The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced that current and future recipients of its Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Grants (NGDISM) will be able to take advantage of a new, streamlined federal environmental review process for communities to fix older, leak prone natural gas pipes. This process is the latest commitment from the Biden-Harris Administration to deliver projects more quickly, protect the environment, and support local communities.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included historic, first-time funding to fix some of the oldest, most leak prone pipes in our nation,” said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown. “We are streamlining the environmental review process for communities to quickly undertake these necessary repairs that will reduce environmental impacts without taking months, or even years, for approval.”
Section 109 of NEPA allows a Federal agency to “adopt a categorical exclusion listed in another agency’s NEPA procedures for a category of proposed agency actions for which the categorical exclusion was established.” PHMSA consulted with the Department of Energy to adopt its categorical exclusion for the repair or replacement of pipelines. This has allowed PHMSA to streamline its NGDISM grant reviews. Under this new process, projects will no longer be subject to lengthy environmental review because the projects have collectively been determined to provide a benefit to the environment. This is part of a broader effort across the Biden-Harris Administration to streamline and improve the overall permitting process.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 authorized the NGDISM grant program, which provided nearly $1 billion in funding over the course of five years to modernize community-owned natural gas distribution pipes and help keep communities across the country safe from dangers associated with pipeline leaks. The $1 billion in grants will in turn benefit customers by reducing energy costs they would otherwise face when communities implement required repairs and upgrades to the pipeline systems. In 2023 and 2024, PHMSA announced nearly $600 million in funding for hundreds of projects in mostly underserved rural and urban communities across the country.
More information about PHMSA’s categorical exclusion for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant projects can be found in the Federal Register.