81 FR 78261 - Pipeline Safety: Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility User Fee
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 215 (November 7, 2016)
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 215 (November 7, 2016)
| Page Range | 78261-78263 | |
| FR Document | 2016-26854 |
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 215 (Monday, November 7, 2016)] [Notices] [Pages 78261-78263] From the Federal Register Online [www.thefederalregister.org] [FR Doc No: 2016-26854] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration [Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0092] Pipeline Safety: Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility User Fee AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Notice of agency action and request for comment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This notice is to advise all underground natural gas storage facility operators of a proposed PHMSA pipeline user fee assessment and rate structure. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roger Little by telephone at 202-366- 4569, by fax at 202-366-4566, by email at [email protected], or by mail at U.S. Department of Transportation, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., PHP-2, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Comments: PHMSA invites interested persons to comment on the underground natural gas storage facility user fee assessment procedures described in this notice by January 6, 2017. Comments should reference Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0092. Comments may be submitted in the following ways:E-Gov Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. This site allows the public to enter comments on any Federal Register notice issued by any agency. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Fax: 1-202-493-2251. Mail: Docket Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation [[Page 78262]] (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. Hand Delivery: DOT Docket Management System, Room W12-140, on the ground floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Instructions: Identify the docket number (PHMSA-2016-0092) at the beginning of your comments. If you submit your comments by mail, submit two copies. If you wish to receive confirmation that PHMSA has received your comments, include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Internet users may submit comments at http://www.regulations.gov. Note: Comments will be posted without changes or edits to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act Statement below for additional information. Privacy Act Statement Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments received for any of our dockets. You may review the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19476), or visit http://dms.dot.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) (Pub. L. 99-272, sec. 7005), codified at Section 60301 of Title 49, United States Code, authorizes the assessment and collection of user fees to fund the pipeline safety activities conducted under Chapter 601 of Title 49. COBRA requires that the Secretary of Transportation establish a schedule of fees for pipeline usage, bearing a reasonable relationship to miles of pipeline, volume-miles, revenues, or an appropriate combination thereof. In particular, the Secretary must take into account the allocation of departmental resources in establishing the schedule.\1\ In accordance with COBRA, PHMSA also assesses user fees on operators of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities as defined in 49 CFR part 193. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ Pipeline user fee assessments under COBRA were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Skinner v. Mid-America Pipeline Co., 490 U.S. 212 (1989). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On June 22, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-183) (PIPES Act of 2016). Section 12 of the PIPES Act of 2016 mandates PHMSA to issue regulations for underground natural gas storage facilities, impose user fees on operators of these facilities, and prescribe procedures to collect those fees. Section 2 of the PIPES Act of 2016 authorizes $8 million per year to be appropriated from those fees for each of fiscal years 2017-2019 for the newly established Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility Safety Account in the Pipeline Safety Fund. PHMSA is prohibited from collecting a user fee unless the expenditure of such fee is provided in advance in an appropriations act. If Congress appropriates funds to this account for fiscal years 2017-2019, PHMSA will collect these fees from the operators of the facilities. According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), there are 400 interstate and intrastate underground natural gas storage facilities currently in operation in the United States, with more than four trillion cubic feet of natural gas working capacity. EIA data is collected on form EIA-191, Field Level Storage Data (Annual), and can be accessed from the Related Links section on http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/storagecapacity/. Three hundred twenty-six of those facilities store natural gas in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, while 31 facilities store natural gas in salt caverns and 43 store it in depleted aquifers. Of the 400 underground natural gas storage facilities in the U.S., approximately half (197) are interstate facilities. PHMSA is currently developing an Interim Final Rule (IFR) that will fulfill the requirement in Section 12 of the PIPES Act of 2016 to establish minimum Federal safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities. The Agency expects this IFR will be issued later this year, but PHMSA has already been preparing to assume regulatory oversight of these facilities. PHMSA is designing a training program for both Federal and State inspectors to enable thorough and effective oversight of all underground storage facilities. Inspection protocols are being developed and will be made publicly available. The protocols will inform all stakeholders of PHMSA's expectations for demonstrating compliance with the minimum safety regulations. PHMSA also plans to deploy Web sites with frequently asked questions and additional guidance on the safe operation of underground natural gas storage facilities. Once new regulations are in place, PHMSA will directly regulate interstate facilities and will provide grants to State agencies that are or become certified to regulate intrastate facilities. If no State agency is certified in a given state, PHMSA will also directly regulate any intrastate facilities. While the surface piping at underground gas storage facilities is currently subject to