On January 13th, in collaboration with our members, the NGA submitted comments to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on its proposed pipeline safety rulemaking. The intent of the rulemaking is to amend Massachusetts Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Code, in the interests of promoting safety and ensuring regulatory compliance. In addition, the Department proposed changes to comply with Chapter 8 of the Acts of 2021, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy ("Climate Policy"). NGA worked with membership to provide comments on proposed changes to operator qualifications, workforce oversight, enhancements to overpressure protection requirements, maps, and records, MAOP and other aspects of Massachusetts Gas Distribution Code.

NGA appreciated the opportunity to provide comments and recommended technical sessions to discuss alternate proposals and recommendations that meet the intent of DPU proposals while balancing implementation challenges and overall pipeline safety value. The full comments can be read here: https://fileservice.eea.comacloud.net/FileService.Api/file/FileRoom/16907463