4 Colo. Code Regs. § 723-11-11001

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 20, October 25, 2024

Section 4 CCR 723-11-11001 - Definitions

The following definitions apply throughout this Part 11, except where a specific rule or statute provides otherwise or where the context otherwise indicates. In the event of a conflict between these definitions and a statutory definition, the statutory definition shall apply.

(a) "C.F.R." means the Code of Federal Regulations.

(b) "Confirmed discovery" means a discovery defined, as of the effective date of these rules, in 49 C.F.R. § 191.3.

(c) "Continuing violation" or "time-dependent violation" means any violation of these rules for which a timeframe of non-compliance can be established through physical evidence and/or records that include, but are not limited to: operator annual reports; operator compliance, operations, and maintenance records; and Commission inspection, compliance and proceeding records.

(d) "Delivered system pressure" means the system operating pressure measured at the outlie of the furthest downstream appurtenance maintained by the pipeline system operator, e.g., regulator, meter, valve, or the terminal connection of the service riser in low-pressure distribution systems.

(e) "De minimis gas system" means a non-utility underground pipeline system used for transport and distribution of natural gas to less than ten customers within a definable private (i.e., non-municipal or public) area (e.g., a mobile home park or resort) and that does not cross a public right-of-way.

(f) "Direct sales meter" means a meter that measures the transfer of gas to a direct sales customer purchasing gas for consumption.

(g) "Direct sales pipeline" means a pipeline not under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and that runs from an intrastate or interstate transmission pipeline, a production facility, or a gathering pipeline to a direct sales meter, a pressure regulator, or an emergency valve, whichever is the furthest downstream.

(h) "Excavation damage" means any impact that results in the need to repair or replace an underground facility due to a weakening or the partial or complete destruction of a facility, including, the protective coating; plastic pipe tracer wire; lateral support; cathodic protection; or the housing for the line device or facility

(i) "Gas" means any material specified in these rules, including natural gas, flammable gas, toxic or corrosive gas, and petroleum gas.

(j) "Gathering pipeline" means any pipeline determined through the use of 49 C.F.R. § 192.8.

(k) "Geographic Information Systems (GIS)" means a computer-based system for capturing, storing, checking, displaying, and analyzing data related to positions on Earth's surface.

(l) "Hazardous facility" means a pipeline facility that, if allowed to go into operation or to remain in operation, would pose a severe or imminent risk to public safety.

(m) "Inactive/Idle" means a pipeline or pipeline segment that has ceased normal operations and will not resume service for a period of not less than 180 days; has been isolated from all sources of hazardous liquid, natural gas, or other gas; and has been purged of combustibles and hazardous materials and maintains a blanket of inert, non-flammable gas at low presser or has not been purged but the volume of gas is so small that there is no potential hazard, as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 60143.

(n) "Incident" means an event defined as of the effective date of these rules, in 49 C.F.R. § 191.3, for a pipeline facility covered by 49 C.F.R. Part 192 or an emergency, as defined in § 193.2007 for an LNG facility.

(o) "Liquefied natural gas" (LNG) means natural or synthetic gas that has methane (CH4) as its major constituent and that has been converted to liquid form for purposes of storage or transport.

(p) "Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) system" means the liquid petroleum (LP) tanks and/or the pipeline system used to transport and distribute LP fuel gas to ten or more customers within a definable private (i.e. non-municipal or public) area (e.g., a mobile home park or resort), or less than ten customers if the system crosses a public right-of-way. LPG systems may have multiple operators if the supplying tank(s) is/are operated and maintained distinctly from the pipeline system by a different owner.

(q) "Low-pressure distribution system" means a gas distribution system in which the gas pressure in the main is substantially the same as the pressure provided to the customer, i.e., the low-pressure gas burning equipment of the customer may be safely and continually operated at the delivered system pressure.

(r) "LPG Tank - CDLE OPS Inspected" means any LPG tank inspected by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Oil and Public Safety under the authority of the OPS rules.

(s) "LNG facility" means a pipeline facility that is used for liquefying natural or synthetic gas and/or for transferring, storing, or vaporizing liquefied natural gas.

(t) "Main" means a distribution line that serves, or is designed to serve, as a common source of supply for more than one service line.

(u) "Major master meter operator (MMO)/LPG system" refers to any MMO or LPG pipeline system serving 100 or more customers.

(v) "Mechanical excavation" means any operation in which earth is moved or removed by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes auguring, backfilling, boring, ditching, drilling, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, hydro-excavating, post/postholing, and tunneling.

(w) "MMO gas system" means a non-utility pipeline system used for transport and distribution of natural gas to ten or more customers within a definable private (i.e., non-municipal or public) area (e.g., a mobile home park or resort), or less than ten customers if the system crosses a public right-of-way.

(x) "Minor MMO/LPG system" means any MMO or LPG pipeline system serving between 20 and 99 customers.

(y) "Municipality" means a city, town, or village in the state of Colorado.

(z) "NRC" means the National Response Center of the United States Coast Guard.

(aa) "NTSB" means the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency.

(bb) "Natural Gas Pipeline Act" means the federal statute found at 49 U.S.C. §§ 60101 et seq., as amended.

(cc) "No immediate safety impact" refers to action or inaction by operator/operator contractors on jurisdiction pipeline facilities that resulted in no immediate or imminent hazard to either the public, operator/operator contractor personnel, or pipeline system integrity.

