The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) recently released the final rule known as the “Mega Rule” which includes a set of regulations designed to improve pipeline safety by reducing the frequency of pipeline failures. The intent of the rule is to address lessons learned following the Pacific Gas and Electric Company rupture and release in San Bruno, California, in September 2010. On September 9, 2010, a natural gas pipeline owned by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) exploded in San Bruno, CA. creating a fire that killed eight people, destroyed more than 100 homes and cost $2.8 billion. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that PG&E had a faulty integrity management (IM) system that failed to detect a defective section of the pipeline resulting in the devastating explosion. The PG&E incident spurred action from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to revise the existing Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations (FPSR) to improve the safety of onshore gas transmission pipelines. These revisions are known as the Mega Rule. This final rule responds to the incident by extending existing design, operational and maintenance, and reporting requirements under the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations to onshore natural gas transmission pipelines and gathering pipelines in rural areas. The Mega Rule is a sweeping set of regulations comprised of three parts: • Part 1 focuses on the safety of gas transmission pipelines. • Part 2 introduces new guidelines about IM, updated requirements for high consequence areas (HCAs) and expectations for operators following extreme weather events and natural disasters. • Part 3 expands certain safety requirements to all onshore gas gathering pipelines.