Government streamlines review process for leak-prone natural gas pipes

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Aug. 8 unveiled a new, streamlined environmental review process that will allow communities to fix older, leak-prone natural gas pipes.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included historic, first-time funding to fix some of the oldest, most leak-prone pipes in our nation,” said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown. “We are streamlining the environmental review process for communities to quickly undertake these necessary repairs that will reduce environmental impacts without taking months, or even years, for approval.”

Specifically, current and future recipients of PHMSA’s Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) Grants will be able to take advantage of the process, which aims to help deliver projects more quickly, protect the environment, and support local communities.

The NGDISM Grants, authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, have provided nearly $1 billion in funding over five years to modernize community-owned natural gas distribution pipes and to improve safety from pipeline leaks.

In turn, the grants will benefit customers by reducing energy costs they would otherwise face when communities implement required repairs and upgrades to the pipeline systems, according to PHMSA.

PHMSA was able to streamline its NGDISM Grants reviews under Section 109 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which allows a federal agency “to adopt a categorical exclusion listed in another agency’s NEPA procedures for a category of proposed agency actions for which the categorical exclusion was established.”

PHMSA consulted with the U.S. Department of Energy to adopt its categorical exclusion for the repair or replacement of pipelines, and under this new process, projects will no longer be subject to lengthy environmental review because the projects have collectively been determined to provide a benefit to the environment.

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