Rulemaking Oral Proceeding - Public Comment on Rulemaking - RG-00000A-25-0048 - ACC - Safety Division
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What is the purpose and procedural background of this oral proceeding?
All right, I am showing 10 o'clock, so let's go ahead and go on the record. Good morning, this is the time scheduled for an oral proceeding in the matter of the proposed amendments to the pipeline safety rules, docket number RG00000A250048. I'm Administrative Law Judge Chris Nichols, and I have been assigned to preside over this matter. This oral proceeding is being held pursuant to Arizona revised statute section 41 dash 1023 to allow adequate discussion of the substance and form of the rule proposal and to allow persons to ask questions and present oral argument data and views on the proposal. I'll begin by asking staff to present information on the proposal and I may then ask questions of staff to clarify the record.
I will then take public comment. If you are physically present and desire to speak, please complete a speaker slip and bring it up to me. If you're on the phone, please tell the person who answers both your name and that you desire to speak. All right, staff, may I have your appearance for the record?
Good morning, Your Honor. Nicole Layton from the Office of General Counsel on behalf of staff. With me today are Eric Villa, Chris Watson, and then online we have Alan Bourne as well. I will be the one providing a sort of presentation, and then either myself or any of the three with me will be able to answer questions.
Thank you, Ms. Layton. And with that, you can go ahead and provide the prepared statement of information regarding the proposed rulemaking.
Thank you, Your Honor. The proposed amendments, the pipeline safety rules, There are, I guess, four aspects of what was published as our proposed rule.
What are the specific rule amendments staff are proposing for the pipeline safety rules?
Staff is recommending that rule 14-5-201 be amended simply to correct a typographical error. Rule 14-5-202, our proposal is to amend that to incorporate the 2024 updates to the federal regulations. Update those incorporations by reference. As published in the notice of proposed rulemaking, the recommendation was to update rule 14-5-203 to amend requirements for filing written reports with the state. With the safety division for certain incidents involving the unintentional release of gas from a transition pipeline. staff actually would like to withdraw that proposed amendment. For the notice of final rulemaking and. That change, we have conducted an analysis under the relevant statute, which is ARS 41-1025, subsection B, which provides factors to consider with determining whether a change is substantial between the proposed and final rules.
I'll run through each of the factors briefly. The first factor involves the extent to which all persons affected by the rule should have understood that the published proposed rule would affect their interests. We do not believe there is any change in either the classes of affected persons or those who have been on notice of a potential effect to their interests, because It's the same persons of interest or groups of persons of interest who would be affected by either amending the rule or maintaining the current rule, which is what our proposal is, to maintain the current rule rather than amend Rule 203. So we do not believe that factor weighs towards considering this a substantial change. Similarly, with factor number two, it's there's no change to this subject matter of the current proposal versus what we would like to do in just maintaining the current rule.
It's all revolving around the nature of reports of those incidences of unintentional release of gas from the transmission pipelines. With respect to factor number three, we want to point out that the published proposed rule did not contemplate actually eliminating written reports to the safety division in this subset of incidents. The published proposal was designed to allow the safety division some discretion following a telephonic report, and the telephonic reporting would have been maintained in the published proposal.
How does staff analyze whether the proposed changes constitute a “substantial change” under ARS 41‑1025?
And upon that telephonic report, in which the safety division does create a written record of what's reported to them, the safety division would have had the discretion to then not require or still require a more thorough write up from the responsible party of the pipeline with that unintentional release.
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Agenda
8 items
1
What is the purpose and procedural background of this oral proceeding?
0:00–2:00
2
What are the specific rule amendments staff are proposing for the pipeline safety rules?
2:00–5:25
3
How does staff analyze whether the proposed changes constitute a “substantial change” under ARS 41‑1025?
5:25–9:09
4
What does PHMSA stand for and how were the proposed rules published in the Arizona Administrative Register?
9:09–11:06
5
Why does staff argue that maintaining the current written‑report requirement is not a substantial change?
11:06–13:36
6
Has staff considered an abbreviated reporting form to improve efficiency, and why was it not adopted?
13:36–16:08
7
What happened during the public‑comment portion of the proceeding?
16:08–27:12
8
What are the next steps, filing deadlines, and future actions for this rulemaking?
27:12–28:42
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