Final Gas Mega Rules Expected To Be Issued In 2019

The Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) convened in Washington D.C. at the end of March, 2018, to continue discussions from May and December 2017 regarding PHMSA's proposed gas and gathering pipeline mega rule ("Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines" [PHMSA-1011-0023]. The meetings included discussion and voting on a number of provisions concerning maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP), integrity management, definitions and repair criteria. Most notably, PHMSA announced its intention to divide the original Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) into three parts and issue three separate final rulemakings in 2019 [PHMAS PowerPoint]. PHMSA is currently projecting that these three rulemakings will be issued over the course of next year, with the first one focusing on outstanding congressional mandates, as follows::