The U.S. Pipeline Safety Agency has submitted a draft regulation aimed at strengthening industry measures to curb methane emissions and prevent dangers to people and the environment of the nearly three million miles of gas pipelines in the country.
The Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposal would “increase efficiency, reduce pollution and harmful waste, and create an estimated benefit of up to $2.3 billion annually” , PHMSA said in a press release. Friday.
In compliance with the PIPES Act’s provision for advanced leak detection systems, the new rule would apply not only to the more than 2.7 million miles of U.S. gas pipelines, but also to its more than 400 underground natural gas storage facilities and 165 liquefied natural gas plants, PHMSA said.
“The proposed rule will update decades-old federal leak detection and repair standards that rely solely on the human senses in favor of new requirements that add an additional layer of security by deploying commercially available advanced technologies to find and fix water leaks. methane and other flammable fuels, toxic and corrosive gases,” PHMSA said.
The planned policy could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from covered pipes by up to 55 percent, according to the agency. “In 2030 alone, this rule has the potential to eliminate up to 1 million metric tons of methane emissions, equivalent to 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide or the emissions of 5.6 million gas-guzzling cars” , PHMSA said.
The proposal requires operators to increase the frequency of leak surveys and implement commercially available advanced leak detection technology “to meet a minimum performance standard.”
The new rule also revises down the minimum notification threshold to detect smaller leaks, aims to prevent equipment failures, specifies criteria and timelines for leak repair, and encourages operators to invest in methane capture equipment.
PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown commented, “This rule will deploy pipeline workers across the country to find and repair leaks that improve safety for the public and ensure that the United States remains a world leader in mitigating of methane, which is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases threatening the economy and our planet today.”
The transportation secretary called the pending regulation “a long-overdue modernization of the way we identify and fix methane leaks.”
The new rule is part of efforts to carry out the Biden-Harris administration’s Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, PHMSA said.
The DOT last month began distributing $196 million in pipeline repair grants to 19 states. It was part of a five-year, $1 billion grant to rehabilitate publicly owned natural gas pipelines listed in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, popularly known as the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. The 2021-26 funding is expected to reduce methane emissions by about 212 metric tons annually, according to the DOT.
Prior to the new proposal, PHMSA has taken other initiatives to reduce spill incidents under the bipartisan PIPES Act of 2020, the pipeline agency said.
“In June 2021, PHMSA issued guidance to operators of hazardous gas and liquid pipelines that operators must update their operations and maintenance plans to minimize emissions, underscoring Congress’ new requirement in Sec. 114 of the PIPES Act of 2020,” PHMSA said. “In 2022, PHMSA deployed across the country to inspect operations and maintenance plans to ensure compliance.
“Today’s proposed rule builds on these actions by specifying exactly what pipeline operators must do to comply once the rule is finalized in the coming months.”
Methane accounts for 10 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, released in 2021.
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