Public Education and Awareness Rulemaking

New! RSPA/OPS has issued a Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding pipeline operator public education programs.

Image of person dialing telephone RSPA/OPS has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to require all gas and hazardous liquid pipeline operators to develop and implement public education programs based on the provisions of the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Recommended Practice (RP) 1162. Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by August 23, 2004. Instructions for submitting comments may be dowloaded in 2 formats:

The new rule will set minimum requirements for pipeline operators to develop, implement and manage public education programs. This will include requirements regarding the stakeholder audiences that pipeline operators should communicate information to, the content of the messages and information they should communicate, and the frequency by which they should communicate with particular audiences. It will also address management of the operators’ programs, including evaluating their programs for effectiveness.

OPS proposes to incorporate RP 1162 by reference into the new rule. OPS and its state pipeline regulatory partners closely monitored and provided critical input during the pipeline industry's effort to develop RP 1162 and co-sponsored two workshops for pipeline operators regarding RP 1162 in September 2003.

Federal Register OPS has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) inviting interested persons to submit comments regarding the proposed rule. Information about items issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) and Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), may be found by visiting the DOT Docket Management System.