the 49 CFR part 192 regulations, extending Federal regulation to the wells and well bore tubing connecting the surface with the underground reservoirs is a regulatory activity not previously conducted by PHMSA that will involve substantial employment of agency resources. This will include, among other things, conducting field inspections of facility operations including reviewing operating, maintenance, integrity and emergency plans and procedures, making compliance determinations and conducting enforcement actions, and accident investigations. PHMSA estimates $2 million of the potential appropriation would fund the preparations mentioned above and direct PHMSA inspection and enforcement. The remaining $6 million of the proposed appropriation would fund grants to State agencies certified by PHMSA to regulate intrastate facilities. PHMSA invites comments on the following proposed approach to determining the user fee assessment for underground natural gas storage facility operators. This is a tiered approach that is similar to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant user fee rate structure, which was modified for FY 2015 billing. The LNG user fee rate structure uses the storage capacity, in barrels of LNG, as the basis for the rate structure. The storage capacity for each operator is determined and operators are placed in tiers. Each tier represents a greater storage capacity and a higher user fee obligation. The storage capacity of an underground natural gas storage facility is referred to as the working gas capacity. PHMSA proposes to use the working gas capacity, in million standard cubic feet, for each operator, and a tiered approach to establish the underground natural gas storage facility user fee structure. The tiered approach places a larger portion of the user fee assessment on operators of larger facilities. PHMSA also considered using the number of active wells per facility as the basis for the tiers as it would also be a reasonable indicator of the expected regulatory efforts needed. PHMSA has not found a publicly available data source for the number of active wells at each facility, but may reassess the user fee rate structure in the future if this or other methods become feasible and are shown to appropriately reflect the allocation of departmental resources to these regulatory activities. In the spring of 2017, PHMSA will use calendar year 2015 data from the [[Page 78263]] EIA Web site to develop the underground natural gas storage facility user fee rate structure. When PHMSA promulgates regulations for operators of underground natural gas storage facilities, we plan to include the collection of annual reports to incorporate both the capacity and number of wells per facility in the annual report. If PHMSA were to collect data directly from the operators, PHMSA would discontinue the use of EIA data. PHMSA proposes the following steps for developing the user fee rate structure. PHMSA will sum the working gas capacity for active fields for each operator. The operator working gas capacity values will be parsed into 10 tiers. The lowest values will be in tier 1 and the highest values in tier 10. The minimum and maximum Working Gas Capacities for each tier will be selected to place an equal number of operators in each tier. Each tier will have a user fee assessment to be paid by each operator in the tier. Based on a preliminary analysis of the EIA data, the tiers and assessment per tier to collect $8,000,000 would be: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tier Assessment per operator Working gas capacity (Mcf) range ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.............................................. $12,308 Less than 1,550,000. 2.............................................. 24,615 More than 1,550,000 and less than 3,500,000. 3.............................................. 30,769 More than 3,500,000 and less than 6,500,000. 4.............................................. 36,923 More than 6,500,000 and less than 11,500,000. 5.............................................. 49,231 More than 11,500,000 and less than 15,500,000. 6.............................................. 61,538 More than 15,500,000 and less than 22,000,000. 7.............................................. 73,846 More than 22,000,000 and less than 30,000,000. 8.............................................. 80,000 More than 30,000,000 and less than 50,000,000. 9.............................................. 92,308 More than 50,000,000 and less than 85,000,000. 10............................................. 142,857 More than 85,000,000. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If less than $8 million is appropriated to the Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility Safety Account, PHMSA will proportionally reduce the assessment for each tier to collect the appropriated amount. Regardless of the appropriated amount, PHMSA expects that 25% would fund PHMSA actions and 75% would fund grants to certified State agencies. PHMSA would continue this user fee assessment in each year funds are provided in advance in an appropriations act and these regulatory activities are carried out. Issued in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2016, under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.97. Alan K. Mayberry, Acting Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety. [FR Doc. 2016-26854 Filed 11-4-16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-60-P
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(b) NHTSA stated in a 2005 FMVSS The following warning would occur if the subject vehicles that DTNA no
No. 101 rulemaking that the reason for a low air condition occurred while longer controlled at the time it
including vehicles over 10,000 pounds driving. determined that the noncompliance
in the requirements of FMVSS No. 101 • Red contrasting color of the telltale existed. However, any decision on this
is that there is a need for drivers of saying ‘‘BRAKE’’. petition does not relieve vehicle
heavier vehicles to see and identify their • Red contrasting color of the ISO distributors and dealers of the
displays, just as there is for drivers of symbol for brake malfunction. prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale,
lighter vehicles. See 70 FR 48295, 48298 • Audible alert to the driver as long or introduction or delivery for
(Aug. 17, 2005). The telltale in the as the vehicle has low air. introduction into interstate commerce of
subject vehicles saying ‘‘BRAKE’’ would • Air gauges for the primary and the noncompliant vehicles under their
allow the driver to see and identify the secondary air tanks clearly showing the control after DTNA notified them that
improper functioning system as was the air pressure in the system. the subject noncompliance existed.
