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AB-1676 Pipeline safety: carbon dioxide.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/18/2022 02:00 PM
AB1676:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 31, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1676

Introduced by Assembly Members Grayson, Cunningham, and Petrie-Norris

January 20, 2022

An act to amend Sections 51010, 51010.5, 51011, 51012, 51013.5, and 51015.4 of the Government Code, relating to pipeline safety.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1676, as amended, Grayson. Pipeline safety: carbon dioxide.
Under the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981, the State Fire Marshal exercises safety regulatory jurisdiction over intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of hazardous or highly volatile liquid substances. The act imposes various requirements in relation to the regulation of these intrastate pipelines and requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, not later than June 30, 1991, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid pipelines. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided.
This bill would expand the regulation of intrastate pipelines under the act to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide, as defined, including by revising the definition of “pipeline” for purposes of the act to also include intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide. The bill would exempt from the act intrastate gas pipelines regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, not later than January 1, 2025, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines. By imposing additional requirements under the act, and requiring the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, relating to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide, a violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)California has been a leader in the fight against climate change and has set ambitious goals to reduce the negative effects of climate change on the state. These negative effects include greater numbers of wildfires of increasing magnitude, longer periods of drought, sea level rise, and more unpredictable weather, and all of which pose serious threats to the safety of the state’s citizens and economy.

(b)In order to achieve these goals, the state has taken numerous steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The state has set goals of reducing carbon emissions to 40 percent under 1990 levels by 2030 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Subsequent actions have pushed the state to greater goals of carbon neutrality by 2045, with the Legislature directing the State Air Resources Board to develop a framework for implementation and to track these goals in concert with other state agencies.

(c)If California is to address the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero, then a broad suite of solutions will be needed, including direct emission reductions, carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide removal technologies, and nature-based climate solutions.

(d)Academic and scientific studies have found that California is unlikely to achieve its ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goals without the deployment of carbon capture and storage, with both the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report entitled “Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees Celsius” and the International Energy Agency’s report entitled “World Energy Outlook 2020” finding that reaching net negative emissions will require a significant amount of carbon removal.

(e)There has been a growing consensus in the scientific community that carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration and carbon dioxide removal can play an important role in world decarbonization efforts.

(f)The federal government has acknowledged the role of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration in national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most recently when President Joseph Biden signed the bipartisan $1.2 trillion ($1,200,000,000,000) Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), which made tens of billions of dollars available to federal and state agencies to develop and deploy these technologies.

(g)Multiple carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration projects are operating successfully in the United States and across the globe, and the Biden Administration is fully committed to “accelerating the responsible development and deployment of CCUS to make it a widely available, increasingly cost-effective, and rapidly scalable climate solution across all industrial sectors.”

(h)California has an opportunity to become a global leader in the development and deployment of these technologies by leveraging these new federal dollars in its fight against climate change, as the state is uniquely positioned to deploy these technologies. The state has a strong, highly skilled industrial labor force that stands at the ready to build and maintain carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration projects around the state.

(i)The deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration in California has the potential to eliminate 60,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is approximately 15 percent of the state’s current overall emissions level and is the equivalent to over 13,000,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year, as well as the equivalent amount of carbon sequestered by over 73,000,000 acres of United States forests in one year.

(j)The deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration technologies in California would accelerate decarbonization while reducing the cost to decarbonize. The deployment of these technologies would also direct federal funding to the state and deliver major air quality, economic, and jobs benefits.

(k)In order to bring this ready-to-go solution to reality and to remain a global climate leader, California needs to move quickly to implement a comprehensive policy, regulatory, and economic framework for carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration that will help the state meet the coming benchmarks in the state’s climate change goals.

SEC. 2.SECTION 1.

 Section 51010 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51010.
 It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this chapter, that the State Fire Marshal shall exercise exclusive safety regulatory and enforcement authority over intrastate carbon dioxide and hazardous liquid pipelines and, to the extent authorized by agreement between the State Fire Marshal and the United States Secretary of Transportation, and may act as agent for the United States Secretary of Transportation to implement the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60101 et seq.) and federal pipeline safety regulations as to those portions of interstate pipelines located within this state, as necessary to obtain annual federal certification.

SEC. 3.SEC. 2.

