10 articles
On July 30, 2026, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) convened a joint meeting of the Gas Pipeline and Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committees. The committees discussed a pending rulemaking (the Notice) that would narrow PHMSA’s authority to condition special permits. Having handled special permits as a PHMSA regulator, as in-house counsel, and in […]
H.R. 9338, the Pipeline Safety Authorization Act of 2026, advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with bipartisan support. Among its enforcement provisions, the bill would require the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to provide formal hearings in certain enforcement proceedings and establish protocols for making those hearings public. The public […]
Operators who attended the Railroad Commission of Texas’ session In the Field: Ensuring Compliance for Inactive Wells at this year’s Regulatory Conference walked away with something rare: a clear picture of what inspectors actually evaluate in the field. RRC staff walked through the criteria in detail and flagged the violations they see most often, all […]
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed a new approach to pipeline repair decisions. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would revise repair criteria for gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines. Comments are due September 8, 2026. For decades, federal repair criteria have relied heavily on defect dimensions. PHMSA now proposes a […]
Summer heat isn’t just uncomfortable for field crews — it’s one of the most underestimated threats to pipeline integrity. As temperatures climb across Texas and the Southwest, operators need to be thinking proactively about how extreme heat affects their systems and what regulators expect them to do about it. How heat impacts pipeline operations: What […]
On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued tailored show cause orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act to each of the six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction (Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) or Independent System Operators (ISO)). FERC directed them to justify or reform the rules governing how data […]
Texas Operators Should Prepare Now for Mandatory Electronic Filing The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has announced that, effective September 1, 2026, it will no longer accept hard-copy submissions for several commonly used oil and gas regulatory forms. Operators that currently rely on paper filings should begin transitioning to electronic filing systems now to avoid […]
On May 20, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a final enforcement order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) against Florida Gas Transmission Co. (Florida Gas). The Court held that PHMSA acted arbitrarily and capriciously by imposing enforcement actions beyond the scope of its regulations. The […]
On May 18, 2026, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a new Statement of Policy on transporting hazardous liquids and carbon dioxide in non-steel pipelines, marking an important development for pipeline operators, manufacturers, and project developers navigating evolving infrastructure needs. The policy reinforces that operators do not need a special permit to […]
On April 24, 2026, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published 40 rulemaking actions to update, clarify, or amend federal pipeline safety regulations (49 C.F.R. Parts 190–199). These include: The Final Rules made editorial and technical corrections to Parts 191, 192, and 195, most of which become effective August 3, 2026. The NPRMs […]