the pubic comment and response process with a directed final rule to implement the requirements in the rulemaking for application to Type A gas gathering lines.

Moving Forward

Carbajal and his sole cosponsor {Rep Brownley (D,CA)} are both members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which the bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I expect that there will be significant Republican opposition to this bill as it would shortcut industry efforts to stop application of this final rule to Type A gathering lines. I do not expect the Committee to take up this bill.

Commentary

While this bill is limited to ensuring that new Type A gathering lines are covered by the requirements for rupture mitigation valves on new or replacement pipelines, Carbajal has requested that the Committee include an expanded requirement for installing RMVs on existing pipelines.