• Red contrasting color on the air
intent of the rule, thus serving the Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120:
gauges indicating when the pressure is
purpose of the FMVSS No. 101 delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and
low.
requirement. The functionality of both the parking 501.8.
(c) There are two scenarios when a brake system and the service brake Jeffrey M. Giuseppe,
low brake air pressure condition would system remains unaffected by the Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
exist: A parked vehicle and a moving ‘‘BRAKE’’ telltale used in the subject
vehicle. Each of these are discussed [FR Doc. 2016–26764 Filed 11–4–16; 8:45 am]
vehicles.
separately below; in each scenario, there (d) NHTSA Precedents—DTNA notes
BILLING CODE 4910–59–P
is ample warning provided to the driver that NHTSA has previously granted
of low brake air pressure. petitions for decisions of DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
a. Parked Vehicle inconsequential noncompliance for
The driver of an air-braked vehicle similar brake telltale issues, in which Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
must ensure that the vehicle has enough the ISO symbol in combination with Safety Administration
brake air pressure to operate safely. At other available warnings was deemed
startup, the vehicle will likely be in a sufficient to provide the necessary [Docket No. PHMSA–2016–0092]
low air condition. When in a low air driver warning. See Docket No.
NHTSA–2012–0004, 78 FR 69931 Pipeline Safety: Underground Natural
condition the following warnings would
(November 21, 2013) (grant of petition Gas Storage Facility User Fee
occur, conditioning the driver over time
as to the purpose of the telltale and for Ford Motor Company) and Docket
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous
audible alerts and under what No. NHTSA–2014–0046, 79 FR 78559
Materials Safety Administration
conditions they are activated. (December 30, 2014) (grant of petition
(PHMSA), Department of Transportation
for Chrysler Group, LLC). In both of
• Red contrasting color of the telltale (DOT).
these instances, the vehicles at issue
saying ‘‘BRAKE’’. ACTION: Notice of agency action and
displayed an ISO symbol for the brake
• Red contrasting color of the ISO telltale instead of the wording required request for comment.
symbol for brake malfunction. under FMVSS No. 101. The ISO symbol
• Audible alert to the driver as long SUMMARY: This notice is to advise all
in combination with other available
as the vehicle has low air. underground natural gas storage facility
warnings was deemed sufficient to
• Air gauges for the primary and operators of a proposed PHMSA
provide the necessary driver warning.
secondary air tanks clearly showing the pipeline user fee assessment and rate
DTNA respectfully suggests that the
air pressure in the system. structure.
same is true for the subject vehicles: The
• Red contrasting color on the air ISO symbol, together with other FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
gauges indicating when the pressure is warnings and alerts, are fully sufficient Roger Little by telephone at 202–366–
low. to warn the driver of a low brake air 4569, by fax at 202–366–4566, by email
• Difficulty/inability of releasing the pressure situation. at Roger.Little@dot.gov, or by mail at
parking brakes with low air. DTNA concluded by expressing the U.S. Department of Transportation,
• Reduced drivability if the driver belief that the subject noncompliance is PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
attempts to drive with the parking inconsequential as it relates to motor PHP–2, Washington, DC 20590–0001.
