In response to a request from interstate natural gas pipeline operators, the Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) has agreed to extend for another month the comment periods for two pending rulemakings for changing federal pipeline rules in response to a new safety law passed by Congress (see Daily GPI, Dec. 15, 2011).

One of the cases deals with what PHMSA called “miscellaneous changes” in the rules, and those comments are now due March 6; the other case involves expanding the use of pipeline excess flow valves to more distribution pipelines, and those comments are now due March 19, PHMSA said in a Federal Register posting.

Separately, a number of states have legislative and/or regulatory measures moving forward to upgrade rules and regulations covering gas pipelines that fall under intrastate jurisdiction. Activity from California to Massachusetts was cited in the latest Pipeline Safety Update published by the Seattle-based Van Ness Feldman law firm.

Last month the California legislature passed by a 57-19 vote a bill (AB 578) that would require the state regulatory commission and pipeline operators to implement “in a timely manner” any gas safety recommendations made by federal authorities. A bill (AB 1456) that would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to consider gas utility safety performance in all cases setting retail rates was introduced in the Assembly in late January.

A third bill (AB 1197) failed to get out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee by the end of January, so it failed to meet a house rule for a two-year bill.

Meanwhile in Massachusetts, three pieces of legislation (H 3051, 3052 and 3053) would establish new gas leak classification standards and repair requirements. There has been no action on those measures this year, according to Van Ness Feldman, and all of the measures have been referred to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

In Texas and West Virginia pipeline violations and fines are the subject of regulatory and legislative proceedings.

CPUC safety staff recently assessed a $16.8 million penalty on Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for allegedly more than 800 separate violations. PG&E has appealed the staff action (see Daily GPI, Jan. 31).

PHMSA is scheduled to hold workshops on leak detection and valves March 27 and 28, aiming to improve the industry’s ability to monitor and detect leaks and understand the applications of more automatic and remote control valves.

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