# 38.5.2204 INSPECTIONS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND REPORTING

**Citation:** ARM 38.5.2204  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Montana Public Service Commission  
**Effective:** 1997-07-08  
**Published:** Not stated

Current Montana pipeline-safety rule 38.5.2204.

## Document text

38.5.2204 INSPECTIONS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND REPORTING

(1) The commission, its employees, or authorized agents, have the power to investigate all methods and practices of pipeline owners and operators; to require the maintenance and filing of reports, records and other information in the form and detail as the commission may prescribe; to enter upon and to inspect the property, buildings, plants, and offices of pipeline owners and operators; and to inspect books, records, papers and documents relevant to enforcement responsibilities under the NGPSA.

(2) The commission, a staff member thereof, or some person appointed by it, may investigate and make inquiry into every incident occurring in the operation of any intrastate gas pipeline located in this state. The commission, in its discretion, may also investigate any other accident or event involving the operation of a pipeline.

Authorizing statute(s): 69-3-207, MCA

Implementing statute(s): 69-3-207, MCA

History: NEW, 1988 MAR p. 2569, Eff. 12/9/88; AMD, 1997 MAR p. 317, Eff. 2/11/97; AMD, 1997 MAR p. 1215, Eff. 7/8/97.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://rules.mt.gov/api/policy-library-public/collections/aec52c46-128e-4279-9068-8af5d5432d74/policies/36a00fe5-281e-4643-b7ec-d1477aced1f2/document/87a9390c-df38-4353-8d66-706c8acd9ad1>
- Source ID: `mt-pipeline-safety`
- SHA-256: `34459cea703c0c9d38b9e72635d34b2fc3138b12289943049f2640d7a2f6ab18`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T10:28:22.694Z
- Exported: 2026-08-24T22:55:36.498Z
- Document slug: `mt-arm-38-5-2204`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-MT",
  "state": "Montana",
  "exactScope": "This corpus contains the complete current text of the Montana PSC's two dedicated pipeline-safety subchapters, ARM 38.5.22 and 38.5.23, plus the directly implementing natural-gas pipeline-safety statute, MCA 69-3-207. The SOS inventories prove 12 current rules and retain 14 ineffective or repealed entries as non-searchable omissions.",
  "excludedScope": "It does not claim to contain all Montana pipeline law. Common-carrier status and reports (including ARM 38.7.1 and MCA Title 69, chapter 13), one-call damage prevention, siting and routing, environmental permits, utility rates and service, federal law, local law, tariffs, dockets, orders, forms, and guidance are outside this bounded corpus.",
  "applicabilityCaveat": "The Montana PSC describes itself as the certified inspection authority for intrastate natural-gas pipelines and states that federal PHMSA retains interstate gas pipelines and every liquid line operating within or through Montana. Inclusion is therefore limited to Montana's certified gas program; it is not evidence of a Montana hazardous-liquid certification. ARM 38.5.2304 also excludes activity over which the commission has not accepted jurisdiction.",
  "incorporationCaveat": "ARM 38.5.2202 incorporates 49 CFR Parts 191, 192, and 193, and ARM 38.5.2302 incorporates 49 CFR Part 199, only through revisions enacted on or before November 25, 2025. The connector records these references but does not reproduce or silently update incorporated federal text.",
  "publicationCaveat": "Currentness is tied to the Montana Secretary of State policy-library inventories, active policy version UUIDs, SOS-declared document hashes, and express rule effective dates observed at retrieval. MCA 69-3-207 is taken from the Legislature's Montana Code Annotated 2025 page and its Part 2 inventory. Retrieval dates and HTTP dates are provenance, not legal effective dates.",
  "rights": "Official Montana SOS, PSC, and Legislature materials are archived with attribution and byte-level SHA-256 provenance. Public availability does not resolve rights in site presentation, agency marks, linked materials, or incorporated federal and third-party works; downstream redistribution requires separate review.",
  "rightsReviewRequired": true,
  "publicationObservedOn": "2026-08-20",
  "gasCertification": "Montana PSC certified inspection authority for intrastate natural-gas pipelines",
  "hazardousLiquidCertification": "No Montana hazardous-liquid certification claimed; PSC assigns all liquid lines to federal PHMSA",
  "layer": "administrative-rule",
  "title": 38,
  "chapter": "38.5",
  "subchapter": "38.5.22",
  "section": "38.5.2204",
  "policyUuid": "36a00fe5-281e-4643-b7ec-d1477aced1f2",
  "activeVersionUuid": "84b110e5-79d9-458a-b6a0-14e68557c68e",
  "versionNumber": "20738",
  "sosDeclaredHtmlSha256": "34459cea703c0c9d38b9e72635d34b2fc3138b12289943049f2640d7a2f6ab18",
  "federalIncorporationThrough": null,
  "references": [
    {
      "citation": "MCA 69-3-207",
      "referenceType": "state-statute",
      "url": "https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0030/part_0020/section_0070/0690-0030-0020-0070.html"
    }
  ],
  "region": "MT"
}
```