[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 233 (Tuesday, December 6, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-29998]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: December 6, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Docket No. PS-94-1W; Notice 1]

 

Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline Tensile 
Properties of Unknown Steel Pipe, Grant of Waiver; Amoco Pipeline Co.

    Amoco Pipeline Company (Amoco) petitioned the Research and Special 
Programs Administration (RSPA) for a waiver from compliance with a 
pipeline safety standard regarding determination of tensile properties 
of unknown steel pipe (49 CFR 192.107(b)(1)). This standard provides 
certain methods of establishing the yield strength of pipe that is 
manufactured in accordance with a specification not listed in Section I 
of Appendix B to Part 192 or whose specification or tensile properties 
are unknown. This petition applies to approximately 35 miles of 16 inch 
pipeline in the State of Missouri.
    Amoco requested the waiver for a section of pipeline that is being 
converted from liquid to natural gas service. The pipeline is composed 
of 17 miles of 0.250 inch wall thickness, A.O. Smith electric weld 
pipe, constructed in 1948 and 18 miles of 0.281 inch wall thickness, 
National seamless pipe, constructed in 1952. Although it is believed 
that both sections consist of Grade B pipe, no documentation verifying 
this is available. Hazardous liquids were transported through this line 
until 1993, when it was purged with inert nitrogen gas. The pipeline, 
which was internally inspected in 1988, has not been hydrostatically 
tested.
    The petition requests that the tensile strength determination 
procedures contained in Section II-D of Appendix B to Part 192, as 
referenced in 49 CFR 192.107(b)(1), be waived in favor of the tensile 
strength determination methods contained in 49 CFR Part 195.5(a)(1) 
with consideration to applicable class location factors contained in 49 
CFR 192.111. Furthermore, the petition states that the maximum 
allowable operating pressure (MAOP), will be established by reducing 
the test pressure as required by 49 CFR 192.619(a)(2)(ii) for the class 
location. A recent amendment to 49 CFR Part 195.5(a), Docket PS-127; 
Amendment 195-52, allows determination of design pressure by pressure 
testing a hazardous liquid pipeline to yield in accordance with ASME 
B31.8, Appendix N. The design pressure is calculated as eighty percent 
of the yield strength, as determined by the pressure test.
    In an August 31, 1992, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket PS-
124; Notice 1, RSPA proposed similar amendments to 49 CFR 192.14(a)(1). 
Since RSPA has received no comments opposing the rulemaking and a rule 
change is forthcoming, RSPA, by this order, finds that the requested 
waiver of 49 CFR 192.107(b)(1) is appropriate and is not inconsistent 
with pipeline safety. Therefore, Amoco Pipeline Company's petition for 
waiver from compliance with 49 CFR 192.107(b)(1) is granted, effective 
December 12, 1994.

    Issued in Washington, DC on November 28, 1994.
George W. Tenley, Jr.,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 94-29998 Filed 12-5-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P