Pipeline Safety: Mandatory Regulatory Reviews To Unleash American Energy and Improve Government Efficiency

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Parts 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, and 199</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. PHMSA-2025-0050]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2137-AF73</RIN> <SUBJECT>Pipeline Safety: Mandatory Regulatory Reviews To Unleash American Energy and Improve Government Efficiency</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> PHMSA is publishing this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit stakeholder feedback on whether to repeal or amend any requirements in the Pipeline Safety Regulations to eliminate undue burdens on the identification, development, and use of domestic energy resources and to improve government efficiency. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments on this ANPRM must be submitted by August 4, 2025. PHMSA will consider late-filed comments to the extent practicable. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number using any of the following ways: • <E T="03">E-Gov Web: https://www.regulations.gov</E> . This site allows the public to enter comments on any <E T="04">Federal Register</E> notice issued by any agency. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> Docket Management System: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery:</E> DOT Docket Management System: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> 202-493-2251. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> Please include the docket number PHMSA-2025-0050 at the beginning of your comments. If you submit your comments by mail, submit two copies. If you wish to receive confirmation that PHMSA received your comments, include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Internet users may submit comments at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> . <NOTE> <HD SOURCE="HED">Note:</HD> Comments are posted without changes or edits to <E T="03"> https:// www.regulations.gov, </E> including any personal information provided. There is a privacy statement published on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> . </NOTE> <E T="03">Privacy Act Statement:</E> In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the public to inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at <E T="03">www.dot.gov/privacy</E> . <E T="03">Confidential Business Information:</E> Confidential Business Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure. It is important that you clearly designate the comments submitted as CBI if: your comments responsive to this document contain commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as private; you actually treat such information as private; and your comment is relevant or responsive to this notice. Pursuant to 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 190.343, you may ask PHMSA to provide confidential treatment to the information you give to the agency by taking the following steps: (1) mark each page of the original document submission containing CBI as “Confidential”; (2) send PHMSA, along with the original document, a second copy of the original document with the CBI deleted; and (3) explain why the information that you are submitting is CBI. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to the following: Alyssa Imam, Transportation Specialist by telephone at 202-738-3850, or by email at <E T="03">alyssa.imam@dot.gov</E> . Hard copies may be sent to 2nd Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Any materials PHMSA receives that is not specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket. <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> . Follow the online instructions for accessing the docket. Alternatively, you may review the documents in person at the street address listed above. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Alyssa Imam, Transportation Specialist, by telephone at 202-738-3850 or by email at <E T="03">alyssa.imam@dot.gov</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Executive Summary</HD> PHMSA is publishing this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit stakeholder feedback on whether to repeal or amend any requirements in the Pipeline Safety Regulations (PSR; 49 CFR parts 190 through 199)—as well as any letters of interpretation, guidance documents, or other materials implementing those regulations—to eliminate undue burdens on the identification, development, and use of domestic energy resources and to improve government efficiency. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> PHMSA also solicits stakeholder feedback on whether to amend the PSR to require PHMSA conduct periodic, mandatory regulatory reviews. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  PHMSA has recently solicited stakeholder feedback on potential improvements and updates of certain PSR, as well as estimating the costs and benefits of any potential changes. <E T="03">See</E> PHMSA, “Pipeline Safety: Amendments to Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities,” 90 FR 18949 (May 5, 2025); <E T="03">and</E> PHMSA, “Pipeline Safety: Repair Criteria for Hazardous Liquid and Gas Transmission Pipelines,” 90 FR 21715 (May 21, 2025). PHMSA encourages stakeholders to submit comments to both the docket for this ANPRM as well as the dockets for those ANPRMs as pertinent. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> PHMSA's pipeline safety program plays an essential role in the energy supply chain, ensuring the safe, reliable, and affordable transportation of energy products to millions of ordinary Americans. The PSR apply to more than 3.3 million miles of pipelines that are used to transport natural gas, crude oil, refined petroleum products, carbon dioxide, and other gases and hazardous liquids to end users. The PSR also ensure the safety of nearly 400 underground natural gas storage (UNGS) facilities and 177 liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities—from peak shaving facilities operated by local distribution companies to large-scale export terminals supplying natural gas to U.S. allies and trading partners around the world. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See generally</E> PHMSA, “Pipeline Miles and Facilities 2010+,” <E T="03">https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%2Fshared%2FPDM%20Public%20website%2F_portal%2FPublic%20Reports&Page=Infrastructure</E> (last accessed Apr. 29, 2025) (compiling data from annual reports submitted to PHMSA). </FTNT> More than 3,000 operators of transportation-related pipelines, UNGS facilities, and LNG facilities are responsible for complying with the PSR, each of whom must invest scarce resources to satisfy PHMSA's design, construction, testing, operation, maintenance, and reporting requirements. The costs of these investments are passed along to other entities in the energy supply chain (including downstream shippers and pipeline systems, oil and gas companies, and electric and gas utilities), to the industrial manufacturing and commercial goods sectors, and, ultimately, to the American consumer. PHMSA has an obligation to ensure that the burdens imposed by its regulations on all potential stakeholders are necessary for the PSR to serve the public interest. Conducting periodic, retrospective reviews of the PSR is one way to achieve that objective. Presidents of both political parties dating to the 1970s have called on Federal agencies to conduct broad reviews of existing regulations by Executive order (E.O.), <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> and scholars and other experts in administrative law have long touted the benefits of conducting retrospective regulatory reviews. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> The Department of Transportation (DOT) requires review of regulations on a 10-year review cycle, as specified by 11(d) of DOT Order 2011.6B, “Policies and Procedures for Rulemakings.”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> DOT previously issued plans and regulations requiring retrospective review  <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> and solicited stakeholder input to inform those reviews on multiple occasions—and is currently taking recommendations on the DOT-wide opportunities for modification or repeal of regulations to reduce compliance burdens. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Congress requires periodic regulatory reviews on a limited scale; section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) requires PHMSA and other agencies to conduct post-issuance review of agency rules that impose a “significant impact on a substantial number of small entities” such as small business and local governments. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> E.O. 12044, “Improving Government Regulation,” 43 FR 12661 (Mar. 24, 1978); E.O. 12291, “Federal Regulation,” 46 FR 13193 (Feb. 19, 1981); E.O. 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review,” 58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993); E.O. 13563 “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” 76 FR 3821 (Jan. 21, 2011). ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 27k characters. 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