# HAR 6-77-166 Maximum allowable operating pressure: steel or plastic pipelines

**Citation:** HAR 6-77-166  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Hawaii Public Utilities Commission  
**Effective:** 1994-09-03  
**Published:** 1994-04-15

Except as provided in subsection (c), no person may operate a segment of steel or plastic pipeline at a pressure that exceeds the lowest of the following: (1) The design pressure of the weakest element in the segment, determined in accordance with subchapters 5 and 6; (2) The pressure obtained by di

## Document text

Except as provided in subsection (c), no person may operate a segment of steel or plastic pipeline at a pressure that exceeds the lowest of the following: (1) The design pressure of the weakest element in the segment, determined in accordance with subchapters 5 and 6; (2) The pressure obtained by dividing the pressure to which the segment was tested after construction as follows: (A) For plastic pipe in all locations, the test pressure is divided by a factor of 1.5; (B) For steel pipe operated at 100 p.s.i.g. or more, the test pressure is divided by a factor determined in accordance with the following table: _____________________________________________________________________ __ │ Factors[1], segment-- │ Installed │ Installed │ Converted Class location │ before │ after │ under │ (Nov. 12, 1970) │ (Nov. 11, 1970) │'6-77-18 1.....................│ 1.1 │ 1.1 │ 1.25 2.....................│ 1.25 │ 1.25 │ 1.25 3.....................│ 1.4 │ 1.5 │ 1.5 4.....................│ 1.4 │ 1.5 │ 1.5 │ │ │ (3) The highest actual operating pressure to which the segment was subjected during the five years preceding July 1, 1970 (or in the case of offshore gathering lines, July 1, 1976), unless the segment was tested in accordance with paragraph (2) after July 1, 1965 (or in the case of offshore gathering lines, July 1, 1971), or the segment was uprated in accordance with subchapter 13; (4) For furnace butt welded steel pipe, a pressure equal to sixty percent of the mill test pressure to which the pipe was subjected; (5) For steel pipe other than furnace butt welded pipe, a pressure equal to eighty-five percent of the highest test pressure to which the pipe has been subjected, whether by mill test or by the post installation test; or (6) The pressure determined by the operator to be the maximum safe pressure after considering the history of the segment, particularly known corrosion and the actual operating pressure. (b) No person may operate a segment to which subsection (a)(6) is applicable, unless over-pressure protective devices are installed on the segment in a manner that will prevent the maximum allowable operating pressure from being exceeded, in accordance with section 6-77-68. (c) Notwithstanding the other requirements of this section, an operator may operate a segment of pipeline found to be in satisfactory condition, considering its operating and maintenance history, at the highest actual operating pressure to which the segment was subjected during the five years preceding July 1, 1970, or in the case of offshore gathering lines, July 1, 1976, subject to the requirements of section 6-77-161. [Eff ] (Auth: HRS '269-6) (Imp: 49 C.F.R. '192.619, October 1, 1990)

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://puc.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/HAR-6-77-Transp-of-Gas-03-31-2026.pdf>
- Source ID: `hi-puc-har-6-77`
- SHA-256: `e6c75334fa8dcecaaeaeb491c35bb5c9e438ada1f17d6510d666639d22064966`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-12T08:22:24.168Z
- Exported: 2026-08-26T04:08:01.605Z
- Document slug: `hi-har-har-6-77-166`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-HI",
  "chapter": "HAR Chapter 6-77",
  "provisionKind": "section",
  "adoptedOn": "1994-04-15",
  "filedOn": "1994-08-24",
  "exactEffectiveDateAvailableInPublication": true,
  "publicationStatus": "officially-published-superseded-slated-for-repeal",
  "phmsaProgramParticipant": false,
  "stateCertificationRepresented": false,
  "federalInspectionAndEnforcement": [
    "interstate gas",
    "intrastate gas",
    "interstate hazardous liquid",
    "intrastate hazardous liquid"
  ],
  "fixedFederalBaseline": "1990-10-01",
  "editorialModernizationApplied": false,
  "references": [
    {
      "citation": "49 CFR 192.619",
      "referenceType": "federal_regulation",
      "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-192.619",
      "incorporatedEdition": "1990-10-01"
    },
    {
      "citation": "HRS 269-6",
      "referenceType": "state_statute",
      "url": "https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0269/HRS_0269-0006.htm"
    },
    {
      "citation": "HAR 6-77-68",
      "referenceType": "state_regulation",
      "url": "https://puc.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/HAR-6-77-Transp-of-Gas-03-31-2026.pdf"
    },
    {
      "citation": "HAR 6-77-161",
      "referenceType": "state_regulation",
      "url": "https://puc.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/HAR-6-77-Transp-of-Gas-03-31-2026.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "caveats": {
    "exactScope": "Complete substantive text of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission publication of HAR Chapter 6-77: 196 non-reserved numbered sections and Appendices A through D. Four expressly reserved section slots are inventory-only. The PUC's April 2026 page links a 160-page signed scan; an official 178-page text-layer copy from Budget and Finance is used as the higher-quality transcription aid. The publication is an April 15, 1994 adoption, filed August 24 and effective September 3, 1994, based on the October 1, 1990 federal text; it is not a current restatement of federal pipeline standards.",
    "applicability": "Hawaii is not represented as certified, as an agreement state, or as an interstate agent under the PHMSA federal-state pipeline safety program. PHMSA states that its Office of Pipeline Safety inspects and enforces federal pipeline safety regulations for interstate and intrastate gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines in Hawaii. Chapter 6-77 may remain relevant as published state utility material, but it must not be used to infer current Hawaii inspection or enforcement authority.",
    "currentness": "The Hawaii PUC still links Chapter 6-77 on its official rules page, updated April 2026. Hawaii's official 2022 periodic rules-review report separately says Chapter 6-77 is to be repealed, was superseded by statute and a federal takeover letter, and cites 2009 Act 25. Because the PUC page does not mark the chapter repealed, this connector preserves the published text with an explicit superseded/slated-for-repeal warning rather than declaring an unproved completed administrative repeal.",
    "incorporation": "The chapter repeatedly identifies the October 1, 1990 edition of 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 and its appendices as the implemented source. That fixed, obsolete baseline is preserved exactly. Current federal text, later amendments, and current editions of incorporated private standards must not be silently substituted when researching what this publication says.",
    "excludedScope": "This connector excludes HAR Chapter 6-83 one-call damage prevention, utility rates and service standards, statutes as standalone documents, dockets, orders, tariffs, federal text, current federal amendments, and the full text of incorporated private standards. Those materials require separate completeness, currentness, applicability, and rights analysis.",
    "rights": "Official Hawaii and PHMSA artifacts are retained with attribution and SHA-256 provenance. Public access does not establish unrestricted rights in site presentation, state marks, forms, or incorporated private standards. The connector records citations to private standards but makes no independent rights claim for those works."
  },
  "region": "HI"
}
```