Agenda Date:  June 27, 2001
Item Number:  

Docket:  UG-010885
   Annual Pipeline Safety Fees
   WAC 480-93-240 and WAC 480-75-240
   

Staff:   Sondra Walsh, Senior Policy Strategist
   Doug Kilpatrick, Director, Pipeline Safety
   Karen Caille, Administrative Law Judge
     

Recommendation

Staff recommends that the Commission enter an order setting the annual pipeline 
safety fee and payment for the first quarter of the 2002 fiscal year.  This fee 
is to be collected from each pipeline company subject to the Commission’s 
safety enforcement and inspection.  The fees are calculated using the 
methodology adopted in rule WAC 480-93-240 and WAC 480-75-240.

Fee 

The pipeline safety fee covers the costs of the legislatively authorized 
workload represented by current appropriations, less the amount received from 
the Federal Department of Transportation’s Natural Gas Pipeline and Hazardous 
Liquids Pipeline Safety Program base grants.  

The annual pipeline safety fee is based on two components: (1) allocation of 
the total program cost to intrastate and interstate companies by assigning 
58.3% of the  program cost to intrastate companies and 41.7% to interstate 
companies.  (2) deducting from the intrastate and interstate program cost the 
federal dollars received from the Federal Department of Transportation Natural 
Gas Pipeline and Hazardous Liquids Pipeline Safety Program base grant.  

The Commission then establishes net program cost responsibilities for 
individual companies represented by standard inspection activities.  To do so, 
it determines the anticipated cost of conducting inspections, based on 
programmatically determined standard inspection workload requirements.  That 
cost becomes part of the fee assigned to each company and the total of all such 
costs are deducted from the respective (interstate or intrastate) program cost 
totals.

The remaining program costs are allocated among the companies based on total 
pipeline miles subject to safety regulation under the program.  Each company’s 
allocated share of these costs is calculated by multiplying the net program 
costs by the fraction that represents the individual company’s mileage to the 
total (interstate or intrastate) pipeline miles identified.

Finally, the net program costs allocated to each company are added to the 
company’s individual cost responsibilities associated with standard 
inspections, resulting in the fiscal year 2002 fee.  That fee is divided by 
four to determine the quarterly fee that is due and payable July 1.

Because the second component of the fee calculation is determined by the 
percentage of  a company’s actual miles, Staff requested and has received from 
every company confirmation of each company’s actual pipeline miles.  


Public Comment

No public comment has been received.

Conclusion

Staff recommends that the Commission enter an order setting the annual pipeline 
safety fee and payment for the first quarter of the 2002 fiscal year.  This fee 
is to be collected from each pipeline company subject to the Commission’s 
safety enforcement and inspection.  The fees are calculated using the 
methodology adopted in rule WAC 480-93-240 and WAC 480-75-240.