{"operation":"document","citation":"PI-78-010","title":"Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia — Pipeline Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"1978-04-10","effective_on":null,"summary":"PI-78-010 response to Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia concerning 192.1.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-78-010.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-78-010.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-pi-78-010","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/Pipeline/1978/PI78010.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nApril 10, 1978\nMr. Kenneth W. Freelain, Director\nPipeline Safety Engineering\nPublic Service Commission\nof the District of Columbia\n1625 \"I\" Street, N.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20006\nDear Mr. Freelain:\nThis refers to your letter of March 30, 1978, regarding the proper classification under 49 CFR\nPart 192 of certain pipelines operated by the Washington Gas Light Company which run between\n\"interstate transmission facilities\" outside the District and points in the District.\nIn our letter of December 9, 1977, we classified these pipelines as \"transmission lines.\" You have\nindicated, however, that if they are so classified the Commission would not have jurisdiction over\nthem since they cross State lines and, therefore, are \"interstate transmission gas pipeline.\"\nFurther, you have indicated that the Commission would have jurisdiction if the pipelines were\nclassified as \"distribution lines.\"\nUnder the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968, Federal preemption of the Commission's\nsafety regulatory jurisdiction applies only to \"interstate transmission facilities.\" The Act defines\nthis term to mean pipeline facilities which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Power\nCommission (now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)) under the Natural Gas\nAct, except for certain direct sales lines. From Mr. Tarapchak's letter of February 27, 1978, it\nappears that even though the pipelines in question cross State lines, they are not subject to FERC\njurisdiction and therefore may be regulated by the Commission. If we are wrong and the lines are\nsubject to FERC jurisdiction and are not direct sales lines, then the preemption provision of the\nAct would apply and the Commission could not exercise jurisdiction merely by calling the\npipelines \"distribution lines.\"\nThe pipelines in question do not appear to us to be direct sales lines. If they were, as we told Mr.\nCrudup in Georgia, the Commission could regulate them if it has jurisdiction over such lines under\nthe law of the District.\nSincerely,\nCesar DeLeon\nActing Director\nOffice of Pipeline\nSafety Operations\ndal\\192.1-a\\1\\78-04-10","truncated":false,"body_characters":2116}