{"operation":"document","citation":"PI-74-0128","title":"Colorado Public Utilities Commission — Pipeline Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"1974-07-30","effective_on":null,"summary":"PI-74-0128 response to Colorado Public Utilities Commission concerning 192.505.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-74-0128.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-74-0128.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-74-0128","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/Pipeline/1974/g74-07-30_Richardson_192.505-msfx.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nPI-74-0128\nJuly 30, 1974\nMr. Ray Richardson\nColorado Public Utilities Commission\n500 Columbine Building\n1845 Sherman Street\nDenver, CO 80203\nDear Mr. Richardson:\nThis responds to your letter of June 24, 1974, asking, with respect to uprating a pipeline, when an operator must use an\nincremental pressure test procedure and when the operator may use a one-step pressure test under Subpart J.\nSubpart K regulates the uprating of pipelines. Sections 192.555(e) and 192.557(e), as applicable, require any increase in\nthe maximum allowable operating pressure to be made in increments, except where a pipeline is uprated under section\n192.555(d) (1). Section 192.555(d)(1) applies only to steel pipelines and involves uprating to a hoop stress of 30 percent\nor more of SMYS and testing in accordance with Subpart J. In this subpart, the pressure test required for pipelines\noperated at 30 percent or more of SMYS under section 192.505 is a one-step procedure.\nWe trust our response is helpful to you.\nSincerely,\nJoseph C. Caldwell\nDirector\nOffice of Pipeline Safety\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nState of Colorado\nThe Public Utilities Commission\n500 Columbine Building\n1845 Sherman Street\nDenver, Colorado 80203\nJune 24, 1974\nMr., J. C. Thomas, P.E.\nProgram Manager - Pipeline\nTransportation Safety Institute\n6500 South MacArthur Boulevard\nOklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125\nDear Jim:\nI am writing to you instead of the Washington, D.C. OPS office in hopes that I might get a faster answer than I could\nthrough them.\nI realize you are probably doing a lot of traveling, and you may get this while you are out of town, but I am hopeful we\ncan still save some time. Should you not have the time to give me an answer, I know you will forward this to\nWashington, D.C.\nA question has come up in our Colorado field operations regarding \"Uprating\"-- Subpart K. What we would like to have\nis some sort of definitive statement covering when ,an operator needs to \"Uprate\" a pipeline by the incremental\npressure test steps procedure vs. when he can simply one step pressure “Strength Test” under Subpart J.\nWe have at least one operator in Colorado who feels that rather than \"Uprate\" a line under Subpart K, he can merely\nraise the pressure to a predetermined level and hold an eight-hour test on that line for eight hours and then drop his\nMAOP down to whatever percentage the Code allows for that particular strength test.\nThe Code does not specifically say in Subparts J and K when either one of these subparts should be applied to an actual\nup rating situation.\nIt appears to us that an operator using a simple strength test to up rate a line is taking the easy way out and is not\nactually conforming to the Code's intentions. Any help you can give us will be appreciated.\nVery truly yours,\nTHE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO\nRay Richardson\nEngineering Analyst","truncated":false,"body_characters":2865}