Interpretation Response #PI-76-0101

Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.

Interpretation Response Details

Response Publish Date: 01/22/1976

Company Name:

Individual Name:

Location State: TX Country: US

View the Interpretation Document

Response text:

January 22, 1976

Mr. L. D. Clapsaddle
Assistant Regional Administrator for Housing Management Department of Housing and Urban Development
1100 Commerce Street
Dallas, Texas  75202

Dear Mr. Clapsaddle:
Your letter of November 4, 1975, requests clarification of the responsibility for compliance with
certain Federal gas pipeline safety standards contained in 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 by a housing
project owner who owns gas pipelines in the project which are subject to those standards.  The
pipelines involved are operated by a local gas distribution company which sells gas to tenants
through individual meters owned by the gas company.  Specifically, you ask whether the project
owner, the gas company, or both are required by law to comply with certain safety standards.

As your letter indicates, we advised Mr. Sterling Cockrill of your Little Rock office by letter of
August 18, 1975, that in situations like the one you describe, if the project owner owns the gas
pipelines involved, that owner would be responsible for compliance with applicable safety
requirements as well as the gas distribution company who operates the pipelines.  That opinion was
based on Sec. 8 of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (49 USC 1677) which requires that
each person who owns or operates pipeline facilities must comply with applicable regulations.

We did not intend to imply that certain regulations are binding on the owner of facilities while
others are binding on the person operating the facilities.  Under Section 8 of the Act, we view the
obligation to comply with applicable regulations as a single responsibility which must be met by
either the owner of facilities or the person who operates them.  Compliance by either person
satisfies the entire obligation.

As a practical matter, however, because the regulations in Parts 191 and 192 are directed toward
compliance by persons in the gas pipeline transportation business who operate pipeline facilities,
the need to enforce compliance against an owner who does not operate facilities has never arisen.

We trust this satisfactorily responds to your inquiry.
Sincerely, Cesar DeLeon Acting Director Office of Pipeline Safety Operations

Regulation Sections