The Pipeline Safety Trust is available to help interested communities and individuals comment on proposed rules or other official proceedings having to do with pipeline safety.
Over the next year, we will be announcing public comment opportunities, providing summaries of the proposed rules or proceedings, and developing a guide to how pipeline safety rules are made. We are also available to help local governments and citizens understand pipeline safety proceedings and help get people to pertinent workshops, meetings or events.
Please check out this website and read on for current comment opportunities.
National Pipeline Mapping System proposed changes
Right now there are proposed changes to the information collected from pipeline operators for the National Pipeline Mapping System. If the proposed changes are finalized, the accuracy of the maps will improve and many new pipeline attributes will be collected (size of the pipeline, operating pressure, etc.). However, most of the information collected about pipelines will be kept out of the hands of the public and even out of the hands of local government and emergency officials if passed as proposed by DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration (PHMSA). Comments are due by November 25, and can be submitted by clicking on the “Comment Now!” button on this link.
Our concerns and comments are summarized here. Most importantly, we think that in areas where pipelines are located, local communities are important allies in pipeline safety, and information about pipelines should be readily available to them. If this reflects your own view, then PHMSA needs to hear this from you because they will not hear it from others. Pipeline operators and industry associations are frequently the only ones to weigh in on official proceedings regarding pipeline safety. When the Trust comments, we often find ourselves being the only one focused the “public” interest. But of course there is more than one public perspective. We hope you will consider submitting your own comments on this important issue by clicking “Comment Now!” on this link.
Proposed rule change for hazardous liquid pipelines
In addition to the National Pipeline Mapping System changes, PHMSA has also published draft changes to rules about hazardous liquid (oil) pipelines. We will be blogging about this later; for now you can see the article in our recent newsletter.
And please let us know if you’d like to be kept informed about future opportunities to comment.
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