# Emergency Plans

**Citation:** 192.615  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Arkansas Public Service Commission  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** Not stated

§ 192.615 Emergency Plans (a) Each operator shall establish written procedures to minimize the hazard resulting from a gas pipeline emergency. At a minimum, the procedures must provide for the following: (1) Receiving, identifying, and classifying notices of events which require immediate response b

## Document text

§ 192.615 Emergency Plans (a) Each operator shall establish written procedures to minimize the hazard resulting from a gas pipeline emergency. At a minimum, the procedures must provide for the following: (1) Receiving, identifying, and classifying notices of events which require immediate response by the operator. (2) Establishing and maintaining adequate means of communication with the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center), where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, and fire, police, and other public officials. Operators may establish liaison with the appropriate local emergency coordinating agencies, such as 9-1-1 emergency call centers or county emergency managers, in lieu of communicating individually with each fire, police, or other public entity. An operator must determine the responsibilities, resources, jurisdictional area(s), and emergency contact telephone number(s) for both local and out-of-area calls of each Federal, State, and local government organization that may respond to a pipeline emergency, and inform such officials about the operator's ability to respond to a pipeline emergency and the means of communication during emergencies. (3) Prompt and effective response to a notice of each type of emergency, including the following: (i) Gas detected inside or near a building. (ii) Fire located near or directly involving a pipeline facility. (iii) Explosion occurring near or directly involving a pipeline facility. (iv) Natural disaster. (4) The availability of personnel, equipment, tools, and materials, as needed at the scene of an emergency. (5) Actions directed toward protecting people first and then property. (6) Taking necessary actions, including but not limited to, emergency shutdown, valve shut-off, or pressure reduction, in any section of the operator's pipeline system, to minimize hazards of released gas to life, property, or the environment. (7) Making safe any actual or potential hazard to life or property. (8) Notifying the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center) where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, and fire, police, and other public officials, of gas pipeline emergencies to coordinate and share information to determine the location of the emergency, including both planned responses and actual responses during an emergency. The operator must immediately and directly notify the appropriate public safety answering point or other coordinating agency for the communities and jurisdictions in which the pipeline is located after receiving a notification of potential rupture, as defined in § 192.3, to coordinate and share information to determine the location of any release, regardless of whether the segment is subject to the requirements of § 192.179, § 192.634, or § 192.636. (9) Safely restoring any service outage. (10) Beginning action under § 192.617, if applicable, as soon after the end of the emergency as possible. (11) Actions required to be taken by a controller during an emergency in accordance with the operator's emergency plans and requirements set forth in §§ 192.631, 192.634, and 192.636. (12) Each operator must develop written rupture identification procedures to evaluate and identify whether a notification of potential rupture, as defined in § 192.3, is an actual rupture event or a non-rupture event. These procedures must, at a minimum, specify the sources of information, operational factors, and other criteria that operator personnel use to evaluate a notification of potential rupture and identify an actual rupture. For operators installing valves in accordance with § 192.179(e), § 192.179(f), or that are subject to the requirements in § 192.634, those procedures must provide for rupture identification as soon as practicable. (13) Train the appropriate operating personnel to assure that they are knowledgeable of the emergency procedures and verify that the training is effective. (14) Review employee activities to determine whether the procedures were effectively followed in each emergency. (b) Each operator shall: (1) Furnish its supervisors who are responsible for emergency action a copy of that portion of the latest edition of the emergency procedures established under paragraph (a) of this section as necessary for compliance with those procedures. (2) Train the appropriate operating personnel to assure that they are knowledgeable of the emergency procedures and verify that the training is effective. (3) Review employee activities to determine whether the procedures were effectively followed in each emergency. (c) Each operator must establish and maintain liaison with the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center) where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, as well as fire, police, and other public officials, to: (1) Learn the responsibility and resources of each government organization that may respond to a gas pipeline emergency; (2) Acquaint the officials with the operator's ability in responding to a gas pipeline emergency; (3) Identify the types of gas pipeline emergencies of which the operator notifies the officials; and (4) Plan how the operator and officials can engage in mutual assistance to minimize hazards to life or property. (d)(1) Each operator shall identify all key valves which may be necessary for the safe operation of the system. The location of these valves shall be designated on appropriate records, drawings, or maps. (2) As used in subdivision (e)(1) of this means shut off valves in a distribution system or transmission line which may be necessary to isolate segments of a system or line for emergency purposes.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://codeofarrules.arkansas.gov/Rules/Rule?chapterID=40&levelType=part&partID=1394&subChapterID=392&titleID=23>
- Source ID: `ar-car-pipeline-safety`
- SHA-256: `db6187d5066fcb8a1c95028edffceda5820c3adbbc3cc1f556935c132210bd5a`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-12T08:10:37.612Z
- Exported: 2026-08-25T07:43:19.119Z
- Document slug: `ar-car-23-500-192-615`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-AR",
  "subject": "intrastate-gas",
  "caveats": {
    "exactScope": "The searchable corpus contains every current numbered section, the code-wide definitions, and every operative appendix in official 23 CAR Part 500, plus direct pipeline rules 15 CAR sections 275-406 and 275-504. Reserved and removed provisions are inventory-only.",
    "excludedScope": "This is not all Arkansas pipeline law. Standalone statutes, dockets and orders, one-call law, utility rates and service, siting, environmental permits, highway crossings, local law, forms, and incorporated third-party standards are excluded. Other current AOGC gas and transportation rules are inventoried as adjacent production, conservation, storage, or fluid-transport material.",
    "applicabilityCaveat": "APSC administers certified intrastate gas safety downstream of producer custody transfer. AOGC section 275-406 separately reaches specified producer or producer-affiliated natural-gas systems. AOGC section 275-504 imposes state permitting and operational duties on specified hazardous-liquid pipelines, but PHMSA states that it directly inspects and enforces intrastate hazardous-liquid pipeline safety in Arkansas. Inclusion does not establish applicability to a particular facility.",
    "incorporationCaveat": "AOGC sections 275-406 and 275-504 use dynamic 'as amended' wording for federal Parts 190, 191, 192, 195, and 199. Part 500 is a state code that reproduces and modifies federal-derived gas provisions. References and relationship records do not substitute a retrieval-date federal text or decide the legal effect of incorporation.",
    "publicationCaveat": "The Code of Arkansas Rules identifies its online database as the official version, effective as a publication system January 1, 2025, updated weekly, and potentially behind recent agency rulemaking. The official Part 500 page reports Ark. R. 2026-6 effective January 8, 2026; its PDF is headed August 22, 2025 and Docket 25-025-R. Retrieval and site-update dates are publication observations, not inferred legal effective dates for every section.",
    "rights": "Official Arkansas and federal government artifacts are archived with attribution and SHA-256 provenance. Public access does not settle rights in seals, site presentation, forms, incorporated standards, or third-party material; downstream redistribution requires separate review."
  },
  "rightsReviewRequired": true,
  "references": [],
  "codePart": "23 CAR pt. 500",
  "partEffectiveOn": "2026-01-08",
  "partEffectiveDateNotImputedToIndividualProvision": true,
  "federalDerivedStateCode": true,
  "sourceCollection": "ar-car-23-part-500",
  "region": "AR"
}
```
