Events

The significance of pipeline safety has grown dramatically in recent years, primarily as a result of the development of the nation’s shale plays and the need for new infrastructure to get gas to market, specifically in the northeast. This growth in development has spurred new regulations from The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the state Pipeline Utility Commissions. Additionally, environmental organizations have mobilized at the local level to block major pipeline projects, making the need or safe operations and good public relations even more critical.

This Marcellus Shale Coalition seminar will include an update on the recent federal and state regulatory developments, operator case studies highlighting safe pipeline installation, monitoring and incident response. In addition, a panel of public relations experts will share techniques on addressing safety issues during pipeline development.

Attorneys Keith Coyle and Brianne Kurdock will be co-presenters at the “PHMSA Update: The Megarule, Gas Storage, and Other Recent Developments” session. In 2016 PHMSA published a sweeping rulemaking proposal on gas gathering and transmission lines, “The Megarule.” Later that year, the Obama Administration signed the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act, or PIPES Act, that reauthorized PHMSA’s pipeline safety program through 2019. This session will include an update on the rulemaking, the PIPES Act, and other recent developments at PHMSA under the Trump Administration and how it will affect the oil and gas industry.

Keith Coyle will also be the moderator for the “State Update:  Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania” session.

For more information or to register, click here.

Keith Coyle

Brianne Kurdock