S 5186: Requires gas pipeline facilities to accelerate the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking or at a high risk of leaking; requires the public service commission to establish a standard definition and methodology for calculating and reporting unaccounted-for gas.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5186 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 19, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni- cations AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring gas pipeline facilities to accelerate the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of equipment or pipelines that are leaking or at a high risk of leaking The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 2 66-x to read as follows: 3 § 66-x. Pipeline modernization and consumer protection. 1. As used in 4 this section, "gas pipeline facility" means (a) a distribution facility, 5 and (b) a gas utility. 6 2. Each operator of a gas pipeline facility shall accelerate the 7 repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of gas piping or equipment that 8 is: 9 (a) leaking; or 10 (b) may pose high risks of leaking, or may no longer be fit for 11 service, because of: (i) inferior materials, (ii) poor construction 12 practices, (iii) lack of maintenance, or (iv) age. 13 3. In complying with subdivision two of this section, the commission 14 shall: (a) develop prioritized timelines to repair all leaks based on 15 the severity of the leak, including non-hazardous leaks, or replace 16 identified leaking or high-risk piping or equipment, including leaks 17 identified as part of an integrity management plan developed under this 18 section if applicable; 19 (b) adopt a cost-recovery program that includes (i) replacement plans 20 with targets and benchmarks for leaking or high-risk infrastructure 21 replacement, (ii) consideration of the economic, safety, and environ- 22 mental benefits of reduced gas leakage, including consideration of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06373-01-5 
 S. 5186 2 1 reduced operation and maintenance costs and reduced costs attributable 2 to lost or unaccounted-for natural gas, and (iii) reporting on the 3 reductions in lost or unaccounted-for gas as a result of pipeline 4 replacements; 5 (c) adopt a standard definition and methodology for calculating and 6 reporting unaccounted-for gas to improve data quality; 7 (d) adopt limits on cost recovery for the lost and unaccounted-for 8 gas; and 9 (e) require use of best available technology to detect gas leaks. 10 4. No later than one year after the effective date of this section, 11 the commission shall, after notice and opportunity to comment, issue 12 non-binding guidelines identifying best practices for identifying and 13 classifying high-risk pipeline infrastructure and leaks for repair or 14 replacement. 15 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no 16 later than one year after the effective date of this section, the 17 commission shall establish and publish forms that adopt a standard defi- 18 nition and methodology for calculating and reporting unaccounted-for 19 gas, including, when possible, information on the causes of unaccount- 20 ed-for gas and the quantities associated with each cause, for use by 21 applicable state agencies to standardize the data collected on unac- 22 counted-for gas. 23 6. Operators of gas pipeline facilities in cities with a population of 24 one million or more shall establish a database of pipeline infrastruc- 25 ture that includes its age and state of repair and shall share this 26 information with the coordinated building inspection data analysis 27 system. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.