Emerging Commodities

As the United States transitions to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and low-carbon energy, such as Hydrogen and Hydrogen blend with Natural Gas, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is dedicated to ensuring robust safety oversight on jurisdictional pipelines that transport new commodities such as RNG and Natural gas blended with hydrogen. PHMSA delegated to CPUC the safety oversight of intrastate natural gas pipelines operated by investor-owned utilities (IOU) that CPUC regulate. The three emerging energy commodities transported by pipelines in CA are RNG, Hydrogen (dedicated and blend) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

CPUC does not regulate transportation safety of super critical Carbon Dioxide (Co2) pipelines in California. The CA Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) has safety oversight of oil (liquid) pipelines and super critical CO2 pipelines.

CPUC was delegated to establish health risk and safety oversight of RNG Interconnection facilities. There are more than a dozen RNG interconnections to IOUs’ pipelines. These RNG are produced from dairy farms, landfill and waste facilities within the state. CPUC does not have health risk and safety oversight of the RNG operators’ gathering pipelines and production facilities. However, CPUC’s RNG safety and health risk oversight begins at the interconnection to the IOUs pipelines or the receipt point. CPUC’s RNG safety and health risk oversight prescribes gas quality standards, monitoring standards and testing frequencies for certain RNG gas constituents. The CPUC’s regulation established maximum acceptable levels of various “Constituents of Concern” (COC) and testing frequencies for the COCs. California agencies California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEEHA) provided CPUC the technical expertise and guidance in establishing statewide health risk standards for COC in RNGs.

There are several hydrogen (90 to 100% H2) pipeline operators in CA, but none are currently under CPUC’s jurisdiction.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal is required to establish on or before January 1, 2028, safety oversight of dedicated hydrogen (90% greater H2) pipelines and enforce standards that meet or exceed those requirements prescribed by the CA legislatures. However, this authority does not limit the CPUC’s authority to regulate the rates, services, or safety practices of public utilities’ hydrogen pipelines. The CPUC is delegated the compliance and inspection oversight authority over regulated public utilities (investor-own-utilities) that own or operate hydrogen pipelines that may transport hydrogen-natural gas blend or dedicated hydrogen. Currently, none of the CPUC regulated public utilities operate hydrogen pipelines. Although, the CPUC has authorized pilot program for hydrogen-natural gas blend.  The pilot program is in its beginning phase, and the test data will inform the CPUC’s knowledge in crafting statewide hydrogen-natural gas blend standards.