[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 231 (Friday, November 29, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60674-60675]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30316]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
49 CFR Part 194
[Docket No. PS-130, Notice 4]
RIN 2137--AC30
Notice of Public Hearing; Response Plans for Onshore Oil
Pipelines
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of
Pipeline Safety, DOT.
ACTION: Announcement of public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The Research and Special Programs Administration's (RSPA)
Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) invites industry, government agencies,
and the public to a hearing on response plans for onshore oil
pipelines. The purpose of the hearing is to solicit comments on whether
and how the current regulations on response plans for onshore oil
pipelines could be improved. OPS may issue a final rule based on the
comments received in writing and at the hearing.
DATES: The public hearing will be held on January 29, 1997, from 8:30
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Persons who are unable to attend may submit written
comments in duplicate by December 31, 1996. Interested persons should
submit as part of their written comments all material that is relevant
to a statement of fact or argument. Comments received after the
deadline will be considered so far as practicable. The docket will be
kept open for 60 days after the hearing to allow interested persons to
review and comment on the transcript.
Persons who wish to make a statement or present information at the
public hearing must submit a written request to be included on the
agenda. Please include as part of the request the amount of time
needed. Requestors will be notified if OPS is required to limit their
discussion to allow for all views to be heard.
ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held at the New Orleans Hilton
Riverside, on Poydras at the Mississippi River in New Orleans,
Louisiana. The hotel phone number is (504) 561-0500. Persons who want
to participate should call (202) 366-8860 or e-mail their name,
affiliation, and phone number to opateam@rspa.dot.gov before close of
business December 31, 1996.
Send written comments in duplicate to the Dockets Unit, Room 8421,
U.S. Department of Transportation/RSPA, 400 Seventh Street, SW,
Washington, D.C. 20590-0001. Identify the docket and notice numbers
stated in the heading of this notice. All comments and docket materials
will be available for inspection and copying in Room 8421 between 8:30
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. each business day. A transcript will be available
from the Dockets Unit about four weeks after the hearing.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Taylor, Response Plans Officer, at
(202) 366-8860 or e-mail to opateam@rspa.dot.gov, for inquiries about
this document, or the Dockets Unit, (202) 366-5046, for copies of this
document or other material in the docket.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In recent years, several catastrophic oil spills have damaged the
marine environment of the United States and caused damage to fish and
wildlife. Because of these incidents, Congress passed the Oil Pollution
Act of 1990 (OPA 90) to establish a new national planning and response
system. OPA 90 requires pipeline operators to develop and test Facility
Response Plans (FRP) for each pipeline facility that handles petroleum
or refined products.
Under OPA 90, DOT is responsible for establishing procedures,
methods and requirements for equipment to prevent and contain
discharges of oil from vessels and transportation-related facilities.
RSPA's Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has established procedures
and planning requirements for discharges from packaging and
transportation vehicles in 49 CFR 130. RSPA's OPS has responsibility to
establish procedures and planning requirements to prevent discharges
from and to contain oil and hazardous substances in onshore pipelines.
The United States Coast Guard has similar planning standards for
vessels and marine transfer facilities.
On January 5, 1993, OPS published its interim final rule
establishing regulations in 49 CFR 194 to require response plans for
onshore oil pipelines (58 FR 244). The plans must be consistent with
the National Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300), and with each applicable
Area Contingency Plan. In its plan review process, OPS emphasizes the
operator's understanding of incident command systems, unified command,
and the provision of sufficient resources to respond to a worst case
discharge. To date, OPS has reviewed and approved more than 800
facility response plans.
OPS also conducts tabletop and area exercises with pipeline
operators as a
[[Page 60675]]
part of the Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) in
cooperation with the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), and the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
(MMS). OPS applies the lessons learned from exercises and from reviews
of facility response plans to evaluate how its OPA 90 program is
improving the pipeline industry's ability to respond to oil spills. OPS
and industry also review experience from actual spills, such as those
in Houston, Texas (1994), Gramercy, Louisiana (1996), and Simpsonville,
South Carolina (1996) to evaluate the effectiveness of the OPA 90
program.
OPS has found improvements in actual responses resulting from the
increased emphasis on planning and preparedness. The Coast Guard's
Incident Specific Preparedness Review (ISPR) report on the 1994 San
Jacinto spill made several recommendations that OPS has implemented in
its program, such as providing an OPS liaison officer to work with the
federal on-scene coordinator in the unified command at major pipeline
spills. OPS has provided a liaison officer at three major spills since
1994.
On September 6, 1996, the National Transportation Safety Board
issued its Pipeline Special Investigation Report on the pipeline spill
in the San Jacinto River in 1994 (PB96-917004). The NTSB recommended
that OPS ``require operators of liquid pipelines to address, in their
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 spill response plans, identifying and
responding to events that can pose a substantial threat of a worst-case
product release'' (NTSB Recommendation P-96-21). OPS is seeking
comments on what action should be taken to address this issue, in
addition to reminding pipeline operators of the need to plan for a
substantial threat of a worst case discharge.
When OPS issued the interim final rule, it invited comments to
ensure that the rule was feasible and workable and indicated that, if
appropriate, OPS would make changes to the rule. OPS identified several
topics on which it sought comment. OPS further indicated that it would
consider public hearings to obtain further comments. The topics listed
below are issues that have arisen during oil spill exercises and in the
course of OPS's review and approval of facility response plans.
State agencies and pipeline operators have been working with OPS
for the past four years on the OPA 90 program, and OPS is interested in
receiving additional information and comments regarding how the current
regulations could be improved prior to issuing a final rule. OPS
requests public comment on the following topics:
Whether the definition of significant and substantial harm
as defined in 49 CFR 194.103 should be changed.
Whether a requirement for operators to have secondary
communications systems for emergency response activities should be
included in the final rule (Appendix A, Section 2).
Whether operators should be able to take a 50% credit for
the secondary containment around breakout tanks in calculating their
worst case discharge volumes per 49 CFR 194.105(b)(3).
Whether the plan review cycle should be modified from the
current three-year cycle (49 CFR 194.121(a)) to a five-year cycle, to
be consistent with Coast Guard and EPA requirements.
Whether a regulatory definition of ``oil'' for purposes of
response planning should be adopted. If so, how should ``oil'' be
defined--the list published by the Coast Guard (G-MRO) on February 24,
1995, the definition found in 49 CFR 194.5, or a different definition?
Whether facility response plan requirements for pipelines
transporting hazardous substances are needed.
Whether OPS's internal document ``Guidelines for
Developing and Evaluating an Oil Spill Response Exercise'' should be
more widely distributed.
Whether greater emphasis should be placed on requiring
operators to plan for ``a substantial threat of a discharge,'' i.e.,
including procedures for shutting down the line prior to an actual
release of oil, as suggested in the National Transportation Safety
Board's recommendation (P-96-21).
Whether pipeline operators have questions about
jurisdictional issues for offshore pipelines.
The transcript of the hearing will be available in the docket
approximately four weeks after the hearing. Interested persons not able
to attend the hearing may submit comments after reviewing the
transcript. After reviewing and considering the comments, OPS will
determine how to proceed. OPS may issue a final rule if the comments do
not show areas of controversy. If comments show areas of controversy,
or suggest amendments that need further comment, OPS may issue a notice
of proposed rulemaking seeking further comment.
Issued in Washington, DC on November 21, 1996.
Richard B. Felder,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 96-30316 Filed 11-27-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P
