News Updates
On December 19, 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) to regulate the safety of underground natural gas facilities throughout the United States. PHMSA’s rule making identified twelve key items for operators to consider as they review the operations of their underground storage facilities. In order to address the newly adopted regulations, BakerRisk has prepared both a white paper and a power point presentation to help review the regulations for Underground Natural Gas Storage to provide insight and guidance into the applicability of the rules, the timeline for compliance milestones, and a synopsis of the design, operation, and maintenance requirements. BakerRisk can evaluate well integrity and offer solutions for compliance.
The regulations were adopted on a more accelerated schedule to address safety concerns with aging underground storage facilities in light of the most recent incident that occurred at the Aliso Canyon facility located in the Porter Ranch area near Los Angeles, California. The regulations revise PHMSA’s regulatory oversight for natural gas storage facilities beyond the already regulated surface piping to address down-hole facilities, including wells, wellbore tubing, and casing. PHMSA adopts the American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommend Practice (RP) 1170 Design and Operation of Solution-mined Salt Caverns used for Natural Gas Storage released in 2015 and (API) Recommend Practice (RP) 1171 Functional Integrity of Natural Gas Storage in Depleted Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Aquifer Reservoirs also released in 2015. The RPs were a collaborative effort between federal, state, and industry partners. The RPs describe recommendations for the construction, maintenance, risk assessment, risk management, and integrity management procedures.
If you’d like to learn more about these topics or speak with a consultant, please Contact Us.
BakerRisk is pleased to announce the launch of the new version of its proprietary Hazardous Area Classification (HAC) software, HACTool.
BakerRisk, an employee-owned risk management consulting firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of Karen Vilas as Chief Executive Officer. Following a robust executive search process, Ms. Vilas assumed the role on April 21, 2026.
The TÜV Rheinland Functional Safety Program is a unique opportunity to provide evidence of competency in functional safety from an internationally recognised organisation.
BakerRisk is pleased to announce that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ENPPI was signed on June 17, 2025.
We are pleased to announce our inclusion in the Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms list. The list ranks the 500 largest AEC (Architectural, Engineering, and Construction) companies in the U.S. based on design-specific revenue. It is the company’s first appearance on the list, ranking #391.
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