brakes applied. vehicle safety, and that its petition to be Comments: PHMSA invites interested
exempted from providing notification of persons to comment on the
b. Moving Vehicle the noncompliance, as required by 49 underground natural gas storage facility
If a low brake air pressure situation U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the user fee assessment procedures
occurs while driving, the function of the noncompliance, as required by 49 described in this notice by January 6,
service brakes may be reduced or lost U.S.C. 30120, should be granted. 2017. Comments should reference
and, eventually if the pressure gets low NHTSA notes that the statutory Docket No. PHMSA–2016–0092.
enough, the parking brakes will engage. provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and Comments may be submitted in the
The driver must pull to the side of the 30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to following ways:
road and apply the parking brakes as file petitions for a determination of • E-Gov Web site: http://
soon as possible. A loss of brake air inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to www.regulations.gov. This site allows
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
pressure while driving represents a exempt manufacturers only from the the public to enter comments on any
malfunctioning brake system and duties found in sections 30118 and Federal Register notice issued by any
requires immediate action from the 30120, respectively, to notify owners, agency. Follow the instructions for
driver. Drivers recognize that a telltale purchasers, and dealers of a defect or submitting comments.
illuminated in red represents a noncompliance and to remedy the • Fax: 1–202–493–2251.
malfunction which needs to be defect or noncompliance. Therefore, any • Mail: Docket Management System,
remedied. decision on this petition only applies to U.S. Department of Transportation
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EIA Web site to develop the data directly from the operators, 1 and the highest values in tier 10. The
underground natural gas storage facility PHMSA would discontinue the use of minimum and maximum Working Gas
user fee rate structure. When PHMSA EIA data. Capacities for each tier will be selected
promulgates regulations for operators of PHMSA proposes the following steps to place an equal number of operators in
underground natural gas storage for developing the user fee rate each tier. Each tier will have a user fee
facilities, we plan to include the structure. PHMSA will sum the working assessment to be paid by each operator
collection of annual reports to gas capacity for active fields for each in the tier. Based on a preliminary
incorporate both the capacity and operator. The operator working gas analysis of the EIA data, the tiers and
number of wells per facility in the capacity values will be parsed into 10 assessment per tier to collect $8,000,000
annual report. If PHMSA were to collect tiers. The lowest values will be in tier would be:
Tier Assessment per operator Working gas capacity (Mcf) range
1 ...................................................................................... $12,308 Less than 1,550,000.
2 ...................................................................................... 24,615 More than 1,550,000 and less than 3,500,000.
3 ...................................................................................... 30,769 More than 3,500,000 and less than 6,500,000.
4 ...................................................................................... 36,923 More than 6,500,000 and less than 11,500,000.
5 ...................................................................................... 49,231 More than 11,500,000 and less than 15,500,000.
6 ...................................................................................... 61,538 More than 15,500,000 and less than 22,000,000.
7 ...................................................................................... 73,846 More than 22,000,000 and less than 30,000,000.
8 ...................................................................................... 80,000 More than 30,000,000 and less than 50,000,000.
9 ...................................................................................... 92,308 More than 50,000,000 and less than 85,000,000.
10 .................................................................................... 142,857 More than 85,000,000.
If less than $8 million is appropriated would fund grants to certified State Issued in Washington, DC, on November 2,
to the Underground Natural Gas Storage agencies. PHMSA would continue this 2016, under authority delegated in 49 CFR
Facility Safety Account, PHMSA will user fee assessment in each year funds 1.97.
proportionally reduce the assessment are provided in advance in an Alan K. Mayberry,
for each tier to collect the appropriated appropriations act and these regulatory Acting Associate Administrator for Pipeline
amount. Regardless of the appropriated activities are carried out. Safety.
amount, PHMSA expects that 25% [FR Doc. 2016–26854 Filed 11–4–16; 8:45 am]
would fund PHMSA actions and 75% BILLING CODE 4910–60–P
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
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Document Created: 2018-02-14 08:21:58
Document Modified: 2018-02-14 08:21:58
| Category | Regulatory Information | |
| Collection | Federal Register | |
| sudoc Class | AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106: | |
| Publisher | Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration | |
| Section | Notices | |
| Action | Notice of agency action and request for comment. | |
| Contact | Roger Little by telephone at 202-366- 4569, by fax at 202-366-4566, by email at [email protected], or by mail at U.S. Department of Transportation, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., PHP-2, Washington, DC 20590-0001. | |
| FR Citation | 81 FR 78261 |
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