Notice2025-20655
Pipeline Safety: Request for Special Permit; Southern Natural Gas Company, LLC (SNG)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 24, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Abstract
PHMSA is publishing an updated notice to solicit public comments on a request for special permit received from Southern Natural Gas Company, LLC (SNG). The new notice contains updated documents, described further in supplementary information below. The special permit request is seeking relief from compliance with certain requirements in the Federal pipeline safety regulations. PHMSA has proposed conditions to ensure that the special permit is consistent with pipeline safety. At the conclusion of the 30-day comment period, PHMSA will review the comments received from this notice as part of its evaluation to grant or deny the special permit request.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 224 (Monday, November 24, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 224 (Monday, November 24, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53057-53059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20655]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
[Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0136]
Pipeline Safety: Request for Special Permit; Southern Natural Gas
Company, LLC (SNG)
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA);
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: PHMSA is publishing an updated notice to solicit public
comments on a request for special permit received from Southern Natural
Gas Company, LLC (SNG). The new notice contains updated documents,
[[Page 53058]]
described further in supplementary information below. The special
permit request is seeking relief from compliance with certain
requirements in the Federal pipeline safety regulations. PHMSA has
proposed conditions to ensure that the special permit is consistent
with pipeline safety. At the conclusion of the 30-day comment period,
PHMSA will review the comments received from this notice as part of its
evaluation to grant or deny the special permit request.
DATES: Submit any comments regarding this special permit request by
December 24, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments should reference the docket number for this special
permit request and may be submitted in the following ways:
<bullet> E-Gov Website: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. This site
allows the public to enter comments on any Federal Register notice
issued by any agency.
<bullet> Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
<bullet> Mail: Docket Management System: U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
<bullet> Hand Delivery: Docket Management System: U.S. Department
of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, between
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Instructions: You should identify the docket number for the special
permit request that you are commenting on at the beginning of your
comments. If you submit your comments by mail, please submit two
copies. To receive confirmation that PHMSA has received your comments,
please include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Internet users may
submit comments at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Note:
There is a privacy statement published on <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Comments, including any personal information
provided, are posted without changes or edits to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both
customarily and treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) (5 United States Code 552), CBI is exempt from
public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this notice contain
commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as
private, that you treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive
to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate the
submitted comments as CBI. Pursuant to 49 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) Sec. 190.343, you may ask PHMSA to give confidential treatment
to information you give to the agency by taking the following steps:
(1) mark each page of the original document submission containing CBI
as ``Confidential''; (2) send PHMSA, along with the original document,
a second copy of the original document with the CBI deleted; and (3)
explain why the information you are submitting is CBI. Unless you are
notified otherwise, PHMSA will treat such marked submissions as
confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the public
docket of this notice. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to
Jamie Huff, DOT, PHMSA-PHP-80, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington,
DC 20590-0001. Any commentary PHMSA receives that is not specifically
designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for this matter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
General: Ms. Jamie Huff by phone at 812-677-8809 or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#402a212d29256e2835262600242f346e272f36"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a8c2c9c5c1cd86c0ddcecee8ccc7dc86cfc7de">[email protected]</span></a>.
Technical: Mr. Joshua Johnson by phone at 816-329-3825 or by email
at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5f35302c372a3e71353037312c30311f3b302b71383029"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2b414458435e4a05414443455844456b4f445f054c445d">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PHMSA received a special permit request from
SNG, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, on December 27, 2023, seeking a
waiver from the Federal pipeline safety regulations in 49 CFR
192.611(a), (d), and 192.619(a), where a gas transmission pipeline
segment has undergone changes from a Class 1 to Class 3 location.
The Cypress Line Pipeline segment is a 24-inch-diameter natural gas
transmission pipeline, 0.176 miles in length, located in Chatham
County, Georgia. The maximum allowable operating pressure for the
Cypress Line Pipeline segment is 1,250 pounds per square inch gauge.
This special permit is being requested to allow SNG to operate the
Cypress Line Pipeline Segment 727 in a Class 3 location at its current
operating pressure by implementing enhanced integrity management
procedures in lieu of replacing pipe or lowering the operating
pressure, as required by Part 192.
PHMSA previously published this request on April 24, 2024, with the
public comment period closing on May 24, 2024. The special permit
request letter, proposed special permit with conditions, environmental
assessment (EA), and all other pertinent documents for the original
special permit are available in Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0136 in the
Federal Docket Management System located at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Following the closure of the comment period, PHMSA began reviewing
its special permit process to determine if special permit conditions
could be streamlined in order to ease unnecessary burdens on
applicants. As part of that process, PHMSA gave SNG the option of
seeking reconsideration of its application and conducting another round
of public notice and comment. SNG exercised that option. As a result,
the proposed conditions in this new version of the special permit have
been revised from the version previously noticed.
Since the issuance of the original EA, on July 1, 2025, DOT
published DOT Order 5610.1D: Procedures for Considering Environmental
Impacts, which outlines DOT's processes and requirements for complying
with NEPA under 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. PHMSA has incorporated the
following Categorical Exclusion (CE) from DOT 5610.1D into its
implementing procedures: 1. Granting, renewing, or denying a special
permit related to waiving class location or odorization requirements,
following the procedures set forth in 49 CFR 190.341, including the
identification of any enforceable conditions, imposed pursuant to 49
CFR 190.341(d)(2), that are required to prevent and address pipeline
safety and environmental risk. On August 13, 2025, Environmental
Protection Specialists from PHMSA independently reviewed the special
permit request for compliance with the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). Based on the scope of the action, PHMSA has further
determined that no extraordinary circumstances apply. In order to
ensure continued human and environmental safety, the operator must
fulfill the mitigation conditions of the special permit; continue to
employ good operating practices; and continue to follow any additional
applicable permitting requirements, State laws, or other pre-existing
Federal requirements related to environmental protection. Should
conditions change, or should extraordinary circumstances materialize,
the operator must contact PHMSA for reevaluation. The proposed action
is hereby categorically excluded from further NEPA review. The
finalized CE will be published at <a href="https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/planning-and-analytics/environmental-analysis-and-compliance/implementing-procedures">https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/planning-and-analytics/environmental-analysis-and-compliance/implementing-procedures</a>. The website also includes information on DOT Order 5610.1D.
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The special permit request and revised proposed special permit with
conditions for the above-listed SNG pipeline segment are available for
review and public comment in Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0136. PHMSA invites
interested persons to review and submit comments on the special permit
request and proposed special permit with conditions in the docket.
Please submit comments on any potential safety, environmental, and
other relevant considerations implicated by the special permit request.
Comments may include relevant data.
Before issuing a decision on the special permit request, PHMSA will
evaluate all comments received on or before the comments closing date.
PHMSA will consider each relevant comment it receives in making its
decision to grant or deny this special permit request.
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2025, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.
Linda Daugherty,
Acting Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 2025-20655 Filed 11-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P
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