§60141 Standards for Underground Natural Gas Storage Facilities

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must create minimum safety rules for underground natural gas storage facilities within 2 years after the PIPES Act of 2016 became law. The Secretary must work with other federal agencies and, when practical, use existing industry consensus practices for safe operation, environmental protection, and integrity management; consider the rules’ economic effects on gas customers and avoid major costs for end users; and consider the Aliso Canyon task force’s recommendations. The Secretary may allow state or local authorities to help oversee these facilities under existing federal-state participation programs. These new rules do not change federal pipeline rules that were already in effect before the PIPES Act. The Secretary cannot pick where a storage facility must be located or require federal permission to build one. States may set stricter safety rules for facilities inside their borders if those rules fit with the federal minimums. This does not affect the Secretary’s authority over storage of gases that are not natural gas.