government

Climate Change Agenda Could Have FERC Selecting Pipeline Projects
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
January 2009 Vol. 64 No. 1

Worries about potential escalating demand for natural gas from electric utilities and industrials forced to switch fuels because of climate change legislation from Congress was the major factor behind the FERC natural gas infrastructure workshop on Nov. 21.

Show Us The Money
Robert Carpenter
December 2008 Vol. 63 No. 12

The presidential and Congressional elections of 2008 are over. For better or worse, our nation’s course seems set for the next four years. Economic stimulus talk is running rampant again in Washington. God help us, maybe they’ll get it right and make public works, especially underground infrastructure, a key part of any stimulus package?

Second nature

PHMSA Releases Controller/Control Room Regulation
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

The federal pipeline regulatory agency proposed a broad new rule which would force hazardous liquid, transmission and distribution pipelines plus LNG terminals to train and test large numbers of employees in control room operations, and implement new safety measures for SCADA systems.

Alaskan Pipeline Project
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

FERC officials say they aren’t pressuring the competing Denali and TransCanada Alaskan pipeline projects to merge. But the two projects – one already in the pre filing process – are heading toward submitting construction applications to FERC at roughly the same time in 2011 or 2012, depending on who one talks to, in what would be a regulatory clash and crash that the agency hopes to avoid. Congress is also pressuring the two Alaskan gas transportation contestants, though very subtly.

NASSCO Obtains Favorable OSHA Ruling For Confined Space
Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has given verbal assurance to NASSCO that it will continue to consider the sewer rehabilitation work typically performed by its members as "maintenance" rather than "construction" as had been proposed in a rule change to OSHA's confined space standard, reports Irv Gemora, executive director of NASSCO.

Everybody’s talking
Robert Carpenter, Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

As turmoil continues to grip the world’s stock markets and traders seem to have a knee-jerk reaction every time some CEO goes to the bathroom, there is a bright side.

Water Development Board Discusses Plans At GCTA Luncheon
Traci Read, Senior Editor
November 2008 Vol. 63 No. 11

Nearly 90 attendees and their guests gathered to hear Mark D. Hall, P.E. director of the Project Engineering and Review Division, in Project Finance and Construction Assistance (PFCA) at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Houston, TX, speak at the Aug. 13 Gulf Coast Trenchless Association meeting held at the Houston Engineering and Scientific Society Building.

Gas Infrastructure Commission Legislation Prompts Worries
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

With Congress almost certain to pass a bill revising or eliminating its longstanding ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, interstate natural gas pipelines are trying to insure that any bill does not include an amendment setting up a national commission which would examine the adequacy of current federal policies governing the siting of natural gas infrastructure.

Some Dissatisfaction With DIMP
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

While distribution companies and state regulators seem to be satisfied with the general outlines of the proposed distribution integrity management program (DIMP) announced on June 25 by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a number of questions are being raised by both groups about some of the proposal's murky details.

OSHA Proposes Change In Penalty Authority
Stephen Barlas, Washington Editor
October 2008 Vol. 63 No. 10

Pushed by a decision by a federal appeals court, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to make changes in its respirator and training standards which will allow it to assess a penalty on a company on a per employee violation basis. A decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2005 said OSHA went beyond the language of those two standards in fining a Houston construction company for 11 violations of the asbestos standard, based on the fact that the company did not provide 11 employees with respirators or training for removing asbestos.

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