Pipeline Safety: Response Plans for Onshore Transportation-Related Oil Pipelines

On January 5, 1993, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) issued an interim final rule establishing oil spill response planning requirements for onshore oil pipelines (49 CFR Part 194). These regulations were issued pursuant to section 1321(j)(5) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). OPS is now adopting the interim rule as a final rule. This final rule makes minor amendments to some of the regulations in response to the written public comments received after issuance of the interim final rule and at a public meeting held in 1997 in New Orleans, LA. The amendments also reflect the experience that OPS has gained in implementing the rule; leading spill response exercises; and, responding to actual spills and harmonizes certain OPS requirements with related oil spill response regulations developed by the U.S. Coast Guard. The amendments are generally technical in nature and do not involve additional costs to pipeline operators or the public.