The purpose of this amendment is to establish regulations for the filing of inspection and maintenance plans, and changes thereto, as required by section 11 of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act. This amendment was proposed in a notice of rule making issued on December 31, 1969 (OPS Notice 69-4, 35 F.R. 325, January 8, 1970) which was subsequently amended (OPS Notice 70-9, 35 F.R. 8833, June 6, 1970). The majority of the comments were addressed to only one point, the proposed filing date. It was in response to these comments that the proposal was amended to delay for 6 months the proposed fling date. This delay permits the operators to revise their inspection and maintenance plans so as to comply with the new minimum Federal standards before they are filed.