Biden-Harris administration streamlines environmental review process to fix older, leak-prone gas pipes
Published by Elizabeth Corner,
Senior Editor
World Pipelines,
On 8 August, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced that current and future recipients of its Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernisation Grants (NGDISM) will be able to take advantage of a new, streamlined federal environmental review process for communities to fix older, leak prone natural gas pipes.
This process is the latest commitment from the Biden-Harris Administration to deliver projects more quickly, protect the environment, and support local communities.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included historic, first-time funding to fix some of the oldest, most leak prone pipes in our nation,” said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown. “We are streamlining the environmental review process for communities to quickly undertake these necessary repairs that will reduce environmental impacts without taking months, or even years, for approval.”
Section 109 of NEPA allows a Federal agency to “adopt a categorical exclusion listed in another agency’s NEPA procedures for a category of proposed agency actions for which the categorical exclusion was established.” PHMSA consulted with the Department of Energy to adopt its categorical exclusion for the repair or replacement of pipelines. This has allowed PHMSA to streamline its NGDISM grant reviews. Under this new process, projects will no longer be subject to lengthy environmental review because the projects have collectively been determined to provide a benefit to the environment. This is part of a broader effort across the Biden-Harris Administration to streamline and improve the overall permitting process.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 authorised the NGDISM grant programmehich provided nearly US$1 billion in funding over the course of five years to modernise community-owned natural gas distribution pipes and help keep communities across the country safe from dangers associated with pipeline leaks. The US$1 billion in grants will in turn benefit customers by reducing energy costs they would otherwise face when communities implement required repairs and upgrades to the pipeline systems. In 2023 and 2024, PHMSA announced nearly US$600 million in funding for hundreds of projects in mostly underserved rural and urban communities across the country.
More information about PHMSA’s categorical exclusion for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant projects can be found in the Federal Register.
Read the latest issue of World Pipelines magazine for pipeline news, project stories, industry insight and technical articles.
World Pipelines’ August 2024 issue
The August 2024 issue of World Pipelines includes a keynote section on pipeline project management, technical articles on inspection, condition assessment, servicing, and surface preparation. We also cover OT software, CO2 and hydrogen pipelines, and pipeline construction topics.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/regulations-and-standards/12082024/biden-harris-administration-streamlines-environmental-review-process-to-fix-older-leak-prone-gas-pipes/
You might also like
Spotting the invisible risk with CUI monitoring
Dr Prafull Sharma, Chief Technology Officer, CorrosionRADAR, discusses issues surrounding the risk of Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) on assets, and explains how new technology enables a ‘predictive’ approach through remote monitoring, significantly reducing failure risk.