# 38.5.2205 INFORMAL REPORT OF PROBABLE VIOLATION

**Citation:** ARM 38.5.2205  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Montana Public Service Commission  
**Effective:** 1988-12-09  
**Published:** Not stated

Current Montana pipeline-safety rule 38.5.2205.

## Document text

38.5.2205 INFORMAL REPORT OF PROBABLE VIOLATION

(1) If an inspection indicates that a pipeline owner or operator is not in compliance with the applicable pipeline safety regulations, the commission's inspector will issue a report of probable violation to the owner or operator following the inspection. This report shall include a citation of the law, regulation or order which the owner or operator appears to have violated, and a statement that the owner or operator is required to correct all cited violations within 60 days following issuance of the report. This report will also note any on-site corrective actions which were taken during the inspection. The inspector may informally discuss the report with the owner or operator and an informal conference may be requested with commission staff. When the owner or operator corrects a violation in the report to the satisfaction of the inspector, the correction and the date thereof shall be noted in the report.

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

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

History: NEW, 1988 MAR p. 2569, Eff. 12/9/88.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://rules.mt.gov/api/policy-library-public/collections/aec52c46-128e-4279-9068-8af5d5432d74/policies/be9fd445-49b1-49b1-82c5-a5b2029de731/document/97192480-ff2b-49c2-bbab-61a5ef3d0072>
- Source ID: `mt-pipeline-safety`
- SHA-256: `8ad3a4adc741b17f84f58d00d716a1d626c3cbb4a2a041a06d5207d88e92595b`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T10:28:22.694Z
- Exported: 2026-08-23T12:51:04.593Z
- Document slug: `mt-arm-38-5-2205`

### 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 The SOS inventories prove 12 current rules and retain 14 ineffective or repealed entries as non-searchable omissions.",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": "38.5.2205",
  "policyUuid": "be9fd445-49b1-49b1-82c5-a5b2029de731",
  "activeVersionUuid": "ba8cd455-c04a-425c-8da4-d1b153ac8300",
  "versionNumber": "20740",
  "sosDeclaredHtmlSha256": "8ad3a4adc741b17f84f58d00d716a1d626c3cbb4a2a041a06d5207d88e92595b",
  "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"
}
```