(dd) "Operator" means a person who is engaged in the transportation of gas, or who has the right to bury underground pipeline, or who is both engaged in the transportation of gas and has the right to bury underground pipeline, and may include an owner, such as a pipeline corporation.

(ee) "Operator contractor" means any person or entity empowered by an operator to perform any action covered by 49 C.F.R. Part 192 and these rules.

(ff) "Operator endangerment" refers to action or inaction by operator/operator contractors on pipeline facilities that resulted in an immediate or imminent hazard to operator/operator contractor personnel.

(gg) "OPS" means the Office of Pipeline Safety, a unit of the PHMSA.

(hh) "Part 192" means 49 C.F.R. Part 192 - Transportation of natural and other gas by pipeline: Minimum Federal safety standards.

(ii) "Person" means an individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, municipality, cooperative association, or joint stock association, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.

(jj) "Petroleum gas" means propane, propylene, butane, (normal butane or isobutanes), and butylene (including isomers), or mixtures composed predominately of these gases having a vapor pressure not exceeding 208 psi (1434 kPa) gage at 100 °F (38 °C).

(kk) "PHMSA" means the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Transportation.

(ll) "Pipeline" or "pipeline system" means all parts of those physical intrastate facilities through which gas moves in transportation, including, but not limited to, pipes, valves, and other appurtenances attached to pipes, compressor units, metering stations, regulator stations, delivery stations, holders, and fabricated assemblies that start downstream beyond the farthest most point of oil and gas production. Flowlines that are regulated by the COGCC and used for oil and gas production are not included in this definition.

(mm) "Pipeline excavation damage prevention program" means an operator's written program and processes to prevent damage to a pipeline by excavation, as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 192.614.

(nn) "Pipeline facility" means new and existing intrastate pipelines, rights-of-way, and any equipment, facility, or building used in the transportation of gas, or in the treatment of gas during transportation.

(oo) "Pipeline integrity" means the ability of a pipeline system to operate as it was verifiably designed and constructed.

(pp) "Pipeline safety program" (PSP) means the Commission's 49 U.S.C. § 60105(a) certified pipeline safety program.

(qq) "Production facility" means flowline and associated equipment used at a wellsite in producing, extracting, recovering, lifting, stabilizing, initial separating, treating, initial dehydrating, disposing, and/or above ground storing, of liquid hydrocarbons, associated liquids, and associated natural hydrocarbon gases. A production facility may include flowlines up to a central delivery point directly associated with a specific producing field. To be a production facility under this rule, a flowline must be used in the process of extracting hydrocarbons and associated liquids from the ground or from facilities where hydrocarbons are produced or must be used for disposal or injection in reservoir maintenance or recovery operations.

(rr) "PSP Chief" means the program manager of the PHMSA certified PSP of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

(ss) "PSP Lead Engineer" means the senior technical staff member of the PHMSA certified PSP of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

(tt) "PSP Staff" means a staff member of the PHMSA certified PSP of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

(uu) "Program certification obligations" means the pipeline safety program obligations required under 49 U.S.C. § 60105(a).

(vv) "Public endangerment" means an action or inaction by an operator/operator contractor on pipeline facilities that results in:

(I) interruption or delay of make safe actions designed to protect human life;

(II) unintended gas release requiring emergency (versus precautionary) evacuation of the public;

(III) an unsafe ignition of intended gas release in an area accessible to the public;

(IV) system overpressurization event/failure of system overpressure protection requiring emergency (versus precautionary) evacuation of the public; or

(V) any other hazardous situation that results in an immediate or imminent hazard to the public.

(ww) "Records" means information created, manipulated, communicated or stored in physical, digital, or electronic form. Records relate, but are not limited, to functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the utility.

(xx) "Roadway" means a main public artery, highway, or interstate highway.

(yy) "Related violation" for purposes of informing the Commission authority pursuant to § 40-7-117, C.R.S., means a violation of these rules that has been proven to be directly linked with a PUC rule violation or violations by time, place, activity, and/or personnel.

(zz) "Request for Information (RFI)" means any request from the PSP Chief or assignee to a jurisdictional operator for information associated with PSP inspection activities authorized by paragraph 11013(a).

(aaa) "Single structure, above-ground MMO/LPG system" or "SSAG System" means any MMO or LPG system that is:

(I) a low-pressure gas distribution system;

(II) is comprised wholly of above-ground piping/appurtenances; and

(III) is contained wholly within or on a single continuous structure such as an apartment building, hotel, mall, etc.

(bbb) "Small operator" means any gas distribution system operator that operates less than 1000 natural gas distribution services in the state of Colorado.

(ccc) "Threshold MMO/LPG system" means any MMO or LPG pipeline system serving less than 20 customers.

(ddd) "Transportation of gas" means the gathering, transmission, or distribution of gas by pipeline, or the storage of gas within the State of Colorado that is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the Natural Gas Act.

(eee) "UNCC/Colorado 811" means the Utility Notification Center of Colorado.

(fff) "U.S.C." means the United States Code.

4 CCR 723-11-11001

44 CR 04, February 25, 2021, effective 3/17/2021

47 CR 09, May 10, 2024, effective 5/30/2024