Underground Construction - June 2017 - 8

WASHINGTONWATCH

By Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor

Republicans Ready Regulatory Relief for Pipelines

I

It looks like, based on two recent
hearings, that GOP members of the
House are focused on providing the
pipeline industry with regulatory relief as part of any infrastructure bill
which comes before Congress. One
House committee held hearings in
May on a discussion draft of legislation containing changes, discussed
in previous Congresses but never
enacted, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Section
7 pipeline approval process. The
other committee heard testimony
from industry leaders about needed
changes to the pipeline safety laws
administered by the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
Don Santa, the president and
CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas
Association of America (INGAA), testified at both hearings, one held by
the Energy and Commerce Committee, the other by the Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee in
late April. At the latter's subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and
hazardous materials, Committee
Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) said
billions cannot be spent on pipelines
because of regulatory delays at FERC
and the Corps of Engineers, which
he said cannot agree on two major,
proposed Pennsylvania pipeline
projects, one worth $3 billion, the
other $1 billion. He called the apparent disagreements between the
two agencies "ridiculous." He did not
name the projects and his spokesman did not respond to a request
to identify the projects. The FERC
published an environmental impact
statement on the PennEast project
on April 7.
The discussion draft, which was
the subject of hearings in the Energy
and Commerce's energy subcommittee, essentially contained many
of the same provisions introduced
in previous Congresses but never
passed. Those drafts generally center around allowing FERC to move
ahead with an approval if another
federal or state agency drags its feet
in performing the environmental
impact study required by federal or
state law. Those requirements often

8

ucononline.com

call on agencies such as the Federal
Fish and Wildlife Service, National
Park Service, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and
state agencies with delegated authority related to the Clean Water Act,
to chime in on whether a proposed
pipeline would unnecessarily disrupt
the environment or pose a danger to
animals or aquatic life.
Democrats on the energy subcommittee repeatedly referred to
the discussion draft as "a solution in
search of a problem." They wheeled
out statistics showing that FERC approves 90 percent of projects within
one year. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
and others said the bigger problem
bedeviling pipeline approval was the
lack of a quorum at the FERC which
has only two of five commissioners
in seats. The term of one of the two,
Colette Honorable, expires at the
end of June. In its current state, the
FERC cannot approve any pipelines.
However, on May 9, a week after
the energy subcommittee hearings,
President Trump nominated Neil
Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as
FERC commissioners.
Terry Turpin, director, office of
energy projects, FERC, speaking in
a personal capacity, panned the discussion draft. "Some of the proposed
NGA modifications would alter the
Commission's role from one of collaboration with its fellow agencies to
an oversight role, monitoring other
agency execution of their Congressionally mandated duties," he stated.
"I am concerned that this will require
the use of Commission resources
that could be better spent analyzing
the proposed projects and could lead
to unproductive tension between
the agencies involved in the review
process."
Trying to make the case for
inordinate delays at FERC, Santa
pointed to one project that has fallen
victim to federal agency foot-dragging. Though he did not identify the
pipeline, he was probably referring
to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a gas
transmission pipeline that would intersect the Blue Ridge Parkway and
Appalachian National Scenic Trail in
Virginia.

"The Park Service took 14 months
to review the 22-page application to
survey the area," Santa explained.
"Once permission was granted, the
survey work was completed within
a single afternoon. The survey, however, is only an initial step. The Park
Service has yet to complete its extensive review of the pipeline operator's
application for a permit to cross the
parkway and trail using horizontal
directional drilling."
PHMSA has its own problems,
though different than FERC's, since
PHMSA is run by an administrator,
not a commission. It has been musical chairs at the top of PHMSA for
years. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR),
the top Democrat on the committee,
described PHMSA as a "pretty much
dysfunctional agency."
Santa was critical of PHMSA and
saved his most pointed criticism for
the transmission and gathering line
proposed rule and the underground
storage interim final rule. The proposed rule was issued in July 2016,
and covered numerous provisions in
the 2011 pipeline reauthorization.
Its finalization is long overdue. The
underground storage rule implements the 2016 pipeline bill.
Santa explained that the practical
consequence of the five-year-andcounting delay in implementation
of what is called the transmission
"mega rule" is that operators may be
reluctant to dedicate the enormous
resources needed to implement voluntary pipeline safety commitments.
"This hesitancy is rooted in the
risk that the final rules ultimately
adopted by PHMSA might compel
a repeat of certain steps in an operator's pipeline safety action plan,"
he stated. "This 'do-over risk' is not
insignificant. For example, testing
pipelines for material strength is
both costly and disruptive to service
because pipelines are removed from
operation to complete the testing.
Operators would not want to conduct this testing twice."
The interim final rule on underground gas storage was issued late
last year without the agency first
soliciting public comment, including
industry feedback. INGAA, along

with three other trade associations
representing pipeline operators, petitioned PHMSA for reconsideration
in January. The agency has yet to respond and now is over a month past
its own deadline for doing so.

