Florida Public Service Commission - Comment

The staff of the Florida Public Service Commission would like to respond to the changes proposed in Docket Number PHSMA-2009-0304 to alter the certification forms. The changes proposed to Attachments 1-9 would present little difficulty to develop the requested information. Our current workload summary program would be adequate to provide the data required by the proposed changes to the certification form. However, staff is strongly opposed to the changes proposed in Attachment 10. The suggestion that the state pipeline safety program is responsible for enactment of all 9 elements of the Damage Prevention Program shows a significant misunderstanding of our pipeline safety program’s capabilities. The Florida Public Service Commission’s capabilities are greatly limited when it comes to promotion and enactment of the 9 Element Directive established in the PIPES Act Section 60134 of Title 49. The staff of the Commission’s Bureau of Gas Safety is in support of the Excavation Damage Prevention Initiative and Public Awareness Program. However, the Florida Public Service Commission and its staff are expressly limited by state statutes from direct or indirect involvement with organizations that have goals to lobby the state’s legislature to create new laws or alter existing law. As stated in the Excavation Damage Prevention Initiative’s Guide to the 9 Elements, a forum of stakeholders must be organized to drive action for the implementation of necessary laws, regulations and processes associated with the 9 elements of the PIPES Act. The Florida Public Service Commission and its staff cannot participate in such a forum. Further, it is our current understanding that the Florida Public Service Commission does not plan to participate in the grant allocation program established by the PIPES Act, as an incentive to develop an Excavation Damage Prevention Initiative Forum. Considering the Bureau of Gas Safety’s current budgetary and manpower limitations, it would be prohibitive to expend the greatly increased man-hour involvement that would be necessary to facilitate the development of the Forum and take the lead to enact the 9 element program. If the Commission were to be mandated to be the driving force in the implementation of the 9 element directive, it would require a reallocation of staff’s workload responsibilities, resulting in other essential pipeline safety activities being postponed or eliminated that are considered important to assure public safety. STAFF FPSC