§60141 Standards for Underground Natural Gas Storage Facilities

Summary

Within 2 years after the date of enactment of the PIPES Act of 2016, the Secretary, working with other federal agency heads, must create minimum safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities. In making those rules, the Secretary must, as much as possible, look at existing consensus standards for operation, environmental protection, and integrity management; consider how the rules will affect individual gas customers and avoid significant economic harm to end users; and consider recommendations from the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak task force established under section 31 of the PIPES Act of 2016. The Secretary may let a State authority (including a city) help oversee these storage facilities in the same way allowed under sections 60105 and 60106. These rules do not change any federal gas pipeline regulations that were in effect the day before the date of enactment of the PIPES Act of 2016, and they do not let the Secretary pick where a storage facility must be located or require the Secretary’s permission to build one. A State may adopt stricter safety rules for storage facilities inside the State if those rules fit with the federal minimums. Nothing here limits the Secretary’s power under this title to regulate underground storage of gas that is not natural gas.