EPA Omits Compressor Stations
From TRI Proposed Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leaves pipeline compressor stations off the list of facilities
that would have to comply with new
chemical release reports which natural gas processing (NGP) facilities
would be subject to. The EPA had
some latitude deciding which sectors within the oil and gas industry
would have to make reports to the
EPA's toxic release inventory (TRI).
That choice was pressed upon the
agency because of a petition filed by
environmental groups in 2012 demanding that the agency add oil and
gas sectors to those who have been
subject to TRI reporting for years.
Facilities subject to TRI reporting
are required to report releases of certain chemicals they use above specific thresholds. These facilities must
also report pollution prevention and
recycling data for such chemicals.
NGP facilities are stationary surface
facilities that receive gas from a gathering system that supplies raw natural gas from many nearby wells. These
facilities prepare natural gas to industrial or pipeline specifications and
extract heavier liquid hydrocarbons
from the raw or field natural gas.
The American Petroleum Institute
(API), which represents NGP facilities, wants the EPA to withdraw the
proposed rule because the agency
overestimates its benefits and underestimates the financial burden.
Uni Blake, scientific advisor, API,
explained, "Due to the varying and
overlapping temporal and spatial
nature of activities, operations, and
businesses in the oil and natural gas
exploration and production sector,
collecting the economic data for each
multi-establishment facility to determine if the primary NAICS/SIC code
is covered under TRI, would be costly
and impose a significant financial
burden."
Underground Construction June 2017


http://www.ucononline.com

Underground Construction - June 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - June 2017

Underground Construction - June 2017
Contents
Editor’s Log
Newsline
Washington Watch
Pipeline Projects
First Look: New Padding Bucket Designed Specifi cally For Pipelines
Job-Site Geo: Test Standards For Flowable Fill
TTC Celebrates 10-Year Partnership With China For Trenchless R&D
Pipe Selection Chart
19th Annual Horizontal Directional Drilling Survey HDD Sustains Robust Growth; Common Issues Remain
HDD Roundtable Addresses Workforce, Locates, Bidding
First Look: American Augers Unveils HDD Exit-Side Breakout Wrench
NASSCO Tech Tips
Equipment Selection Guide
Business
New Products
Business Cards
Calendar Of Events
Ad Index
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Underground Construction - June 2017
Underground Construction - June 2017 - IFC
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Contents
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Editor’s Log
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 3
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Newsline
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 5
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 6
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 7
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Washington Watch
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 9
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Pipeline Projects
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 11
Underground Construction - June 2017 - First Look: New Padding Bucket Designed Specifi cally For Pipelines
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 13
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Job-Site Geo: Test Standards For Flowable Fill
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 15
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 16
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 17
Underground Construction - June 2017 - TTC Celebrates 10-Year Partnership With China For Trenchless R&D
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 19
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Pipe Selection Chart
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 21
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 19th Annual Horizontal Directional Drilling Survey HDD Sustains Robust Growth; Common Issues Remain
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 23
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 24
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 25
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 26
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 27
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 28
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 29
Underground Construction - June 2017 - HDD Roundtable Addresses Workforce, Locates, Bidding
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 31
Underground Construction - June 2017 - First Look: American Augers Unveils HDD Exit-Side Breakout Wrench
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 33
Underground Construction - June 2017 - NASSCO Tech Tips
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 35
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Equipment Selection Guide
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 37
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 38
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 39
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 40
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 41
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 42
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 43
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 44
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 45
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 46
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 47
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 48
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 49
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 50
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 51
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Business
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 53
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 54
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 55
Underground Construction - June 2017 - New Products
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 57
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 58
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Business Cards
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 60
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 61
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 62
Underground Construction - June 2017 - 63
Underground Construction - June 2017 - Ad Index
Underground Construction - June 2017 - IBC
Underground Construction - June 2017 - BC
https://www.nxtbook.com/gulfenergyinfo/gulfpub/underground-construction-december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/gulfenergyinfo/gulfpub/uc_202211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202209
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202208
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202207
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202206
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202205
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202204
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202203
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202202
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202201
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202109
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202107
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202106
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202105
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202104
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202103
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202101
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202009
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202008
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202007
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202006
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202005
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202004
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202003
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202002
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_202001
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201912
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201909
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201907
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201906
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uesi_summer2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201905
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201904
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201903
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uesi_winter2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201902
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201901
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201812
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201809
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201808
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201807
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201806
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201805
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201804
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201803
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201802
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201801
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201712
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_ditchwitch
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201709
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201707
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gulfpub/uc_201706
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com