The Texas Railroad Commission Adopts New Rule Requiring Integrity Management Plans for Natural Gas and Hazardous Liquids Pipelines:
On April 10, 2001, the Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) issued new regulations requiring integrity management plans for all natural gas and hazardous liquids pipelines within the state. The rule includes changes to the draft rule published in the Texas Register on November 24, 2000 and will be in 16 TAC Chapter 8 entitled "Pipeline Safety Regulations." Operators with both intrastate and interstate pipelines may use an assessment plan developed for interstate facilities provided that the interstate plan meets the requirements of the new § 8.101.
The rule requires Operators to develop pipeline integrity assessment and management plans for all intrastate transmission and gathering lines subject to 49 CFR 192 or 49 CFR 195. Each Operator's plan must be completed by February 1, 2002 on a system-by-system or segment within each system basis. An Operator may select either a "risk based" or a "prescriptive plan" assessment approach. The rule requires Operators to utilize either hydrostatic testing or in-line inspection for integrity assessments or to have TRRC's prior approval before using an alternative integrity assessment method such as direct assessment. Reassessment requirements and treatment of offshore segments are also addressed in the rule. Operators must notify the TRRC when the plan is complete and then TRRC staff has 185 days to either accept the plan or determine which sections are not in compliance.
If an Operator selects the "risk based" assessment approach, 50% of the initial integrity assessments must be completed by January 1, 2006 with the balance complete by January 1, 2011. The Operator must perform a risk analysis for each segment that considers such factors as population density, prior in-line inspection results, consequences of a leak or failure, previous leak history, etc. The Operator then ranks the results of the risk analyses and performs its first integrity assessments on those segments having the greatest risk
For Operators electing the "prescriptive plan", the rule contains tables that identify by service, pipe size and location the deadlines for making initial integrity assessments. Certain specified initial assessments must be complete by January 1, 2006 with all other initial assessments finished by January 1, 2011.