 Section 51010.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51010.5.
 As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Pipeline” includes every intrastate pipeline used for the transportation of hazardous liquid substances, carbon dioxide, or highly volatile liquid substances, including a common carrier pipeline, and all piping containing those substances located within a refined products bulk loading facility that is owned by a common carrier and is served by a pipeline of that common carrier, and the common carrier owns and serves by pipeline at least five of these facilities in the state. “Pipeline” does not include the following:
(1) An interstate pipeline subject to Part 195 (commencing with Section 195.0) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) An intrastate pipeline subject to subdivision (a) of Section 950 of the Public Utilities Code.
(3) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance in a gaseous state.
(4) A pipeline for the transportation of crude oil that operates by gravity or at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe.
(5) Transportation of petroleum in onshore gathering lines located in rural areas.
(6) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide offshore located upstream from the outlet flange of each facility on the Outer Continental Shelf where hydrocarbons are produced or where produced hydrocarbons are first separated, dehydrated, or otherwise processed, whichever facility is farther downstream.
(7) Transportation of a hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide by a flow line.
(8) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide through an onshore production, refining, or manufacturing facility, including a storage or inplant piping system associated with that facility. For purposes of this paragraph, a manufacturing facility includes any facility designed to facilitate the capture, processing, storage, or compression of carbon dioxide.
(9) Transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide by vessel, aircraft, tank truck, tank car, or other vehicle or terminal facilities used exclusively to transfer hazardous liquids or carbon dioxide between those modes of transportation.
(b) “Flow line” means a pipeline that transports hazardous liquid substances or carbon dioxide between the well head and a treating facility or production storage facility.
(c) “Hydrostatic testing” means the application of internal pressure above the normal or maximum operating pressure to a segment of pipeline, under no-flow conditions for a fixed period of time, utilizing a liquid test medium.
(d) “Local agency” means a city, county, or fire protection district.
(e) “Rural area” means a location that lies outside the limits of any incorporated or unincorporated city or city and county, or other residential or commercial area, such as a subdivision, a business, a shopping center, or a community development.
(f) “Gathering line” means a pipeline eight inches or less in nominal diameter that transports petroleum from a production facility.
(g) “Production facility” means piping or equipment used in the production, extraction, recovery, lifting, stabilization, separation, or treatment of petroleum or associated storage or measurement. To be a production facility under this definition, piping or equipment must be used in the process of extracting petroleum from the ground and transporting it by pipelines.
(h) “Public drinking water well” means a wellhead that provides drinking water to a public water system as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code, that is regulated by the State Water Resources Control Board and that is subject to Section 116455 of the Health and Safety Code.
(i) “GIS mapping system” means a geographical information system that will collect, store, retrieve, analyze, and display environmental geographical data in a database that is accessible to the public.
(j) “Motor vehicle fuel” includes gasoline, natural gasoline, blends of gasoline and alcohol, or gasoline and oxygenates, and any inflammable liquid, by whatever name the liquid may be known or sold, which is used or is usable for propelling motor vehicles operated by the explosion type engine. It does not include kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, or natural gas in liquid or gaseous form.
(k) “Oxygenate” means an organic compound containing oxygen that has been approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a gasoline additive to meet the requirements for an “oxygenated fuel” pursuant to Section 7545 of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(l) “Carbon dioxide” means a fluid consisting of more than 90 percent carbon dioxide molecules compressed to a supercritical state.

SEC. 4.SEC. 3.

 Section 51011 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51011.
 (a) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety, including, but not limited to, compliance orders, penalties, and inspection and maintenance provisions, and including amendments to those laws and regulations that may be hereafter enacted and adopted. Regulations adopting the minimum standards for hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines contained in the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60101 et seq.) and Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations by the State Fire Marshal are exempt from the procedures specified in Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, except that those regulations shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and publication in the California Code of Regulations.
(b) The State Fire Marshal may exempt the application of regulations adopted pursuant to this section to any pipeline, or portion thereof, when it is determined that the risk to public safety is slight and the probability of injury or damage remote.
(c) Notification of exemptions shall be written, and shall include a discussion of those factors that the State Fire Marshal considers significant to the granting of the exemption.

SEC. 5.SEC. 4.

