[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57694-57695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27825]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Docket No. RSPA-99-6157; Notice 2]
Pipeline Safety: OPS Response Plan Review and Exercise Programs
AGENCY: Office of Pipeline Safety, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Council on Environmental Quality regulations and
Department of Transportation policy, the Research and Special Programs
Administration (RSPA) has made a finding that the Office of Pipeline
Safety's (OPS) Response Plan Review and Exercise Program will have no
significant impacts on the environment.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This finding of no significant impact is effective
October 26, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Taylor, OPS, (202) 366-8860,
regarding the subject matter of this notice. Contact the Dockets Unit,
(202) 366-5046, for docket material. Comments may also be reviewed
online at the DOT Docket Management System website at http://
dms.dot.gov/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1990, the United States Congress passed
the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), to
improve the nation's ability to respond to and limit the economic and
environmental impact from, marine spills of oil and other pollutants.
Section 4202 of the OPA modifies the planning and response system
created under the authority of Section 311(j) of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (also known as the Clean Water Act). OPA required
response plans for vessels and facilities that produce, store,
transport, refine, and market oil.
Just as oil tankers are required to submit oil spill response plans
to the Coast Guard and refineries are required to submit such plans to
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), oil pipelines are required
to submit their facility response plans to OPS for review and approval.
To date, more than 1300 facility response plans have been submitted to
OPS. They represent some 200 oil pipeline operators, and lines that
vary in size from 3-inch gathering systems to 36-inch product lines to
the 48-inch Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. OPS conducts a thorough
review of the plans, with particular emphasis on the adequacy of the
pipeline operator's response resources, incident command system, and
ability to protect environmentally sensitive areas from harm. OPS also
makes sure that the plans are consistent with both the National
Contingency Plan and the local Area Contingency Plan, which are
developed by Coast Guard and EPA.
In addition to reviewing operators' plans, OPS conducts exercises
to test pipeline operators' ability to implement their facility
response plans. To date, OPS has conducted sixty-nine Tabletop
Exercises, scenario-driven discussions in which operators explain how
they would implement their plans to respond to a worst-case spill. OPS
has also
[[Page 57695]]
conducted nine full-scale Area Exercises with pipeline operators in
which they deploy people and equipment to the field in response to a
simulated spill. In both Tabletop and Area Exercises, OPS makes every
effort to have other Federal, State, and local environmental and
emergency response agencies participate. Their participation makes
exercises more realistic, and builds relationships between industry and
public sector responders that make the response to real spills go more
smoothly.
OPS prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) to examine the
environmental impacts of the Response Plan Review and Exercise Program
(64 FR 47228). The EA concisely described OPS's recent review of the
program's effectiveness, its proposed action to continue implementing
the current program, the alternative programmatic approaches
considered, the environment affected by this action, the consequences
to the environment of the alternatives considered, and a list of the
agencies and organizations consulted. In the EA, OPS preliminarily
concluded that continuing the current program would not have
significant environmental impacts. This conclusion was based on the
fact that the program is now mature, and the proposed action to
continue the current program will not have any significant
environmental impact.
OPS received one public comment on the EA, which came from an
environmental organization in Alaska. The commenter claimed that, (1)
the EA inadequately addressed the threats to the environment from the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and should not be considered a
sufficient environmental analysis for the TAPS lease renewal, (2) the
EA failed to mention specific pipelines and unique problems associated
with specific pipelines, and (3) OPS did not consider an alternative
that would be more protective of the environment, and should prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS) which more fully considers
environmental effects of its program. These points will be addressed in
order.
(1) The TAPS lease agreement is between Alyeska Pipeline Service
Company (the seven company consortium that owns and operates the TAPS),
the State of Alaska, and the Bureau of Land Management in the
Department of the Interior. Working through the Joint Pipeline Office,
OPS expects to participate in the TAPS lease renewal EIS process as a
cooperating agency. However, OPS is not a party to the lease agreement
and does not have authority to approve or disapprove the lease renewal.
That decision rests solely with the State of Alaska and the Department
of the Interior.
(2) The EA was a programmatic document, and as such was not
intended to address issues associated with the TAPS or any other
specific pipeline. Rather, the EA was meant to assess the impact of our
program, which involves over 200 oil pipeline operators nationwide.
(3) The EA described the statutory basis for the program, its
requirements, and its benefits in improved response capability on the
part of oil pipeline operators nationwide. OPS believes that the EA
provides sufficient information to allow a comprehensive evaluation of
our Response Plan Review and Exercise Program. The EA was intended to
address the overall program and not the issues associated with a
specific pipeline. As for question of whether another alternative more
protective of the environment was considered, OPS may consider, on a
case by case basis, more stringent spill response requirements for a
particular operator on the basis of the operator's spill history or
other risk factors. Such individual cases are, however, outside the
scope of this programmatic EA.
Based on the analysis and conclusions reached in the EA, OPS has
found that there are no significant impacts on the environment
associated with this action. The EA and the documents are incorporated
by reference into this FONSI. To summarize, the reason that the program
will not have a significant effect on the human environment is that the
program is designed to improve pipeline operators' ability to respond
effectively to oil spills, and the national trends in accident data
support that conclusion. While there was a marked improvement in spill
response preparedness and environmental protection shortly after
implementing the Response Plan Review and Exercise Program in 1993, the
program is now mature. Hence, the proposed action to continue the
current program will not have any significant environmental impact.
This rationale is further discussed in the EA referenced above.
Issued in Washington, DC on October 20, 1999.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 99-27825 Filed 10-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P
