Regulators offer new rules for pipelines
Industry leaders say none are necessary
In June 2019, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission began to consider new regulations for hazardous liquid pipelines after a string of spills, sinkholes and other high-profile incidents on Energy Transfer’s Mariner East pipelines.
Construction of the three pipelines that make up the Mariner East System resulted in a number of environmental violations and fines topping more than $13 million, but the PUC doesn’t regulate environmental matters. It is concerned with safety and with portions of the pipelines still under construction. At that time, the commission said, “We must proceed expeditiously but cautiously.”
It put out a broad range of topics to consider. Comments poured in. Ninety-three Pennsylvania residents, public officials, industry and labor groups weighed in — some asking for stricter rules for pipelines, others advising against them.
Then, two years passed without word from the commission.
Last week, the silence was broken, and the PUC unveiled its proposed rules that would apply to intrastate pipelines transporting gasoline, petroleum, crude oil and natural gas liquids like ethane. That includes the Mariner East System and Buckeye Partners’ Laurel Pipeline, which carries petroleum across the state.
According to the PUC, the rules would cover more than 1,600 miles of pipelines in the state.
The proposed rules do not follow the industry recommendations to leave the regulating to federal authorities. They tackle issues such as how frequently the pipelines should be inspected, what kinds of geological studies should be done before they’re built and how construction workers should be qualified to build them.
But they stop short of establishing construction permits for such pipelines, as some environmental and citizen groups had requested, and they do not wade as much into pipeline siting as some want.
The commission’s action and the publication of the proposed rules in the Pennsylvania Register will launch a 60-day public comment period.
The proposed regulations would require, among other things:
• after an accident, the pipeline company submit to regulators a failure analysis report and a root cause analysis report within four months;
• PUC’s public safety personnel be notified 45 days before a major construction or maintenance project (defined as anything that costs the company more than $300,000 or 10% of the cost of the pipe in service, whichever is less);
• any work costing more than $50,000 to search for suspected leaks or pipe defects be reported to the PUC 10 days before it starts;
• the pipeline “must account for anticipated external loads for landslides, sinkholes, subsidence and other geotechnical hazards”;
• hazardous liquid pipelines can’t run under homes, buildings and “places of public assembly,” which the rulemaking defines as including things like “a location of assembly for civic, educational, religious, social or recreational purposes; a location provided by a common carrier for passengers awaiting transportation; or a location where persons are housed for medical or charitable care, or held for public, civic or correctional purposes”;
• emergency shut- off valves be placed at 5-mile intervals and additional ones might be needed near schools, churches, parks and other public areas;
• pipelines that can’t follow the leak detection regime in the proposed regulations will be required to add an odorant to their liquid, just as natural gas companies do for house gas.
Likely drawing on the experience of the Mariner East pipeline laid in dozens of locations across the state using horizontal direction drilling — a method of boring a tunnel underground so as not to disturb the surface but that has caused spills and sinkholes — regulators now want hazardous liquid pipelines to conduct geotechnical studies before and after construction.
And they want such projects to give all water well owners within 1,000 feet of this activity the opportunity to have their water supply tested before, during and after construction.
The proposed rules tracked closely the comments filed by the PUC’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, which was looking into Energy Transfer’s conduct during the construction of Mariner East.
In comments to the commission, pipeline operator Energy Transfer said that should disqualify the investigation and enforcement division from any involvement in these regulations.
“The commission must be very careful to adhere to fundamental due process restrictions involving employees who are involved in a prosecutorial role,” Energy Transfer wrote.
The would-be rules also touch on pipeline pressure testing, corrosion protection, inspection intervals and other technical specifications that are likely to get pushback from industry groups. Some have already submitted comments arguing all of these aspects are regulated by other agencies and the PUC can’t make its own rules that are in conflict with federal standards.
A number of proposed changes deal with the pipeline company’s outreach to regulators, public officials and the community. For example, if a pipeline is within 1,000 feet of a school, company officials would be required to come to school administrator meetings if summoned. The rules, if enacted, would require annual public meetings and quarterly meetings with emergency responders.
One section of the new rules requires land agents, who deal with landowners in securing leases and during construction, hold valid Pennsylvania professional licenses in law, real estate, engineering, land surveying or geology.
The requirement “will prevent hazardous liquid public utilities from employing or contracting individuals who are not properly qualified to act as a land agent and provide additional accountability in the performance of land agent work or services,” the PUC wrote in the order making these proposals public. The agency could not say if this is currently a requirement for any other type of utility.
To comment on the proposed regulations, visit www.puc.pa.gov/filing-resources/ and reference the docket number L2019-3010267.