§1846. Rules and regulations of commission; exceptions; reporting; data sharing; permit
requirements; penalties; liability; state of emergency or disaster
A. Subject to the applicable provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 49 of the Louisiana
Revised Statutes of 1950, the commission has the power to make and enforce reasonable
rules and regulations governing the storage, sale, and transportation of liquefied petroleum
gases over the highways of the state, the installation of tanks or systems for the use of
liquefied petroleum gases, and the installation and use of liquefied petroleum gas appliances
as the commission may deem necessary in the interest of public safety.
B. In adopting rules and regulations, the commission shall be governed by the
following provisions:
(1) The commission may adopt, as its own, the published regulations of the National
Fire Protection Association, or any other nationally recognized agency, by reference thereto,
or it may adopt any other reasonable rules and regulations it deems necessary in the interest
of public safety.
(2) The rules and regulations relating to design and construction of liquefied
petroleum gas containers shall be in reasonably substantial conformity with recognized
published national standards.
(3) The rules and regulations shall provide that a dealer shall not serve any liquefied
petroleum gas system which the dealer knows is improperly installed or in a dangerous
condition. The rules and regulations shall require the following provisions relative to
liquefied petroleum gas systems:
(a) In the interest of safety and for the protection of life and property, any end user
who authorizes the maintenance and/or repair, installation, adjustment, and servicing of a
liquefied petroleum gas system in the state of Louisiana shall insure that any person, firm,
or corporation that may be employed and/or authorized to make such repairs has a current
permit or registration and cards of competency from the Louisiana Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Commission to perform maintenance and/or repair, installation, adjustment and/or servicing
of that system.
(b) Any end user authorizing any action listed in R.S. 40:1846(B)(3)(a), where such
actions are completed by any person, firm, or corporation other than the liquefied petroleum
gas dealer who normally services the liquefied petroleum gas system, shall notify, as soon
as possible, the servicing dealer authorized to service the affected liquefied petroleum gas
system. This notification shall include:
(i) Name of the person, firm, or corporation that performed the service.
(ii) Actions taken to the affected liquefied petroleum gas systems such as adding
piping, spaceheaters, and other such appliances. The end user shall make the described
notification within five working days after completion of the action or before the liquefied
petroleum gas system is next serviced with liquefied petroleum gas, whichever occurs first.
(c) It is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to repair, install, adjust, and/or
service any liquefied petroleum gas system without meeting the requirements of the
Louisiana Liquefied Petroleum Gas Commission.
(d) No person, firm, or corporation, except the owner thereof, or person, firm, or
corporation authorized in writing by said owner, shall fill, refill, buy, sell, offer for sale, give,
take, loan, dispose of, or traffic in, a liquefied petroleum gas container or tank.
(e) Any person, firm, or corporation convicted of violating any provision of this
Paragraph shall be subject to penalties as provided in R.S. 40:1846.1(E).
(f) No person, firm, or corporation shall use, sell, or distribute liquefied petroleum
gas for use in mobile air conditioning systems; however, the prohibition shall not apply to
a refrigerant included on the list published by the Environmental Protection Agency as a safe,
alternative motor vehicle air conditioning substitute for chlorofluorocarbon-12, pursuant to
42 U.S.C. 7671k(c). For purposes of this Subparagraph "mobile air conditioning system"
means mechanized vapor compression equipment which is used to cool the driver's or
passenger's compartment of any motor vehicle. So that it may be determined whether the
refrigerant is a liquefied petroleum gas, the proper shipping name shall be used on any
product intended for use as a refrigerant in a mobile air conditioning system. Proper shipping
names with a U.N. number and a hazard class and division number of liquefied petroleum
gas per the United States Department of Transportation hazardous materials tables shall be
prima facie evidence that the refrigerant is liquefied petroleum gas and is prohibited. Any
advertising or other literature published by the manufacturer of the refrigerant promoting it
as a replacement or drop-in for CFR-12 or HFC 134a, or both, shall be prima facie evidence
that it is being sold for mobile air conditioning systems.
(4) The rules and regulations shall require each dealer to transmit a notice, once each
year, to each customer stating that liquefied petroleum gas systems are potentially dangerous,
that a leak in the system could result in a fire or explosion, and that systems should be
inspected periodically.
(5) The rules and regulations shall require the following provisions regarding
odorization and verification of odorization of liquefied petroleum gases:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, each
refinery, commercial storage facility, natural gas processing plant, pipeline, or other person
which sells liquefied petroleum gas to a transporter, dealer, or distributor for distribution into
the distribution chain to consumers shall odorize the liquefied petroleum gas in accordance
with this Chapter.
