Bill Text: NY A02289 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requires gas pipeline facilities to accelerate the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking or at a high risk of leaking; requires the public service commission to establish a standard definition and methodology for calculating and reporting unaccounted-for gas.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to energy [A02289 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A02289-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2289

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 14, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. REYES, DICKENS, COLTON, GOTTFRIED, ENGLEBRIGHT,
          DeSTEFANO,  McDONOUGH,  PICHARDO,  GLICK,  NIOU,   PERRY,   RODRIGUEZ,
          SEAWRIGHT,  BARRON,  SIMON,  JACOBSON -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Energy

        AN ACT to amend the public service law, in  relation  to  requiring  gas
          pipeline  facilities  to  accelerate  the  repair, rehabilitation, and
          replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking or  at  a  high
          risk of leaking

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  66-q to read as follows:
     3    §  66-q. Pipeline modernization and consumer protection. 1. As used in
     4  this section, "gas pipeline facility" means (a) a distribution facility,
     5  and (b) a gas utility.
     6    2. Each operator of a  gas  pipeline  facility  shall  accelerate  the
     7  repair,  rehabilitation, and replacement of gas piping or equipment that
     8  is:
     9    (a) leaking; or
    10    (b) may pose high risks of leaking,  or  may  no  longer  be  fit  for
    11  service,  because  of:  (i)  inferior  materials, (ii) poor construction
    12  practices, (iii) lack of maintenance, or (iv) age.
    13    3. In complying with subdivision two of this section,  the  commission
    14  shall:  (a)  develop  prioritized timelines to repair all leaks based on
    15  the severity of the leak,  including  non-hazardous  leaks,  or  replace
    16  identified  leaking  or  high-risk  piping or equipment, including leaks
    17  identified as part of an integrity management plan developed under  this
    18  section if applicable;
    19    (b)  adopt a cost-recovery program that includes (i) replacement plans
    20  with targets and benchmarks  for  leaking  or  high-risk  infrastructure
    21  replacement,  (ii)  consideration  of the economic, safety, and environ-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00068-01-1
        A. 2289                             2

     1  mental benefits of  reduced  gas  leakage,  including  consideration  of
     2  reduced  operation  and maintenance costs and reduced costs attributable
     3  to lost or unaccounted-for natural  gas,  and  (iii)  reporting  on  the
     4  reductions  in  lost  or  unaccounted-for  gas  as  a result of pipeline
     5  replacements;
     6    (c) adopt a standard definition and methodology  for  calculating  and
     7  reporting unaccounted-for gas to improve data quality;
     8    (d)  adopt  limits  on  cost recovery for the lost and unaccounted-for
     9  gas; and
    10    (e) require use of best available technology to detect gas leaks.
    11    4. No later than one year after the effective date  of  this  section,
    12  the  commission  shall,  after  notice and opportunity to comment, issue
    13  non-binding guidelines identifying best practices  for  identifying  and
    14  classifying  high-risk  pipeline  infrastructure and leaks for repair or
    15  replacement.
    16    5. Notwithstanding any other provision of  law  to  the  contrary,  no
    17  later  than  one  year  after  the  effective  date of this section, the
    18  commission shall establish and publish forms that adopt a standard defi-
    19  nition and methodology for  calculating  and  reporting  unaccounted-for
    20  gas,  including,  when possible, information on the causes of unaccount-
    21  ed-for gas and the quantities associated with each  cause,  for  use  by
    22  applicable  state  agencies  to  standardize the data collected on unac-
    23  counted-for gas.
    24    6. Operators of gas pipeline facilities in cities with a population of
    25  one million or more shall establish a database of  pipeline  infrastruc-
    26  ture  that  includes  its  age  and state of repair and shall share this
    27  information with  the  coordinated  building  inspection  data  analysis
    28  system.
    29    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.