 Section 51012 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51012.
 (a) The State Fire Marshal shall establish a Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee for purposes of informing local agencies and every pipeline operator of changes in applicable laws and regulations affecting the operations of pipelines and reviewing proposed hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety regulations adopted pursuant to Section 51011.
(b) The committee shall be composed of eight members of whom two shall represent pipeline operators, three shall represent local agencies, one shall be a fire chief, and two shall be public members. The committee shall meet when requested by the State Fire Marshal, but not less than once a year. The members shall be paid expenses and one hundred dollars ($100) per diem for each meeting.

SEC. 6.SEC. 5.

 Section 51013.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51013.5.
 (a) Every newly constructed pipeline, existing pipeline, or part of a pipeline system that has been relocated or replaced, and every pipeline that transports a hazardous liquid substance, carbon dioxide, or a highly volatile liquid substance, shall be tested in accordance with Subpart E (commencing with Section 195.300) of Part 195 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) Every pipeline not provided with properly sized automatic pressure relief devices or properly designed pressure limiting devices shall be hydrostatically tested annually.
(c) Every pipeline over 10 years of age and not provided with effective cathodic protection shall be hydrostatically tested every three years, except for those on the State Fire Marshal’s list of higher risk pipelines, which shall be hydrostatically tested annually.
(d) Every pipeline over 10 years of age and provided with effective cathodic protection shall be hydrostatically tested every five years, except for those on the State Fire Marshal’s list of higher risk pipelines which shall be hydrostatically tested every two years.
(e) Piping within a refined products bulk loading facility served by pipeline shall be tested hydrostatically at 125 percent of maximum allowable operating pressure utilizing the product ordinarily transported in that piping if that piping is operated at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe. The frequency for pressure testing these pipelines shall be every five years for those pipelines with effective cathodic protection and every three years for those pipelines without effective cathodic protection. If that piping is observable, visual inspection may be the method of testing.
(f) The State Fire Marshal shall study indicators and precursors of serious pipeline accidents, and, in consultation with the Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee, shall develop criteria for identifying which hazardous liquid pipelines pose the greatest risk to people and the environment due to the likelihood of, and likely seriousness of, an accident due to corrosion or defect. The study shall give due consideration to research done by the industry, the federal government, academia, and to any other information which the State Fire Marshal shall deem relevant, including, but not limited to, recent leak history, pipeline location, and materials transported. Beginning January 1, 1992, using the criteria identified in that study, the State Fire Marshal shall maintain a list of higher risk pipelines, which exceed a standard of risk to be determined by the State Fire Marshal, and which shall be tested as required in subdivisions (c) and (d) as long as they remain on the list. By January 1, 1992, after public hearings, the State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations to implement this subdivision.
(g) In addition to the requirements of subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, the State Fire Marshal may require any pipeline subject to this chapter to be subjected to a pressure test, or any other test or inspection, at any time, in the interest of public safety.
(h) Test methods other than the hydrostatic tests required by subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e), including inspection by instrumented internal inspection devices, may be approved by the State Fire Marshal on an individual basis. If the State Fire Marshal approves an alternative to a pressure test in an individual case, the State Fire Marshal may require that the alternative test be given more frequently than the testing frequencies specified in subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e).
(i) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations before January 1, 1992, to establish what the State Fire Marshal deems to be an appropriate frequency for tests and inspections, including instrumented internal inspections, which, when permitted as a substitute for tests required under subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), do not damage pipelines or require them to be shut down for the testing period. That testing shall in no event be less frequent than is required by subdivisions (b), (c), and (d). Each time one of these tests is required on a pipeline, it shall be approved on the same individual basis as under subdivision (h). If it is not approved, a hydrostatic test shall be carried out at the time the alternative test would have been carried out, and subsequent tests shall be carried out in accordance with the time intervals prescribed by subdivision (b), (c), or (d), as applicable.

SEC. 7.SEC. 6.

 Section 51015.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51015.4.
 (a) Each operator shall, as specified in regulations provided for in subdivision (c), maintain each valve and check valve that is necessary for the safe operation of its pipeline systems in good working order at all times.
(b) Each operator shall provide protection for each valve and check valve from unauthorized operation and from vandalism.
(c) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations, not later than January 1, 2025, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines.

SEC. 8.SEC. 7.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.