Law360, New York (March 19, 2008) -- On March 12, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would amend existing federal pipeline safety regulations to enable operators of gas transmission pipelines to obtain approval to calculate higher maximum allowable operating pressures (MAOP) for certain lines by using higher design factors.
The NOPR would codify, as standards of general applicability, the supplemental safety criteria that PHMSA previously has included as conditions to pipeline-specific Special Permits authorizing higher design pressures for certain...
