An administrative law judge (ALJ) at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) circulated a proposed decision Monday on revising natural gas utility pipeline operator reporting requirements and clarifying regulations tied to direct sales from some transmission lines.

The state’s major private-sector utility gas system operator, Xcel Energy’s Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCC), generally supports the proposed changes, but it expressed some reservation regarding security based on what it sees as the new rules requirements covering access to what the utility considers sensitive information.

Hearings were held in late June, during which the utility and the PUC staff were the only parties giving testimony. The PUC gas pipeline safety chief, Stephan Pott, supported the proposed changes in terms of the new annual and incident reporting requirements for utilities and pipeline operators in the state.

The proposed changes in PUC rules applied to state-jurisdictional pipelines that are designed to simplify reporting requirements for the utility or pipeline operators, according to ALJ Keith Kirchubel. The proposal includes alternative means for furnishing the information to the PUC.

“In lieu of submitting reports required by the [state rules], a pipeline operator may alternatively provide PUC staff with a PIN code to access the same information that has been filed electronically with the federal Office of Pipeline Safety,” Kirchubel said in his recommended decision.

The PIN code alternative is what caused PSCC to raise the potential security risk issue. The utility considered this “significant,” the ALJ said. PSCC will opt to submit its reports to the PUC as hard copies rather than give an identification number and PIN to the regulatory staff.

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