4901:1-16-01 Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Chief" means the chief of the gas pipeline safety section of the commission or his/her designee.

(B) "Commission" means the public utilities commission of Ohio.

(C) "Contiguous property" includes, but is not limited to, a manufactured home park as defined in section 3733.01 of the Revised Code; a public or publicly subsidized housing project; an apartment complex; a condominium complex; a college or university; an office complex; a shopping center; a hotel; an industrial park; and a race track.

(D) "Gas" means natural gas, flammable gas, or gas which is toxic or corrosive.

(E) "Gathering line" is determined in the same manner as in 49 C.F.R. 192.8 as effective on the date referenced in paragraph (D) of rule 4901:1-16-02 of the Administrative Code.

(F) "Gas pipeline safety (GPS) proceeding" means a commission-ordered investigation of any incident, violation, or possible noncompliance with the pipeline safety code.

(G) "Incident" means an event that involves a release of gas from an intrastate gas pipeline facility and results in any of the following:

(1) A death.

(2) Personal injury requiring inpatient hospitalization.

(3) Unintentional estimated gas loss of three million cubic feet or more.

(4) Estimated property damage of fifty thousand dollars or more, excluding the cost of gas lost, which is the sum of:

(a) The estimated cost of repairing and/or replacing the physical damage to the pipeline facility.

(b) The cost of material, labor, and equipment to repair the leak, including meter turn-off, meter turn-on, and light up.

(c) The estimated cost of repairing and/or replacing other damaged property of the operator or others, or both.

(H) "Intrastate gas pipeline facility" includes any new and existing pipelines, rights-of-way, and any equipment, facility, or building used in the transportation of gas either wholly or partly within this state or from an interstate gas pipeline in Ohio to a direct sales customer in Ohio buying gas for its own consumption.

(I) "Master meter system" means a pipeline system that distributes gas within a contiguous property for which the system operator purchases gas for resale to consumers, including tenants. Such pipeline system supplies consumers who purchase the gas directly through a meter, or by paying rent, or by other means. The term includes a master meter system as defined in 49 C.F.R. 191.3, as effective on the date referenced in paragraph (D) of rule 4901:1-16-02 of the Administrative Code. The term excludes a pipeline within a manufactured home, mobile home, or a building.

(J) "Operator" means:

(1) A gas company as defined by division (A)(5) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.

(2) A natural gas company, including a producer of gas which does business as a natural gas company pursuant to division (A)(6) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.

(3) A pipeline company, when engaged in the business of transporting gas by pipeline as defined by division (A)(7) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.

(4) A public utility that is excepted from the definition of "public utility" under division (B) or (C) of section 4905.02 of the Revised Code, when engaged in supplying or transporting gas by pipeline within this state.

(5) Any person who owns, operates, manages, controls, leases, or maintains an intrastate gas pipeline facility or who engages in the transportation of gas. This includes, but is not limited to, a person who owns, operates, manages, controls, leases, or maintains a master meter system within this state. "Operator" does not include an ultimate consumer who owns a service line on the real property of that ultimate consumer.

(K) "Person" means any individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, firm, joint venture, or municipal corporation and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.

(L) "Pipeline" means all parts of those physical facilities through which gas moves in transportation, including pipe, valves, and other appurtenance attached to pipe, compressor units, metering stations, regulator stations, delivery stations, holders, and fabricated assemblies.

(M) "Pipeline safety code" means 49 C.F.R 40, 49 C.F.R 191, 49 C.F.R 192, and 49 C.F.R 199 as effective on the date referenced in paragraph (D) of rule 4901:1-16-02 of the Administrative Code; sections 4905.90 to 4905.96 of the Revised Code; this chapter; and commission orders issued thereunder.

(N) "Safety audit" is defined as set forth in section 4905.90 of the Revised Code.

(O) "Safety inspection" includes the following inspections, surveys, and testing of a master meter system which are authorized by the pipeline safety code, and includes mapping, if accurate maps are not available from the operator, and pipe locating, if the operator could not locate pipelines in its system.

(1) Testing of cathodic protection of metallic pipelines.

(2) Sampling of combustible gas to determine the proper concentration of odorant in distribution pipelines, unless records of the natural gas company performing the safety inspection show that the concentration of odorant in the gas transported to or near the master meter system conforms with the pipeline safety code.

(3) Gas leak surveys.

(4) Inspection and servicing of pressure regulating devices.

(5) Testing or calculation of required capacity of pressure relief devices.

(6) Inspection and servicing of critical valves.

(7) Inspection of underground vaults housing pressure regulating/limiting equipment and ventilating equipment.

(P) "Staff" means the commission employees to whom responsibility has been delegated for enforcing and administering the gas pipeline safety requirements contained in this chapter and the Revised Code.

(Q) "Synthetic Natural Gas" means gas formed from feedstocks other than natural gas, including coal, oil, or naptha.

(R) "Transportation of gas" means:

(1) The gathering, transmission, or distribution of gas by pipeline, or the storage of gas within this state.

(2) The movement of gas through regulated gathering lines, but does not include the gathering of gas in those rural locations that are located outside the limits of any incorporated or unincorporated city, town, or village, or any other designated residential or commercial area (including a subdivision, business, shopping center, or community development) or any similar populated area.

Effective: 08/25/2012
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 09/30/2014
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4905.91
Rule Amplifies: 4905.91
Prior Effective Dates: 2/1/1991, 10/13/1994, 1/6/2005, 6/17/2006, 8/24/2007, 6/20/2008, 7/12/2010