Bill Text: CA SB216 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public utilities: intrastate natural gas pipeline safety.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-10-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 521, Statutes of 2011. [SB216 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB216-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 216	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Yee

                        FEBRUARY 9, 2011

   An act to add Section 770.6 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 216, as introduced, Yee. Public utilities: intrastate natural
gas pipeline safety.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as
defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to
ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications,
regulations, practices, measurements, or services to be furnished,
imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities,
including gas corporations.
   Existing federal law requires the United States Department of
Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) to adopt minimum safety standards for pipeline
transportation and for pipeline facilities, including an interstate
gas pipeline facility and intrastate gas pipeline facility, as
defined. Existing law authorizes the United States Secretary of
Transportation to prescribe or enforce safety standards and practices
for an intrastate pipeline facility or intrastate pipeline
transportation to the extent that the safety standards and practices
are regulated by a state authority that annually submits to the
secretary a certification for the facilities and transportation or,
alternatively, authorizes the secretary to make an agreement with a
state authority authorizing it to take necessary action to meet
certain pipeline safety requirements. Existing law prohibits a state
authority from adopting or continuing in force safety standards for
interstate pipeline facilities or interstate pipeline transportation.
Existing law authorizes a state authority that has submitted a
current certification to adopt additional or more stringent safety
standards for intrastate pipeline facilities and intrastate pipeline
transportation only if those standards are compatible with the
minimum standards prescribed by the PHMSA. Existing federal law
additionally authorizes a state authority to enforce a requirement
for a one-call notification program that meets the requirements
established by the PHMSA.
   This bill would designate the commission as the state authority
responsible for development, submission, and administration of a
state pipeline safety program certification for natural gas pipelines
and for the implementation and enforcement of a one-call
notification program for the state. The bill would require the
commission to evaluate current practices and to determine whether
compatible safety standards, as defined, should be adopted for the
enhancement of public safety with respect to: (1) the proximity of
pipelines carrying liquid materials to commission-regulated gas
pipeline facilities, as defined, and (2) the installation,
maintenance, location, and type of sectionalized block valves on
commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities. The bill would require
the commission, unless it determines that doing so is preempted under
federal law, to adopt compatible safety standards that require the
installation of automatic shut-off or remote controlled sectionalized
block valves on all commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities
that are located in a high consequence area, as defined, or that
traverse an active seismic earthquake fault. The bill would require
the commission, in consultation with the PHMSA, to adopt and enforce
compatible safety standards, as defined, for commission-regulated gas
pipeline facilities that the commission determines should be adopted
following its evaluation or as required by the bill.
   Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
   Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and
because a violation of an order or decision of the commission
implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 770.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   770.6.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (1) "Class 1 location," "class 2 location," "class 3 location,"
and "class 4 location" have those meanings as defined in the
regulations adopted by the United States Department of Transportation
pursuant to Chapter 601 (commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle
VIII of Title 49 of the United States Code (49 C.F.R. 192.5, as
adopted January 1, 2011, or a successor regulation).
   (2) "Commission-regulated gas pipeline facility" means an
intrastate gas pipeline facility, as defined in Section 60101 of
Title 49 of the United States Code, that transports natural gas and
is subject to the regulatory authority of the commission, including a
pipeline that the commission, pursuant to subsection (c) of Section
717 of Title 15 of the United States Code, has certified to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as being subject to the
regulatory jurisdiction of the commission over rates and service.
"Commission-regulated gas pipeline facility" does not include those
pipelines that are excluded from regulation by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 717 of
Title 15 of the United States Code because they are facilities used
for the distribution of natural gas.
   (3) "Compatible safety standards" means additional or more
stringent safety standards for commission-regulated gas pipeline
facilities that are compatible with the minimum safety standards
adopted by the United States Department of Transportation pursuant to
Chapter 601 (commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle VIII of
Title 49 of the United States Code, and that the commission is
authorized to adopt pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 60104 of
that chapter.
