Why It Matters
The Transportation Department is proposing updated safety rules for operators of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, with public comments due Jan. 4, 2027, following the proposal's Nov. 3 publication.
If finalized, the proposal would impose new and updated federal requirements on LNG facility operators covering siting, design, operations, maintenance, and incident reporting; the agency estimates these changes would yield about $98 million in annualized cost savings, though some new compliance costs and other savings could not be quantified.
The core safety standard the proposal would replace, NFPA 59A-2001, has not been updated in federal regulations since 2006, leaving it seven editions out of date. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) says the proposal responds to congressional mandates in the PIPES Act of 2016 and the PIPES Act of 2020 and would "advance the President's commitments to unleashing American energy, sustaining U.S. defense operations, and ensuring the energy security of the U.S. and its allies," citing Executive Order 14156 and Executive Order 14154.
The Big Picture
The notice of proposed rulemaking follows an advance notice of proposed rulemaking PHMSA published on May 5, 2025, which solicited stakeholder feedback on amendments under the same docket.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy estimated approximately $100 million in annual operator savings, according to reporting by Pipeline & Gas Journal and LNG Industry, which also noted that developers would still need permits and environmental approvals and could face legal challenges.
The American Petroleum Institute Vice President of Midstream Policy, Robin Rorick, welcomed the proposal, saying modernization could strengthen safety, encourage innovation, and support LNG development. During the May 2025 advance notice process, the Pipeline Safety Trust questioned how fully specific NFPA 59A-2001 provisions were incorporated by reference, while Earthjustice and the Environmental Defense Fund endorsed incorporating NFPA 59A-2026 by reference.
Broader Context
The proposal would expand incident and safety-related condition reporting for LNG facility operators, requiring reports covering releases of hazardous fluids, including ethane, ethylene, propane, butane, hydrogen sulfide and anhydrous ammonia, rather than limiting the reporting provisions to LNG, liquefied petroleum gas, refrigerants or natural gas. Reportable incidents would remain subject to specified reporting criteria.
For facilities subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction at LNG import and export terminals, the proposal would add a supplemental wind resistance requirement, raising the design standard for Classification B structures from the 1,700-year mean recurrence interval in NFPA 59A-2026 to a 10,000-year mean recurrence interval.
Under the proposed rule, operators of FERC-jurisdictional LNG facilities could elect a process-hazard-analysis-based operations and maintenance program under new subpart F in place of prescriptive requirements by submitting an implementation plan to PHMSA.
Operators of qualifying permanent, small-scale LNG facilities could elect to follow the tailored requirements in chapter 17 of NFPA 59A-2026 rather than the full regulatory framework, fulfilling a mandate Congress established in the PIPES Act of 2016.
On siting, operators would choose between a traditional prescriptive approach under NFPA 59A-2026 chapter 5 or a new quantitative risk analysis-based pathway under chapter 19. Operators electing the risk-based approach would have to document and maintain records of risk assessment methodology, exclusion zones, and final calculated risk levels for the life of the facility.
Existing LNG facilities and proposed facilities approved before the effective date of any final rule would not be subject to the nonretroactive subparts covering siting, design, installation and construction.
The Boottom Line
PHMSA will hold a public meeting of its statutory advisory committees on a date to be announced in the Federal Register. Comments on the proposal may be submitted at regulations.gov under docket PHMSA-2019-0091 through Jan. 4, 2027.
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