Natural gas: leakage abatement.

The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, authorizes the commission to establish its own procedures, subject to statutory limitations or directions and constitutional requirements of due process, and authorizes the commission to fix rates and establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, within the Public Utilities Act, designates the commission as the state authority responsible for regulating and enforcing intrastate gas pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities pursuant to federal law, including the development, submission, and administration of a state pipeline safety program certification for natural gas pipelines. The act requires each gas corporation to develop a plan, as specified, for the safe and reliable operation of its commission-regulated gas pipeline facility, as defined. The act requires the commission to accept, modify, or reject the plan for each gas corporation by December 31, 2012, and to build into an approved plan sufficient flexibility to redirect activities to respond to safety requirements. The act requires that the plan be periodically reviewed and updated. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990, to be achieved by 2020. This bill would require the commission, giving priority to safety, reliability, and affordability of service, to adopt rules and procedures governing the operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of those commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities that are intrastate transmission and distribution lines to minimize leaks as a hazard to be mitigated pursuant to the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, consistent with specified federal regulations, and a specified order of the commission, and to reduce emissions of natural gas from those facilities to the maximum extent feasible in order to advance the state's goals in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The bill would require the commission to require gas corporations to file a report as soon as practicable, that includes a summary of utility leak management practices, a list of new methane leaks in 2013 by grade, a list of open leaks that are being monitored or are scheduled to be repaired, and a best estimate of gas loss due to leaks. The bill would require the commission to commence a proceeding by January 15, 2015, to adopt those rules and procedures, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board. The bill would require that the rules and procedures (1) provide for the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective avoidance, reduction, and repair of leaks and leaking components in those commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities that are intrastate transmission and distribution lines within a reasonable time after discovery, (2) provide for the repair of leaks as soon as reasonably possible after discovery, consistent with established safety requirements and the goals of reducing air pollution and the climate change impacts of methane emissions, (3) evaluate the operations, maintenance, and repair practices for those facilities to determine whether existing practices are effective at reducing methane leaks and promoting public safety, achieve the goals of the bill, and whether alternative practices may be more effective at achieving the goals of the bill, (4) establish and require the use of best practices for leak surveys, patrols, leak survey technology, leak prevention, and leak reduction, (5) establish protocols and procedures for the development and use of metrics to quantify the volume of emissions from leaking gas pipeline facilities, and for evaluating and tracking leaks geographically and over time that may be incorporated into a gas corporation's plan for the safe and reliable operation of its commission-regulated gas pipeline facility, or into other state emissions tracking systems, or both, including regulations of the State Air Resources Board for the reporting of greenhouse gases, with the requirement that the metrics provide operators, the commission, and the public with accurate information about the number and severity of leaks and about the quantity of gas that is emitted to the atmosphere over time, and (6) to the extent feasible, require the owner of each commission-regulated gas pipeline facility that is an intrastate transmission or distribution line to calculate and report to the commission and the State Air Resources Board a baseline systemwide leak rate, to periodically update that systemwide leak rate calculation, and to annually report measures that will be taken in the following year to reduce the systemwide leak rate to achieve the goals of the bill. In order to achieve transparency and accountability for rate revenues and best value for ratepayers, the bill would require that the commission consider specified topics in a manner consistent with the commission's existing ratemaking procedures and authority to establish just and reasonable rates. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.