   (4) "High consequence area" has the same meaning as defined in the
regulations adopted by the United States Department of
Transportation pursuant to Chapter 601 (commencing with Section
60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title 49 of the United States Code (49
C.F.R. 192.903, as adopted January 1, 2011, or a successor
regulation).
   (b) (1) The commission is the state authority responsible for the
development, submission, and administration of a state pipeline
safety program certification for natural gas pipelines pursuant to
Chapter 601 (commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title
49 of the United States Code.
   (2) The commission is the state authority responsible for
implementation and enforcement of a one-call notification program for
the state, consistent with the requirements adopted by the United
States Department of Transportation pursuant to Chapter 601
(commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title 49 of the
United States Code.
   (c) The commission shall open an appropriate proceeding or joint
proceedings, or expand the scope of an existing proceeding, to
evaluate current practices and to determine whether compatible safety
standards should be adopted for the enhancement of public safety,
with respect to both of the following:
   (1) The proximity of pipelines carrying liquid materials to
commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities. As part of this
evaluation, the commission shall evaluate current practices with
respect to, and the desirability of adopting compatible safety
standards for, the separation of commission-regulated gas pipeline
facilities and pipelines that carry water used for fire suppression
in the event of a fire involving a commission-regulated gas pipeline
facility. As part of this evaluation, and in consultation with the
State Fire Marshal, the commission shall also evaluate current
practices and the desirability of adopting compatible safety
standards with respect to the proximity of commission-regulated gas
pipeline facilities and pipelines used for the transportation of
hazardous liquid substances or highly volatile liquid substances that
are under the safety responsibility of the State Fire Marshal
pursuant to the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 (Chapter
5.5 (commencing with Section 51010) of Division 1 of Title 5 of the
Government Code) or Section 13107.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (2) The installation, maintenance, location, and type of
sectionalized block valves on commission-regulated gas pipeline
facilities. In performing the evaluation, the commission shall
consider differences in pipelines, including differences in size,
differences in operational pressure, and differences relative to the
proximity of the pipeline to heavily populated and other critical
areas, proximity to seismic earthquake fault lines, appropriate
spacing of transmission shut-off valves, impacts on operation of the
pipelines, safety and reliability, cost, and technical feasibility.
This paragraph shall not limit the authority of the owner or operator
of a commission-regulated gas pipeline facility to proceed with a
pilot project or other program for the installation of automatic or
remote gas shutoff valves prior to the commission completing its
evaluation or adoption of compatible safety standards. The commission
shall complete its evaluation by December 31, 2012.
   (d) (1) Unless the commission determines that it is prohibited
from doing so by subdivision (c) of Section 60104 of Title 49 of the
United States Code, the commission shall adopt compatible safety
standards that require the installation of automatic shut-off or
remote controlled sectionalized block valves on all of the following
facilities:
   (A) Commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities that are located
in a high consequence area.
   (B) Commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities that traverse an
active seismic earthquake fault.
   (2) Installation of automatic shut-off or remote controlled
sectionalized block valves pursuant to paragraph (1) shall meet the
requirements of 49 C.F.R. 192.179, and be spaced as follows:
   (A) Each point on the pipeline in a class 4 location shall be
within 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of a valve.
   (B) Each point on the pipeline in a class 3 location shall be
within 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of a valve.
   (C) Each point on the pipeline in a class 2 location shall be
within 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) of a valve.
   (D) Each point on the pipeline in a class 1 location shall be
within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of a valve.
   (3) The commission shall additionally establish action timelines,
adopt standards for how to prioritize installation of automatic
shut-off or remote controlled sectionalized block valves pursuant to
paragraph (1), and establish ongoing procedures for monitoring
progress in achieving the compatible safety standards.
   (e) The commission shall authorize recovery in rates for all
reasonably incurred costs incurred for implementation of the
compatible safety standards.
   (f) The commission, in consultation with the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the United States
Department of Transportation, shall adopt and enforce compatible
safety standards for commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities
that the commission determines should be adopted following its
evaluation conducted pursuant to subdivision (c), and those
conditionally required to be adopted pursuant to subdivision (d).
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.