Standards Development Organizations Work Closely with PHMSA to Move Latest Pipeline Knowledge Into Industry Standards

PHMSA Looks to Industry Consensus Standards for Guidance When Creating Pipeline Integrity Regulations

Kathy Riggs Larsen, MP Staff Writer

On the afternoon of June 10, 1999, a 16-in (406-mm)-diameter steel pipeline owned by Olympic Pipe Line Co. ruptured and released about 237,000 gal (896,878 L) of gasoline into a creek that flowed through Whatcom Falls Park in Bellingham, Washington. About 90 minutes after the rupture, the gasoline ignited and burned for five days. Three people perished in the aftermath, a recently restored salmon run was ecologically devastated, and thousands of fish and other wildlife were killed. As of January 2002, Olympic estimated that total property damages were at least $45 million.^1-2

The Bellingham, Washington incident and other pipeline failures that occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s emphasized to legislators as well as the general public the importance of pipeline integrity and safety in the United States, and prompted the push for assurances that the nation’s pipelines would be operated in a safe and reliable manner. Since then, stakeholders from government, trade associations, professional societies, and industry have come together to form the Pipeline Standards Development Organizations Coordinating Council (PSDOCC), a coalition created to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) in developing regulations that address pipeline integrity and safety.

The Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), acting through the OPS, administers the DOT's national regulatory program to ensure the safe transportation of natural gas, petroleum, and other hazardous materials by pipeline. PHMSA is incorporating consensus standards into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); the goal, PHMSA says, is to strengthen and streamline the code, be less prescriptive, and allow performance to drive how regulations are met.

PHMSA looks to industry consensus standards—which reflect the best available engineering and technical knowledge, criteria, methods, processes, and practices for the safe design, construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of pipelines—for guidance when creating pipeline integrity regulations. The PSDOCC, with membership that includes the organizations responsible for developing such standards for the pipeline industry (standards-developing organizations or SDOs), organizations that use the standards, and organizations responsible for pipeline safety and integrity regulation, provides a successful forum for coordinating the development, maintenance, and implementation of the operating standards that are appropriate for incorporation into the CFR.

To achieve this, the PSDOCC recommends standards to PHMSA for reference in the CFR, and every year provides PHMSA with a package of pipeline technical standards that are either new or modified, including the status of new standards and significant modifications to existing standards that are in development. The council also identifies needs for standards that are not in development, such as standards that address new technologies as they are being commercialized or standards that focus on general pipeline safety needs.

“Over the last five years, PHMSA has worked to find better ways to ensure that the latest and best knowledge regarding pipeline integrity is incorporated into their regulations—and they look to the SDOs to provide that,” says Cliff Johnson, NACE International Public Affairs director and chair of the PSDOCC.

Adds Linda Goldberg, NACE Technical Activities director, “PHMSA depends on the industry experts, SDO committee members who are working in the field, to provide the best technical information. If industry and the SDOs didn’t present PHMSA with the latest information and standards, then regulators would need to write their own guidelines, which may not be as accurate and timely as those based on data coming from professionals in the field.”

PHMSA regulations reference several dozen consensus standards written by SDOs such as NACE, ASTM International, ASME International, American Gas Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Public Gas Association, National Fire Protection Association, and Pipeline Research Council International. Currently, the pipeline industry and PHMSA are partnering on research that addresses standards in order to strengthen their scope and to expand their applicability.

“Because national consensus standards can carry the equivalent weight of law when incorporated by reference into the CFR, the latest in pipeline safety research needs to be pushed into the forefront of the regulation development process,” Johnson notes.

According to PHMSA, consensus standards constantly need new scientific information and knowledge to be effective and relevant. As part of its research and development (R&D) strategic plan, PHMSA funds research that supports regulatory activities and provides the technical and analytical foundation necessary for planning, evaluating, and implementing its pipeline safety program. About 45 of 206 PHMSA-funded R&D projects target national consensus standards, with $14.34 million in funding from PHMSA and $18.20 million from industry for a total of $32.55 million.³ PHMSA asserts that it’s imperative for knowledge from the successful R&D projects affecting pipeline consensus standards to transfer to the standards-making process.

“NACE felt a need to focus attention on the PSDOCC and its relationship with PHMSA as a way to strengthen the movement of knowledge from R&D into current standards and assist owners and operators in doing the job they want to achieve, which is to make certain that product stays contained in the pipe as it moves from point A to point B,” Johnson says.

To ensure success with this research objective and facilitate a more effective and efficient integration of pipeline R&D results into the development and revision of technical standards, PSDOCC entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with PHMSA that pursues three program objectives:

• Fostering development of new technologies that operators can use to improve safety performance and more effectively address regulatory requirements
• Strengthening regulatory requirements and related national consensus standards
• Improving the state and availability of knowledge used by industry and regulatory managers and pipeline safety field inspectors to better understand safety issues and to improve the quality of decisions made to improve safety performance.

To strengthen regulatory requirements and related national consensus standards, the parties agree through the MOA that research contracts awarded by PHMSA must transfer the knowledge they generate to the standards-making committees, and the systematic process described in the MOA is critical to ensure knowledge from pipeline safety research is conveyed to end users.

“From an SDO’s point of view, this is a great step forward. We’re seeing a renewed interest by PHMSA to establish a link between industry and government that will facilitate the transfer of R&D knowledge,” Johnson concludes.

For more information on the PSDOCC, visit its Web site at www.psdocc.org

References

1. “Pipeline Accident Report, Pipeline Rupture and Subsequent Fire in Bellingham, Washington June 10, 1999,” National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB/PAR-02/02, PB2002-916502, October 2002.

2. “Olympic Pipeline Rupture /Fire and Release to Whatcom Creek,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://epa.gov/OEM/docs/oil/fss/fss00/olympic.pdf (November 13, 2009).

3. “Strengthening Consensus Standards,” Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/rd/performance_cs.htm (November 13, 2009).