![](media/image1.wmf){width="0.8013888888888889in"
height="0.7909722222222222in"}**\
U.S. Department of Transportation\
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration**

**PIPELINE SAFETY:**

**APPLICABILITY OF PUBLIC AWARENESS REGULATIONS TO CERTAIN GAS
DISTRIBUTION OPERATORS**

**Supplementary Environmental Assessment**

**August 2006**

**[Prepared for:]{.underline}**

**Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration**

**[Prepared by:]{.underline}**

**John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center**

**Research and Innovative Technology Administration**

# Introduction and Background

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) prepared
an environmental assessment (EA)[^1] in April of 2005 to determine the
environmental effects of regulations requiring pipeline operators to
develop and implement public education (also known as public awareness)
programs. This supplementary environmental assessment (SEA) evaluates
environmental impacts associated with revising those public awareness
regulations to provide partial relief from these regulations for certain
small gas distribution operators, namely, master meter operators[^2] and
petroleum gas operators whose primary business is not transporting gas
by pipeline.

The public awareness regulations issued in May 2005[^3] require each
operator of a gas or hazardous liquids pipeline to develop a public
awareness program following American Petroleum Institute (API)
Recommended Practice 1162 (RP 1162). These programs include outreach to
people near the pipelines, emergency responders, local public officials,
and excavators about pipeline purpose and reliability, awareness of
hazards, damage prevention awareness, leak recognition, and the
availability of additional information. In June 2005, the American
Public Gas Association (AGPA), based on concerns regarding the
efficiency and effectiveness of public awareness programs, filed a
petition for reconsideration of the public awareness regulations
applicable to master meter operators. PHMSA found merit in and agreed
with the concerns raised by AGPA.

# Description of Change to Federal Action

In order to provide an alternative approach to the existing public
awareness programs for certain operators, PHMSA has proposed 49 CFR
192.616(j) to:

-   Relieve master meter operators and petroleum gas operators whose
    primary business is not gas distribution from having to develop
    detailed public awareness programs specified in RP 1162.

-   Require these operators to develop procedures to provide public
    education information to their customers twice annually.

-   Require the public education information to indicate how to
    recognize a gas pipeline emergency on the master meter system (or
    the petroleum gas system), how to respond to it, and how to report
    the emergency to the master meter operator (or the petroleum gas
    operator).

# Evaluation of Impacts

The EA associated with the issuance of the original public awareness
regulations (see footnote Error: Reference source not found) described
the affected environment, including the population of hazardous liquid
and gas pipeline operators, and examined impacts to relevant
environmental and socioeconomic resource categories. Table 1 summarizes
the findings.

Table 1. Potential Environmental Consequences of Public Awareness
Programs

+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Impact Category              | Environmental Impacts                 |
|                              |                                       |
|                              | \["0" = no impact; "+" = potential    |
|                              | for positive impact\]                 |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Public Health and Safety     | \+                                    |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Hazardous Materials          | \+                                    |
| Transportation               |                                       |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Socioeconomics               | 0                                     |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Endangered Species           | \+                                    |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Wetlands                     | \+                                    |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Section 4(f) resources       | \+                                    |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Resources protected by the   | \+                                    |
| National Historic            |                                       |
| Preservation Act             |                                       |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+

Source: PHMSA 2005 (see Footnote Error: Reference source not found)

It is evident from Table 1 that the public awareness regulations were
expected to result in positive direct impacts to public health and
safety in addition to positive indirect impacts to aspects of the
physical and human environment.

The proposed revisions to the regulations are not expected to result in
any changes to the potential impacts presented in Table 1. The proposed
revision simply provides an alternative approach to public awareness
programs, one based on the communication requirements described in API
RP 1162 but that relieves certain operators of the rest of the extensive
requirements. Existing damage prevention regulations have long excepted
master meter operators from some outreach activities (49 CFR 192.614(e))
similar to those outreach activities described in API RP 1162. The
revised regulations would still require master meter operators, under 49
CFR 192.615, to maintain liaison with local emergency responders,
thereby ensuring communication and coordination if a pipeline emergency
occurs. However, the operator of a master meter system lacks the
expertise in pipeline safety issues needed to effectively conduct the
more extensive public awareness program described in API RP 1162.
Similarly, the operator of a petroleum gas system distributing gas as an
incidental part of its business needs to communicate with its customers
and those persons controlling property it crosses. The operator of a
petroleum gas system also needs to maintain liaison required by 49 CFR
192.615 with emergency responders, but would be less effective in the
remaining outreach activities required for public awareness.

The revisions to the regulations will result in increasing the
effectiveness of the public awareness programs. Pipeline operator public
education programs are an important factor in enhancing the public's
role in understanding and promoting pipeline safety. They promote more
effective emergency response to accidents. Improving the effectiveness
of such programs will only increase the positive direct impacts on
public health and safety. By lowering the frequency of pipeline
accidents (primarily due to excavation damage), effective public
education programs will also result in safer transportation of gas and
thus, net positive indirect impacts on the environment and resources
surrounding pipelines. The revisions to the regulations increase the
effectiveness of public education programs and enhance their positive
impacts on the affected environment.

As part of the rulemaking action, the costs and benefits of the intended
regulations and proposed regulations are being assessed. The resulting
detailed analysis will be presented in a Regulatory Evaluation, separate
from this EA.[^4] The Regulatory Evaluation concludes that the proposed
regulatory changes reduce the impacted operators' costs of compliance
with an existing regulation and impose no additional costs on the
impacted operators. Therefore, only positive potential socioeconomic
impacts are expected.

In conclusion, PHMSA's action revising existing public education
regulations will not cause any new environmental or socioeconomic
impacts. It may enhance the positive impacts described in the EA
accompanying the June 2005 final rule (see Footnote Error: Reference
source not found).

[^1]: *Pipeline Safety Rulemaking: Public Awareness Programs for
    Hazardous Liquid and Gas Pipeline Operators -- Environmental
    Assessment*, Pipeline Safety and Hazardous Materials Administration,
    U.S. Department of Transportation, April 2005.

[^2]: A master meter system is defined in 49 CFR 191.3. An operator of a
    master meter system receives gas through a meter as the customer of
    a local distribution company and then redistributes the gas on its
    own property. The operator of a master meter system distributes gas
    as an incidental part of a primary business (e.g., the management of
    rental properties).

[^3]: 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 192.616 and 195.440

[^4]: *Draft Regulatory Evaluation, Pipeline Safety: Applicability of
    Public Awareness Regulations to Certain Gas Distribution Operators*.
    Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, U.S. Department of
    Transportation. May 2006.