# Memo: Internal — Pipeline Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** PI-95-009  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 1995-03-16

PI-95-009 response to Memo: Internal concerning 195.2.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

Memorandum
March 16, 1995
Jurisdiction of Plains Terminal & Transfer
Barbara Betsock
James C. Thomas
You have asked whether the tankage and related piping at the Plains Terminal and Transfer crude
oil terminal at Cushing, Oklahoma, is subject to the pipeline safety regulations. Based on the
information you have provided, these facilities are pipeline facilities subject to the pipeline safety
regulations applicable to hazardous liquid pipelines.
You have described the tankage in the terminal as meeting the definition of breakout tanks in 49
C.F.R. § 195.2 based on use of the tanks as temporary storage for continued transportation by
pipeline. The crude oil in the terminal arrives and departs via numerous interstate and intrastate
pipelines which are unquestionably subject to the jurisdiction of 49 U.S.C § 60101 et seq. The
terminal is not a production, manufacturing, or refining facility. Although the terminal is
independently owned and operated by Plains Terminal and Transfer Corporation rather than by
one or more of the operators of the various pipelines using the terminal, ownership is irrelevant to
the jurisdictional issue. The nature and use of the tankage as storage incidental to the movement
of hazardous liquid by pipeline (and not otherwise excepted by the statute) dictates that the
terminal is a pipeline facility subject to the jurisdiction of 49 U.S.C § 60101 et seq.
This does not answer the question of regulation under 49 C.F.R Part 195. You have asked
whether the fact that the terminal operates as less than 20% SMYS and is located in a rural area
provides an exception to regulation. The answer is no. The description provided of the
operations in the terminal indicates that the breakout tanks, albeit storage, are an integral part of
the pipelines using the terminal. These pipelines are regulated pipelines operating at more than
20% SMYS. Thus the associated breakout tanks are not excepted from regulation.
This view of “ the 20% SMYS exception” is not new. In a January 30, 1986 final order, OPS
considered a defense that piping associated with breakout tanks in a terminal was excepted from
regulation. In the Matter of Marathon Pipe Line Company, CPF No. 4516. Although the case
was dismissed on other grounds, OPS rejected the defense based on the 20% SMYS exception
because the exception does not apply to segments of pipeline systems. In proposing the change in
regulation that brings certain 20% SMYS pipelines into the regulation, we made it clear that
breakout tanks such as these have never been excluded from regulation:
dal 195.2
95-03-16

<<<PAGE 2>>>

Some operators expressed concern that piping within storage or terminal facilities would
become regulated. Pipeline associated with breakout tanks at storage facilities of
regulated hazardous liquid pipelines currently is regulated, regardless of operating stress, if
the liquids are reinjected and transported further by a pipeline system that is regulated.
58 Fed. Reg. 12215 (Notice of proposed rulemaking, March 3, 1993).
cc: Ed Ondak, Western Regional Director
Ivan Huntoon, Central Regional Director
Fred A. Joyner, Southern Regional Director
Bill Gute, Western Regional Director
Tom Fortner, Director, Compliance and Regulatory Program
dal 195.2
95-03-16

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/Pipeline/1995/PI95009.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `5ee736c027fd0f33366dde22f546e1d6d009c52699d579409ba777dab218f9d5`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T22:28:43.980Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-pi-95-009`

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