October 19, 2017 -- Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced that it would provide an additional public comment period for its December 19, 2016 Interim Final Rule (IFR) titled “Pipeline Safety: Underground Natural Gas Storage Facilities.” The IFR established minimum federal safety standards for intrastate and interstate underground natural gas storage facilities under PHMSA’s regulatory authority. PHMSA is reopening the comment period for 30 days in response to a joint Petition for Reconsideration filed by the American Gas Association (AGA), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the American Public Gas Association (APGA). PHMSA will respond to all public comments and address the petition for reconsideration in a final rule. The comment period ends on November 20, 2017. Read notice and submit comments here.

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The mission of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. PHMSA develops and enforces regulations for the safe operation of the nation's 2.7 million mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air. Please visit http://phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.