American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2015 - 16

IndustryDigest
DOT To Add Regulations
For Hazardous Liquids

WASHINGTON-The U.S.
Department of Transportation has
proposed additional safety regulations
for hazardous liquid pipelines, the
Independent Petroleum Association of
America reports. Under this rule
making, many pipelines exempt from
the present system would be included,
the department says.
The Pipeline Hazardous Materials
and Safety Administration says its
notice of proposed rule making would
extend certain reporting requirements to
gravity lines and all hazardous liquid
gathering lines. IPAA notes that this
includes onshore, offshore, regulated
and unregulated lines.
Additionally, IPAA says the NOPR
would require that all hazardous liquid
pipelines have a system for detecting
leaks and establish a timeline for
inspecting affected pipelines following
an extreme weather event or natural
disaster. These inspections would allow
operators to identify quickly and repair
post-event leaks and other damage to
pipelines, PHMSA confirms.
According to the PHMSA, the
proposed rule making also would
require annual evaluations of pipeline
protective measures in areas where
failures would cause the most human or
environmental damage. The NOPR also
would require pipeline operators use
internal inspection tools where possible
for any new and replaced pipeline in a
highly populated area, the
administration says.
PHMSA says the changes could cost
pipeline companies a combined $22.5
million annually.
The Association of Oil Pipe Lines
has been quoted in published reports
saying much of the proposal involves
work that companies already do
voluntarily. By imposing requirements
on the timing of maintenance, federal
officials run the risk of diverting
attention from highly populated or
important environmental areas, the
AOPL contends.
IPAA says it will be working with its
members and cooperating associations
to submit comments by the Jan. 8
deadline. IPAA also clarifies that this
NOPR affects only hazardous liquid
pipelines, and that there is a separate
rule making that will focus on natural
16 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

gas transmission lines and is expected
to include a definition of regulated
gathering. ❒

EPA Pollution Standard
For Refineries Includes
Fence-Line Monitoring

WASHINGTON-The
Environmental Protection Agency has
revised pollution standards for toxic air
pollutants from petroleum refineries.
The rule released in September
requires a first-of-its-kind fence-line
monitoring system to protect and inform
communities adjacent to the refinery,
EPA says. It adds the revised rules also
strengthen emission controls for flares,
pressure relief devices, storage tanks,
and delayed coker operations.
When fully implemented, EPA
contends the standard will reduce toxic
air pollutants by 5,200 tons a year, and
volatile organic compound releases by
50,000 tons annually. As a co-benefit,
the agency says the new standards will
cut emissions of greenhouse gases
equivalent to 660,000 tons a year of
carbon dioxide. EPA asserts the new
standards will have no noticeable
impact on the costs of petroleum
products.
The revised standards require
continuous monitoring of benzene
concentrations at the fence line of
refineries to ensure sites are
appropriately managing emissions, EPA
states. The agency already requires
corrective action be taken to protect
neighboring communities if the
established level is exceeded, adding it
is requiring the new fence-line monitors
be capable of detecting benzene at very
low levels. EPA says in response to
public feedback, the rule allows for
future alternative monitoring methods
as technology advances.
According to the agency, the
standard also includes requirements that
will virtually eliminate visible flare
emissions and releases by pressurerelease devices. It will require a
comprehensive program of process
changes and pollution prevention
measures for those emission sources.
The agency points out the revisions also
require additional emission reductions
from storage tanks and delayed coking
units, some of which previously

required no controls.
Bob Greco, downstream group
director for the American Petroleum
Institute, says EPA has made substantial
improvements in its refinery rule, but
the implementation costs for refineries
still could top $1 billion. EPA analyses
show that refinery emissions already are
at safe levels, he adds.
"Despite these improvements,
regulators need to be thoughtful about
the additional impacts of new
regulations and added costs to
delivering affordable energy to U.S.
consumers. Companies already have
spent billions of dollars to reduce
emissions by installing flare gas
recovery and flare minimization
systems to reduce greenhouse gases,
and air quality continues to improve as
a result of these voluntary programs and
existing regulations," Greco says.
For more information on the new
standard, visit
www3.epa.gov/ttn/atw/petref.html. ❒

NDIC Grants More Time
To Complete New Wells,
Tweaks Flaring Goals

BISMARCK, N.D.-The North
Dakota Industrial Commission took
action in October to give operators
more time to complete the state's
inventory of drilled-but-uncompleted
wells by clarifying that those wells may
be granted temporarily abandoned
status for one year. At the same
meeting, NDIC tweaked new associated
gas flaring targets it set in September.
Lynn Helms, director of the North
Dakota Department of Mineral
Resources, told the North Dakota
Petroleum Council at its annual meeting
in September that the state had 914
drilled-but-uncompleted wells at the
end of July (see story page 131).
NDPC reports that at the
commission's Oct. 22 meeting in
Watford City, N.D., the NDIC clarified
that those wells may be granted TA
status, thereby extending for one year
the deadline by which they must
produce or be plugged and abandoned.
The operator must prove mechanical
integrity for the well, according to an
NDIC guidance document, and royalty
owners, landowners and nonoperating
interest owners will have the
opportunity to object.
http://www3.epa.gov/ttn/atw/petref.html
American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2015

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