The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) published an updated Gas Pipeline Safety regulation on August 17, 2021. The regulation was updated to include the results of the five-year review. The next schedule review is due July 26, 2026. One new requirement was included in this update. Starting August 5, 2023, each operator will have to prepare a plan for tracking inactive service lines until the service line is abandoned as outlined in 49 CFR 192.727. Inactive service lines are defined as no billing activity for 36 months. Inactive service lines are to be considered and treated as active lines until they are abandoned. If a leak is discovered on an inactive service line, the operator must begin the process of abandonment as soon as practicable but must be completed within 12 months. When a leak investigation identifies an inactive service line, the plan must be updated within 10 days with the information about the inactive service line.
The update also includes some changes to existing reporting requirements. The 24-Hour Contact report must now include the total mileage of gas gathering pipelines by county. The Start of Construction report has been deleted.
The last update changes the dollar amounts for settlement agreements. The $1,000 trigger was updated to $10,000.