2023 California Code › Public Utilities Code - PUC › DIVISION 1 - REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES › PART 1 - PUBLIC UTILITIES ACT › CHAPTER 4.5 - Gas Pipeline Safety › ARTICLE 2 - Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 011 › Section 961.

961. (a) For purposes of this section, “gas corporation workforce” means the employees of a gas corporation and employees of an independent contractor of the gas corporation while working under contract with the gas corporation.
(b) (1) Each gas corporation shall develop a plan for the safe and reliable operation of its commission-regulated gas pipeline facility that implements the policy of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 963, subject to approval, modification, and adequate funding by the commission.
(2) By December 31, 2012, the commission shall review and accept, modify, or reject the plan for each gas corporation as part of a proceeding that includes a hearing. The commission shall build into any approved plan sufficient flexibility to redirect activities to respond to safety requirements.
(3) Each gas corporation shall implement its approved plan.
(4) The commission shall require each gas corporation to periodically review and update the plan, and the commission shall review and accept, modify, or reject an updated plan at regular intervals thereafter. The commission, pursuant to Section 1701.1, shall determine whether a proceeding on a proposed update to a plan requires a hearing, consistent with subdivision (e).
(c) The plan developed, approved, and implemented pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be consistent with best practices in the gas industry and with federal pipeline safety statutes as set forth in Chapter 601 (commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title 49 of the United States Code and the regulations adopted by the United States Department of Transportation pursuant to those statutes.
(d) The plan developed, approved, and implemented pursuant to subdivision (b) shall set forth how the gas corporation will implement the policy established in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 963 and achieve each of the following:
(1) Identify and minimize hazards and systemic risks in order to minimize accidents, explosions, fires, and dangerous conditions, and protect the public and the gas corporation workforce.
(2) Identify the safety-related systems that will be deployed to minimize hazards, including adequate documentation of the commission-regulated gas pipeline facility history and capability.
(3) Provide adequate storage and transportation capacity to reliably and safely deliver gas to all customers consistent with rules authorized by the commission governing core and noncore reliability and curtailment, including provisions for expansion, replacement, preventive maintenance, and reactive maintenance and repair of its commission-regulated gas pipeline facility.
(4) Provide for effective patrol and inspection of the commission-regulated gas pipeline facility to detect leaks and other compromised facility conditions and to effect timely repairs.
(5) Provide for appropriate and effective system controls, with respect to both equipment and personnel procedures, to limit the damage from accidents, explosions, fires, and dangerous conditions.
(6) Provide timely response to customer and employee reports of leaks and other hazardous conditions and emergency events, including disconnection, reconnection, and pilot-lighting procedures.
(7) Include appropriate protocols for determining maximum allowable operating pressures on relevant pipeline segments, including all necessary documentation affecting the calculation of maximum allowable operating pressures.
(8) Prepare for, or minimize damage from, and respond to, earthquakes and other major events.
(9) Meet or exceed the minimum standards for safe design, construction, installation, operation, and maintenance of gas transmission and distribution facilities prescribed by regulations issued by the United States Department of Transportation in Part 192 (commencing with Section 192.1) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(10) Ensure an adequately sized, qualified, and properly trained gas corporation workforce to carry out the plan.
(11) Any additional matter that the commission determines should be included in the plan.
(e) The commission and gas corporation shall provide opportunities for meaningful, substantial, and ongoing participation by the gas corporation workforce in the development and implementation of the plan, with the objective of developing an industrywide culture of safety that will minimize accidents, explosions, fires, and dangerous conditions for the protection of the public and the gas corporation workforce.
(f) Nothing in this section limits the obligation of a gas corporation to provide adequate service and facilities for the convenience of the public and its employees pursuant to Section 451 or the authority of the commission to enforce that obligation under state law.
(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 522, Sec. 1. (SB 705) Effective January 1, 2012.)