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

New York Assembly Bill 7334 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

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-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7334--A

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     April 25, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Energy -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted  as
          amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the public service law, in relation to requiring gas
          pipeline facilities to  accelerate  the  repair,  rehabilitation,  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  66-p to read as follows:
     3    § 66-p. Pipeline modernization and consumer protection. 1.  As used in
     4  this section, "gas pipeline facility" means (a) a distribution facility,
     5  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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06102-04-9

        A. 7334--A                          2

     1  reduced  operation  and maintenance costs and reduced costs attributable
     2  to lost or unaccounted-for natural  gas,  and  (iii)  reporting  on  the
     3  reductions  in  lost  or  unaccounted-for  gas  as  a result of pipeline
     4  replacements;
     5    (c)  adopt  a  standard definition and methodology for calculating and
     6  reporting unaccounted-for gas to improve data quality;
     7    (d) adopt limits on cost recovery for  the  lost  and  unaccounted-for
     8  gas; and
     9    (e) require use of best available technology to detect gas leaks.
    10    4.  No  later  than one year after the effective date of this section,
    11  the commission shall, after notice and  opportunity  to  comment,  issue
    12  non-binding  guidelines  identifying  best practices for identifying and
    13  classifying high-risk pipeline infrastructure and leaks  for  repair  or
    14  replacement.
    15    5.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of law to the contrary, no
    16  later than one year after  the  effective  date  of  this  section,  the
    17  commission shall establish and publish forms that adopt a standard defi-
    18  nition  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.