S.C. Code Ann. Section 58-5-1010 - Records and reports of gas utilities; inspections and investigations; accident reports

(a)Each gas utility which engages in the transportation of gas or which owns or operates pipeline facilities shall establish and maintain such records, make such reports, and provide such information as the Office of Regulatory Staff may reasonably require to enable it to determine whether the utility has acted or is acting in compliance with the standards established under this article.#

(b)Each utility shall permit an officer, employee, or agent of the Office of Regulatory Staff to inspect books, papers, records, and documents relevant to determining whether the utility has acted or is acting in compliance with the standards established pursuant to this article.#

(c)The Office of Regulatory Staff may conduct such other relevant inspection and investigation as may be necessary to aid in the enforcement of the standards established pursuant to this article. For purposes of enforcement of this article, officers, employees, or agents of the Office of Regulatory Staff upon presenting appropriate credentials to the individual in charge are authorized#

(1)to enter upon, at reasonable times, pipeline facilities, and#

(2)to inspect, at reasonable times and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner the facilities. Each inspection shall be commenced and completed with reasonable promptness.#

(d)Accident reports made by any officer, employee, or agent of the Office of Regulatory Staff shall be available for use, but not admissible into evidence, in any civil, criminal, or other judicial proceeding arising out of an accident. Any officer, employee, or agent may be required to testify in such proceedings as to the facts developed in the investigations, but no officer, employee, or agent shall give opinion testimony or otherwise testify as to the ultimate fact in any civil, criminal, or other judicial proceeding out of the accident, except in a proceeding or action between the Office of Regulatory Staff and a gas utility. Any report shall be made available to the public in a manner which need not identify individuals. All reports on research projects, demonstration projects, and other related activities shall be public information.#

(e)All information reported to or otherwise obtained by the commission, the Office of Regulatory Staff, or their representatives pursuant to subsection (a), (b), or (c), which information contains or relates to a trade secret, shall be considered confidential, except that such information may be disclosed to other officers or employees concerned with carrying out this article or when relevant in any proceeding under this article. Nothing in this section shall authorize the withholding of information by the commission, the Office of Regulatory Staff, or any officer, employee, or agent under its control from the duly authorized committees of the state legislature.#

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 58-141; 1970 (56) 2420; 2006 Act No. 318, SECTION 29, eff May 24, 2006.#