Pipeline Safety: OPS Response Plan Review and Exercise Programs

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

[Docket No. RSPA-99-6157; Notice 2]

Pipeline Safety: OPS Response Plan Review and Exercise Programs

AGENCY: Office of Pipeline Safety, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Council on Environmental Quality regulations and

Department of Transportation policy, the Research and Special Programs

Administration (RSPA) has made a finding that the Office of Pipeline

Safety's (OPS) Response Plan Review and Exercise Program will have no

significant impacts on the environment.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This finding of no significant impact is effective

October 26, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Taylor, OPS, (202) 366-8860,

regarding the subject matter of this notice. Contact the Dockets Unit,

(202) 366-5046, for docket material. Comments may also be reviewed

online at the DOT Docket Management System website at http://

dms.dot.gov/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1990, the United States Congress passed

the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), to

improve the nation's ability to respond to and limit the economic and

environmental impact from, marine spills of oil and other pollutants.

Section 4202 of the OPA modifies the planning and response system

created under the authority of Section 311(j) of the Federal Water

Pollution Control Act (also known as the Clean Water Act). OPA required

response plans for vessels and facilities that produce, store,

transport, refine, and market oil.

Just as oil tankers are required to submit oil spill response plans

to the Coast Guard and refineries are required to submit such plans to

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), oil pipelines are required

to submit their facility response plans to OPS for review and approval.

To date, more than 1300 facility response plans have been submitted to

OPS. They represent some 200 oil pipeline operators, and lines that

vary in size from 3-inch gathering systems to 36-inch product lines to

the 48-inch Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. OPS conducts a thorough

review of the plans, with particular emphasis on the adequacy of the

pipeline operator's response resources, incident command system, and

ability to protect environmentally sensitive areas from harm. OPS also

makes sure that the plans are consistent with both the National

Contingency Plan and the local Area Contingency Plan, which are

developed by Coast Guard and EPA.

In addition to reviewing operators' plans, OPS conducts exercises

to test pipeline operators' ability to implement their facility

response plans. To date, OPS has conducted sixty-nine Tabletop

Exercises, scenario-driven discussions in which operators explain how

they would implement their plans to respond to a worst-case spill. OPS

has also

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conducted nine full-scale Area Exercises with pipeline operators in

which they deploy people and equipment to the field in response to a

simulated spill. In both Tabletop and Area Exercises, OPS makes every

effort to have other Federal, State, and local environmental and

emergency response agencies participate. Their participation makes

exercises more realistic, and builds relationships between industry and

public sector responders that make the response to real spills go more

smoothly.

OPS prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) to examine the

environmental impacts of the Response Plan Review and Exercise Program

(64 FR 47228). The EA concisely described OPS's recent review of the

program's effectiveness, its proposed action to continue implementing

the current program, the alternative programmatic approaches

considered, the environment affected by this action, the consequences

to the environment of the alternatives considered, and a list of the

agencies and organizations consulted. In the EA, OPS preliminarily

concluded that continuing the current program would not have

significant environmental impacts. This conclusion was based on the

fact that the program is now mature, and the proposed action to

continue the current program will not have any significant

environmental impact.

OPS received one public comment on the EA, which came from an

environmental organization in Alaska. The commenter claimed that, (1)

the EA inadequately addressed the threats to the environment from the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and should not be considered a

sufficient environmental analysis for the TAPS lease renewal, (2) the

EA failed to mention specific pipelines and unique problems associated

with specific pipelines, and (3) OPS did not consider an alternative

that would be more protective of the environment, and should prepare an

environmental impact statement (EIS) which more fully considers

environmental effects of its program. These points will be addressed in

order.

(1) The TAPS lease agreement is between Alyeska Pipeline Service

Company (the seven company consortium that owns and operates the TAPS),

the State of Alaska, and the Bureau of Land Management in the

Department of the Interior. Working through the Joint Pipeline Office,

OPS expects to participate in the TAPS lease renewal EIS process as a

cooperating agency. However, OPS is not a party to the lease agreement

and does not have authority to approve or disapprove the lease renewal.

That decision rests solely with the State of Alaska and the Department

of the Interior.

(2) The EA was a programmatic document, and as such was not

intended to address issues associated with the TAPS or any other

specific pipeline. Rather, the EA was meant to assess the impact of our

program, which involves over 200 oil pipeline operators nationwide.

(3) The EA described the statutory basis for the program, its

requirements, and its benefits in improved response capability on the

part of oil pipeline operators nationwide. OPS believes that the EA

provides sufficient information to allow a comprehensive evaluation of

our Response Plan Review and Exercise Program. The EA was intended to

address the overall program and not the issues associated with a

specific pipeline. As for question of whether another alternative more

protective of the environment was considered, OPS may consider, on a

case by case basis, more stringent spill response requirements for a

particular operator on the basis of the operator's spill history or

other risk factors. Such individual cases are, however, outside the

scope of this programmatic EA.

Based on the analysis and conclusions reached in the EA, OPS has

found that there are no significant impacts on the environment

associated with this action. The EA and the documents are incorporated

by reference into this FONSI. To summarize, the reason that the program

will not have a significant effect on the human environment is that the

program is designed to improve pipeline operators' ability to respond

effectively to oil spills, and the national trends in accident data

support that conclusion. While there was a marked improvement in spill

response preparedness and environmental protection shortly after

implementing the Response Plan Review and Exercise Program in 1993, the

program is now mature. Hence, the proposed action to continue the

current program will not have any significant environmental impact.

This rationale is further discussed in the EA referenced above.

Issued in Washington, DC on October 20, 1999.

Richard B. Felder,

Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.

[FR Doc. 99-27825 Filed 10-25-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-60-P