Bill Text: NY A07334 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires gas pipeline facilities to accelerate the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking or at a high risk of leaking; requires the public service commission to establish a standard definition and methodology for calculating and reporting unaccounted-for gas.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-27 - advanced to third reading cal.427 [A07334 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07334-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7334
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     April 25, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Energy
        AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring  liquid
          petroleum  pipeline  facilities  to  accelerate  the repair, rehabili-
          tation, and replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking  or
          at a high risk of leaking
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  63-gg to read as follows:
     3    §  63-gg.  Pipeline modernization and consumer protection. 1.  As used
     4  in this section, "gas pipeline facility" means (a) a distribution facil-
     5  ity, and (b) a gas utility.
     6    2. Each operator of a  gas  pipeline  facility  shall  accelerate  the
     7  repair,  rehabilitation, and replacement of gas piping or equipment that
     8  is:
     9    (a) leaking; or
    10    (b) may pose high risks of leaking,  or  may  no  longer  be  fit  for
    11  service,  because  of:  (i)  inferior  materials, (ii) poor construction
    12  practices, (iii) lack of maintenance, or (iv) age.
    13    3. In complying with subdivision two of this section,  the  commission
    14  shall:  (a)  develop  prioritized timelines to repair all leaks based on
    15  the severity of the leak,  including  non-hazardous  leaks,  or  replace
    16  identified  leaking  or  high-risk  piping or equipment, including leaks
    17  identified as part of an integrity management plan developed under  this
    18  section if applicable;
    19    (b)  adopt a cost-recovery program that includes (i) replacement plans
    20  with targets and benchmarks  for  leaking  or  high-risk  infrastructure
    21  replacement,  (ii)  consideration  of the economic, safety, and environ-
    22  mental benefits of  reduced  gas  leakage,  including  consideration  of
    23  reduced  operation  and maintenance costs and reduced costs attributable
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06102-01-9
        A. 7334                             2
     1  to lost or unaccounted-for natural  gas,  and  (iii)  reporting  on  the
     2  reductions  in  lost  or  unaccounted-for  gas  as  a result of pipeline
     3  replacements;
     4    (c)  adopt  a  standard definition and methodology for calculating and
     5  reporting unaccounted-for gas to improve data quality;
     6    (d) adopt limits on cost recovery for  the  lost  and  unaccounted-for
     7  gas; and
     8    (e) require use of best available technology to detect gas leaks.
     9    4.  No  later  than one year after the effective date of this section,
    10  the New York state energy  research  and  development  authority  shall,
    11  after  notice  and  opportunity to comment, issue non-binding guidelines
    12  identifying best practices for  identifying  and  classifying  high-risk
    13  pipeline infrastructure and leaks for repair or replacement.
    14    5.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of law to the contrary, no
    15  later than one year after the effective date of this  section,  the  New
    16  York  state energy research and development authority and the commission
    17  shall work jointly to establish and publish forms that adopt a  standard
    18  definition and methodology for calculating and reporting unaccounted-for
    19  gas,  including,  when possible, information on the causes of unaccount-
    20  ed-for gas and the quantities associated with each  cause,  for  use  by
    21  applicable  state  agencies  to  standardize the data collected on unac-
    22  counted-for gas.
    23    6. Operators of gas pipeline facilities in cities with a population of
    24  one million or more shall establish a database of  pipeline  infrastruc-
    25  ture  that  includes  its  age  and state of repair and shall share this
    26  information with  the  coordinated  building  inspection  data  analysis
    27  system.
    28    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.