3 Common PHMSA OPA90 Trends the Past 18 Months

Continuing this week with my three-part series on the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) agency trends, I will focus on the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). If you missed last week’s article, click here (Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) trends).

Recent trends in plan reviews:

• Oil spill removal organization (OSRO) contract outdated
• No documentation of how discharge volumes were calculated, just the final number
• No pipeline overview maps

Trend 1 – OSRO Contract Outdated: This one is pretty self-explanatory; however, one that pops up regularly. Before transmitting a new plan to PHMSA, double-check your OSRO contracts to ensure they are current – updated contracts tend not to be added to existing plans in real-time. ?Current means they state “Evergreen” or having an expiration date in the future.

Another trend along this same vein, but not as common, is OSROs not having the correct classification for the extent of the pipeline. OSRO classifications by themselves are a long and somewhat cumbersome conversation. I dove into this earlier this year, click here to learn more. ?The critical item here to be mindful of is to ensure that your OSRO has the correct United States Coast Guard (USCG) mechanical rating for the extent of your pipeline system. This may require one to have several OSROs in place.?

Trend 2 – Discharge Documentation: PHMSA has three items to confirm to determine one’s worst-case discharge: largest pipeline release, largest breakout tank release, largest historical release. ?The one area where many people get dinged on is not showing how they calculated the pipeline’s worst-case discharge as several data points must be collected to calculate. Sometimes, company’s use sophisticated software for this, which is acceptable. However, if you run a formula based on data points or use a release software package you must either show the math or explain in detail how the software program works and note which one is used. I wrote several years ago a detailed article on this, click here to learn more.

Breakout tank volumes get dinged for not showing the deductions used, which is less common. Refer to the linked article above for more details.

Trend 3 – Pipeline Maps: As with trend 1, this one is pretty self-explanatory. Many companies will fail to include any mapping showing a general approximation of where piping is situated. These don’t have to be complicated maps, so don’t overthink this one.

Here are some other items we seem from time to time; however, I would not classify them as trending:

• Qualified Individual (QI)/Alternative QI 24-hour contact number missing, and just an office line is noted
• OSRO contractor equipment list not included for non-classified OSROs (meaning an OSRO not certified by the USCG)
• Missing fire and police/sheriff departments for each county along the pipeline – why it is important to show on mapping
• Ensuring all applicable Area Contingency Plans (ACP) are identified

April last year, I wrote the following article, which includes links to many other PHSMA related articles on compliance, as well as additional planning, hurtles companies sometimes run into: How does your 194-OSRP fair in today’s regulatory space? PHMSA-OPA90 Discussion

Next week this mini-series will end, and we’ll focus on the USCG.

For a complete listing of archived blogs and compliance insights, click here . Past blogs cover training requirements, clarification on additional confusing elements within the above rules, and much more.

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