The Office of Pipeline Safety issued an advisory bulletin on August 27, 1999 , in the Federal Register (64 Fed. Reg. 46967 ), to advise owners and operators of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines to review and amend as necessary their written damage prevention program to ensure there are provisions to minimize the risks associated with directional drilling and other trenchless technology operations near buried pipelines. RSPA has modified its hazardous liquid pipeline inspection form to examine how operators monitor these trenchless technology operations.

The Office of Pipeline Safety is accepting comments on a proposed renewal of information collection for oil spill response plans prepaired by onshore oil pipeline operators. Comments must be received on or before October 25, 1999 to be assured for consideration. The reference docket number of RSPA-98-4957 should appear on all comments.

Possible issues to will be – going to a 4 or 5 year submittal frequency instead of the 3 year frequency issued by the DOT and noting that the “information burden” of 47 hours per respondent is very low.

Also in the news is the proposed rulemaking that would require the last operator of an abandoned offshore pipeline (or those pipelines that cross through, under or over a navigable water) to submit a report of abandonment to the Secretary of Transportation. Comments on the proposal must be received on or before October 29, 1999.