Underground Construction - February 2021 - 13

pipelines: cancelled the 2012 Obama rule
that make transmission pipelines subject
to Clean Air rules on volatile organic
chemical emissions, and cancelled a 2016
Obama rule which made transmission
pipelines and all other sectors of the oil
industry subject to methane restrictions on
air emissions. Environmental groups such
as the NRDC, Environmental Defense Fund
and Sierra Club are challenging that Trump
final rule in federal court.
" In short, we are very confident the court
will reject EPA's methane rollbacks if the
case is seen through to decision, " said David
Doniger, senior strategic director of the
NRDC climate and clean energy program,
who is in charge of the case. " The incoming
Biden administration is near-certain,
however, to reverse course administratively,
reissue the rules, and proceed to regulate
existing equipment. So, the case may not
actually proceed to decision. "
What will also be affected by the
incoming Biden administration are
Trump administration proposed rules
that were not finalized by the time Biden
was inaugurated. If they were finalized,
the Senate with its Democratic majority
could potentially cancel those rules via
the Congressional Review Act, since
finalization occurred within 60 days of a
new administration taking office.
This is being written prior to Biden's
inauguration, so it's not known whether
two key proposed rules will be finalized,
or the Biden administration will be left
to make changes or simply cancel the
rulemakings outright. The first one is the
Army Corps of Engineers proposed revisions
to nationwide permits that industries use
when digging around wetlands with very
little environmental damage.
Gas pipelines use NWP12, to which the
Corps proposed a number of changes, all
of them opposed by INGAA. Interestingly,
environmental groups opposed the changes, too, though for different reasons. The
Corps is likely to hold off issuing a final rule
because of numerous controversies about

many aspects of its proposal. However,
the law says the Corps must reissue NWPs
every five years-in this case, by 2022 - and
among changes environmental groups are
seeking is one totally eliminating NWP12.

PHMSA
Another " hanging chad " is the Pipeline
and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration's (PHMSA) proposed rule
giving pipelines a new alternative to replacing old pipe when the population density
around that pipe increases from a category
1 to a category 3 location. Instead of having to replace old pipe, which the pipelines
prefer not to do because of cost, the Trump
PHMSA wants to allow pipelines to use
integrity management procedures to assure
the safety of that pipe in the now high-

er-density area. While it has a somewhat
lower visibility, the proposed rule still
faces opposition from state safety officials
represented by the National Association of
Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR).
The proposed rule will probably be
carried over to the Biden administration.
The fiscal 2021 appropriations bill passed
by Congress at the end of December
included the Protecting our Infrastructure
of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES)
Act of 2020. That bill actually has minimal
impact on gas transmission pipelines but,
more importantly, establishes new safety
programs for both distribution pipelines
and LNG facilities. Those two gas sectors
will likely see PHMSA begin to roll out new
regulatory programs for them in 2021. *

UCONonline.com | FEBRUARY 2021

13
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Underground Construction - February 2021

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