# Engineering practice. **Citation:** 199 IAC 19.5 **Type / status:** regulation / current **Agency:** Iowa Utilities Commission **Effective:** 2025-07-16 **Published:** 2026-08-19 19.5(1) Requirement for good engineering practice. The gas plant of the utility shall be constructed, installed, maintained, and operated in accordance with accepted good engineering practice in the gas industry to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, continuity of service, uniformity in the quali ## Document text 19.5(1) Requirement for good engineering practice. The gas plant of the utility shall be constructed, installed, maintained, and operated in accordance with accepted good engineering practice in the gas industry to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, continuity of service, uniformity in the quality of service furnished, and the safety of persons and property. 19.5(2) Standards incorporated by reference. a. The design, construction, operation, and maintenance of gas systems and liquefied natural gas facilities shall be in accordance with the following standards where applicable: (1) 49 CFR Part 191, "Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline; Annual Reports, Incident Reports, and Safety-Related Condition Reports." (2) 49 CFR Part 192, "Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline: Minimum Federal Safety Standards." (3) 49 CFR Part 193, "Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities: Federal Safety Standards." (4) 49 CFR Part 199, "Drug and Alcohol Testing." (5) ASME B31.8 - 2022, "Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems," published December 22, 2022. (6) NFPA 59 - 2024, "Utility LP-Gas Plant Code," published January 1, 2023. (7) At railroad crossings, the engineering standards for pipelines rule in 199-Chapter 42. b. The following publications are adopted as standards of accepted good practice for gas utilities: (1) ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54 - 2024, "National Fuel Gas Code," published January 26, 2024. (2) NFPA 501A - 2021, "Standard for Fire Safety Criteria for Manufactured Home Installations, Sites, and Communities," published January 1, 2021. 19.5(3) Adequacy of gas supply. The natural gas regularly available from supply sources supplemented by production or storage capacity must be sufficiently large to meet all reasonable demands for firm gas service. 19.5(4) Gas transmission and distribution facilities. The utility's gas transmission and distribution facilities shall be designed, constructed and maintained as required to reliably perform the gas delivery burden placed upon them. Utilities will be capable of emergency repair work on a scale consistent with its scope of operation and with the physical conditions of its transmission and distribution facilities. In appraising the reliability of the utility's transmission and distribution system, the commission will consider, as principal factors, the condition of the physical property and the size, training, supervision, availability, equipment and mobility of the maintenance forces. 19.5(5) Inspection of gas plant. Utilities will adopt and follow a program of inspection of its gas plant in order to determine the necessity for replacement and repair. The frequency of the various inspections shall be based on the utility's experience and accepted good practice. Utilities will keep sufficient records to give evidence of compliance with its inspection program. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `ia-legislature-pipeline-safety` - SHA-256: `8f61f5594099ef04801240b0b5a16cefac3263a2318448b46e57ebb711662701` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T08:17:15.771Z - Exported: 2026-08-24T18:10:43.704Z - Document slug: `ia-iac-199-19-5` ### Source metadata ```json { "jurisdiction": "US-IA", "chapter": "199 IAC chapter 19", "exactScope": "This bounded corpus contains every current rule in 199 IAC chapters 10 and 19, the two chapters identified by the Iowa Utilities Commission pipeline-safety page, plus 15 selected Iowa Code sections that directly establish gas-utility applicability, inspection and rulemaking authority, enforcement, penalties, and acceptance of federal pipeline-safety aid. It does not claim all Iowa pipeline law or all of Iowa Code chapters 476 and 479.", "excludedScope": "Excluded are hazardous-liquid safety (which the IUC says remains exclusively with PHMSA), hazardous-liquid permitting in 199 IAC chapter 13 and Iowa Code chapter 479B, damage prevention and one-call law, agricultural restoration chapter 9, railroad-crossing chapter 42, general procedure and filing chapters, permits/orders/forms, privately owned propane service, and federal or private incorporated text. Former 199 IAC chapter 12 is inventoried as repealed and is not searchable.", "applicabilityCaveat": "Applicability depends on IUC jurisdiction, public-utility or pipeline-company status, intrastate versus interstate status, the gas and facility involved, customer count, rate regulation, exemptions, federal preemption, waivers, permits, tariffs, and Commission orders. Iowa inspects interstate gas operators only as PHMSA's agent; federal authorities retain enforcement. Chapter 19 is limited to rate-regulated gas utilities except where another law or order extends a duty.", "incorporationCaveat": "The rules incorporate or reference 49 CFR Parts 191, 192, 193, and 199; ASME B31.8-2022; NFPA 59-2024, NFPA 54-2024, and NFPA 501A-2021; other Iowa rules and statutes; federal forms and interpretations; and utility tariffs. The connector records citations but does not reproduce incorporated federal or private material, decide which edition controls beyond the state text, or grant rights in private standards.", "publicationCaveat": "The current IAC chapter listings dated August 5, 2026 are used to prove chapter and rule inventory; their official PDF and DOCX-formatted 'RTF' artifacts are archived independently. The official 2026 Iowa Code was published December 22, 2025. The live 2026 Code & Acts Sections Amended report is provisional; signed HF 2799 sections 23 and 24, effective July 1, 2026, are preserved as overlays to selected sections 476.1B and 476.2. Any unexpected selected-section amendment causes refresh failure.", "rights": "Iowa legal text and other government edicts are preserved with official attribution and cryptographic provenance. Public access does not grant rights in agency seals, website presentation, forms, utility filings, incorporated federal compilations, or privately authored standards; redistribution of those materials requires a separate rights review.", "references": [ { "citation": "49 CFR 191", "referenceType": "code-of-federal-regulations" }, { "citation": "49 CFR 192", "referenceType": "code-of-federal-regulations" }, { "citation": "49 CFR 193", "referenceType": "code-of-federal-regulations" }, { "citation": "49 CFR 199", "referenceType": "code-of-federal-regulations" }, { "citation": "199 IAC 42.", "referenceType": "iowa-administrative-code" }, { "citation": "ASME B31.8 - 2022", "referenceType": "private-standard" }, { "citation": "NFPA 59 - 2024", "referenceType": "private-standard" }, { "citation": "ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54 - 2024", "referenceType": "private-standard" }, { "citation": "NFPA 501A - 2021", "referenceType": "private-standard" } ], "sourceHistory": "[ARC 9351C, IAB 6/11/25, effective 7/16/25]", "region": "IA" } ```