COLORADO WILL OUTLINE NEW PIPELINE RULES

Colorado regulators have announced they will hold a hearing in December on new rules for oil and gas pipelines that are still being crafted in response to a fatal house explosion blamed on a gas leak.

The new standards will address design, installation, testing and regulatory oversight for flow lines, which carry oil or gas from well to tanks or other gathering equipment. The rule changes could remove current exemptions from pressure testing of low-pressure pipelines, according to state regulators.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the industry, released an outline on Wednesday on its website for how the new rules will be developed. A draft of the new rules is expected to be released by the commission by Oct. 15 after industry representatives and environmentalists give their views during meetings in September.

The effort to overhaul the state’s pipeline rules is occurring as local municipalities tackle pipeline issues on their own before the state acts. Erie’s Board of Trustees this week passed a new ordinance requiring oil and gas operators to map their pipelines throughout that town, the Boulder Daily Camera reported. A similar statewide mapping plan was rejected by state legislators with Republicans siding with industry representatives, who had raised objections.

The rules are in response to an April explosion in Firestone that killed two people.

Investigators blamed the explosion on gas leaking from a pipeline that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well.