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On November 19, APGA and the American Gas Association (AGA) jointly met with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB is the federal government office responsible for overseeing government-wide policies and reviews all significant federal regulations prior to their publication, among other things. The final version of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Leak Detection & Repair Rule is currently under review by OMB. Stakeholder groups are invited to meet with OMB to identify concerns with rulemakings so as to better inform the office’s review. During the 30-minute meeting, we identified areas of concern with PHMSA’s Preliminary Regulatory Impact Analysis (or cost-benefit analysis) and our continued concerns with some of the provisions of PHMSA’s proposed rule. For example, we identified PHMSA’s decision to refrain from quantifying any safety benefits associated with the rule and the agency's complete reliance upon calculated environmental benefits to justify the rule. We also pointed out that, while PHMSA acknowledged the great impact this rule will have on small entities (i.e., a vast majority of APGA members), the agency failed to identify any opportunities to scale their proposed requirements and instead maintained that the proposal was the only possible solution for meeting congressional mandates associated with this rule. 

Attendees of the meeting included APGA and AGA staff, several member systems from each association, OMB staff, and representatives from PHMSA’s rulemaking department. APGA would like to thank the APGA members that attended.

PHMSA continues to estimate publication of the rule for January 2025. 

For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at ekurilla@apga.org.