ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20077
No(s). 22-1148 (D.C. Cir. May 16, 2023)

The D.C. Circuit granted oil and gas groups' petition to review a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) safety standard that requires their members to install remote-controlled or automatic shut-off valves in some types of new or replaced gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. The groups specifically challenged the standards' applicability to "gathering" pipelines that are used to collect raw gas or crude oil from a well, arguing that PHMSA failed to disclose the economic basis for regulating gathering pipelines and failed to make a reasoned determination that regulating such pipelines was appropriate. The court agreed, finding that PHMSA failed to make a reasoned determination that the benefits of regulating gathering pipelines exceeded the costs or that doing so would be practicable. It granted the groups' petition and vacated the standard as it applies to gathering pipeline facilities.