Regulatory

The laws and regulations listed below place certain requirements on particular industries to provide a GIS.

Note:  This is not a total list of all laws and regulations related to GIS and various levels of governing agencies may have different requirements.

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 was signed into law by President Bush on December 17, 2002. Congress had crafted the legislation as an amendment to the 1994 Pipeline Safety Law, largely in response to pipeline ruptures in Carlsbad, New Mexico and Bellingham, Washington.  The act applies to pipeline facilities which transport natural gas or hazardous liquids in interstate commerce, and gathering facilities in populated areas. The act also applies to intrastate pipelines and local distribution companies, but the states can regulate those entities if their regulations satisfy federal standards.

Source:  Charles A. Armgardt ofModrall Sperling

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The National Pipeline Mapping System

The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) is a geographic information system (GIS) created by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) in cooperation with other federal and state governmental agencies and the pipeline industry.  The NPMS consists of geospatial data, attribute data, public contact information, and metadata pertaining to the interstate and intrastate hazardous liquid trunklines and hazardous liquid low-stress lines as well as gas transmission pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, and hazardous liquid breakout tanks jurisdictional to PHMSA.  For more information and updates, go to http://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/default.htm