[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 57 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-6927]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: March 24, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Customer-Owned Service Lines
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA)
invites representatives of industry, state and local government, and
the public to an open meeting on the safety of customer-owned service
lines. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information on the
extent to which lack of maintenance of customer-owned service lines
raises safety concerns, and on how to address these concerns, including
the need for any legislative changes or regulatory action.
DATES: The meeting will be held on May 17, 1994 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will held at the Transportation Safety
Institute, 715 South Metropolitan, North Campus, Room 204, Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. The transcript of the meeting will be available for
inspection and copying in room 8421, Nassif Building, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, DC 20590 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each
working day.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marvin Fell, (202) 366-6205, regarding
the subject matter of this notice, or the Dockets Unit (202) 366-5046,
regarding copies of this notice or other material referenced in this
notice.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 115(b) of the Pipeline Safety Act of
1992 (the Act, Pub. L. 102-508; October 24, 1992), requires the
Department of Transportation to conduct a review of Federal, State and
local rules, policies, procedures and other measures with respect to
the safety of customer-owned natural gas service lines to determine
their effectiveness. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
published February 3, 1994 (59 FR 5168), RSPA defined a customer-owned
service line as a pipeline that transports gas from a service line to
an exterior wall of a building or end use equipment. These lines are
commonly called ``yard lines'' of ``fuel lines.'' Similarly, ``farm
taps'' are customer-owned service lines that begin at a customer meter,
usually adjacent to a gas transmission line, and run to a single
consumer.
In performing this review, the Department is to consider the extent
to which lack of maintenance of customer-owned service lines raises
safety concerns. Additional factors to be considered are State and
local law, including law governing private property and rights, and
State pipeline safety regulation of distribution operators; the views
of State and local regulatory authorities; available accident
information; costs; and civil liability implications of distribution
operators taking responsibility for customer-owned service lines.
The Department is also to consider whether the customer-owned
service line maintenance information regulations it is required to
issue pursuant to section 115(a) of the Act sufficiently address safety
risks and concerns involving such lines. RSPA published the proposed
maintenance information regulations in an NPRM on February 3, 1994 (59
FR 5168). The NPRM proposes to require operators of natural gas or
petroleum gas pipelines that do not maintain their customer-owned
service lines up to building walls to advise their customers of the
requirements for maintenance of those lines, any resources known to the
operator that could aid customers, and the potential hazards of not
maintaining service lines.
To begin its review, RSPA sent out a survey to the directors of
state pipeline safety offices asking for information on the above-
described matters. After careful review of the responses, RSPA
determined additional information is needed to determine if lack of
maintenance of customer-owned service lines raises safety concerns and
how any concerns should be addressed, including need for legislative
and regulatory changes. Accordingly, a public meeting will be held to
collect this information. RSPA will provide preliminary results from
its survey at this meeting.
RSPA is seeking comment on any of the above-described matters and,
in particular, is requesting comment on the following questions:
(1) Are distribution and transmission operators in favor of
assuming responsibility over customer-owned service lines? If not, why
not?
(2) What will be the costs of requiring operators to maintain all
customer-owned service lines?
(3) What are the civil liability implications of operators being
required to maintain these lines? If operators were required to
maintain customer-owned service lines, would this requirement conflict
with state and local laws?
(4) What is the accident history of customer-owned lines in terms
of incidents, injuries, fatalities, and property damage?
What alternatives are there to regulations requiring operators to
maintain customer-owned lines?
(5) What methods are being used, and to what extent, to inform
customers of how to maintain customer-owned service lines, and the
hazards of not maintaining these lines? Are these methods effective in
addressing the safety risks of these lines?
(6) What are the safety concerns raised by lack of maintenance on
customer-owned lines?
Interested persons are invited to attend the meeting and present
oral or written statements on the matters set for the meeting. Any
person who wishes to speak should notify Marvin Fell at the above
address. Please estimate the time that will be needed to speak. RSPA
requests the right to limit the time of each speaker, if necessary, to
ensure that everyone who requests an opportunity to speak is given one.
Interested parties that are not scheduled to comment will have an
opportunity to comment only after approval of the meeting officer.
Issued in Washington, DC., on March 18, 1994.
George W. Tenley, Jr.,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 94-6927 Filed 3-23-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-M