(b) Liquefied petroleum gas shall not be required to be odorized if it is to be
delivered to a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component
part, to any facility for further processing, to a commercial storage facility for storage, a
natural gas processing plant, a refinery, a pipeline, or when odorization would be harmful in
further use or processing of the gas and would not serve a useful purpose as a warning agent
in further use or processing of the gas.
(c) Liquefied petroleum gas which is required to be odorized shall be effectively
odorized by an approved agent of such character as to indicate positively, by a distinctive
odor, the presence of gas down to concentrations in air of not over one-fifth the lower limit
of flammability. The presence of odorization, when required, shall be positively verified by
the dealer by a sniff test or other means, and the results shall be documented prior to delivery
into his bulk plant or, when a shipment bypasses a bulk plant, prior to the delivery to a
consumer. It is the intent of this Paragraph to prohibit the sale or delivery of liquefied
petroleum gas by a dealer to a consumer without the required odorization.
(d) The odorization requirements shall be considered to be met by the use of one
pound of ethyl mercaptan, one pound of thiophane, or one and four tenths pounds of amyl
mercaptan per ten thousand gallons of liquefied petroleum gas, subject to the provisions of
Subparagraph (e) of this Paragraph.
(e) In order to maintain the minimum concentration of odorant in the liquefied
petroleum gas at the point of use by the consumer, the rules and regulations shall recommend
that each person who is required to odorize gas under this Chapter use one and one-half
pounds of odorant per ten thousand gallons of liquefied petroleum gas at the point of
odorization.
(6) The only approved odorants are those specified in this Chapter; however, the
rules and regulations may authorize the use of other odorants which are equal in effectiveness
to the odorants specified in this Chapter.
(7) The rules and regulations shall require each person which transports liquefied
petroleum gas which is exempt from the odorization requirements of this Chapter to keep
records of all purchases of unodorized gas for three years. The records shall include bills of
lading, loading tickets, and records of all deliveries of unodorized gas. Each delivery ticket
and bill of lading shall be identified by reference to the bill of lading number.
(8) The rules and regulations adopted by the commission shall not be in conflict with
the provisions of this Chapter.
C. The rules and regulations adopted by the commission shall be available to the
public on the website of the commission. Any applicant, upon filing a formal application for
a permit or registration, shall be mailed a copy of these rules and regulations upon receipt of
his request. These rules and regulations may be supplemented from time to time in
accordance with Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq. No other form of
promulgation shall be required to make such rules and regulations or supplements thereto
effective.
D. The power of regulation vested in the commission shall not extend to the plant
site of a manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases, or to the plant site of a manufacturer of
products of which liquefied petroleum gases form a component part, or to installations or
storage or delivery of such gases within the plant site of any such manufacturer.
E. This Part does not apply to manufacturers of liquefied petroleum gases, as defined
in R.S. 40:1842(10), or to manufacturers of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms
a component part, as defined in R.S. 40:1842(11), who manufacture or purchase liquefied
petroleum gases for use or consumption in their operations or who sell all or part of the
liquefied petroleum gases so manufactured or purchased exclusively to a manufacturer of
liquefied petroleum gases, to a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas
forms a component part, or to resellers as defined in R.S. 40:1842(12).
F. The commission shall cooperate with the deputy secretary of the Department of
Public Safety and Corrections to develop a means of sharing data regarding the location of
storage tanks and other relevant data necessary to implement the information management
system required to be reported under R.S. 30:2361, et seq. The administrative costs of
transferring this data to the information management system shall be paid by the commission
out of permit fees presently collected by the commission.
G.(1) Liquefied petroleum gas dealers and resellers, as defined in this Part, shall be
subject to the provisions of this Part, including the obtaining of a permit, payment of a permit
fee, and obtaining the required insurance. The permit fee amount shall be based on the cost
of the liquefied petroleum gases or the sales price of those gases, whichever is greater.
(2) A manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases or a manufacturer of products of
which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, who is also a dealer or reseller within
the meaning of this Part, shall not include within the term "annual gross sales", for the
purpose of computing the permit fee as a dealer or reseller, those sales of liquefied petroleum
gas made by such manufacturer to a manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases, to a
manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, or to
resellers.
(3) It is the intent of this Part to make all sales, except those specifically exempted,
subject to a permit fee at the reseller's point of sale and at the retail dealer's point of sale.
H. It shall be an affirmative defense to an action against any person engaged in this
state in the business of selling at retail, supplying, handling, or transporting liquefied
petroleum gas that an alleged injury, damage, or loss was caused by either of the following:
(1) The alteration, modification, or repair of liquefied petroleum gas equipment or
a liquefied petroleum gas appliance if the alteration, modification, or repair was done
without the knowledge of the liquefied petroleum gas seller, supplier, handler, or transporter.
(2) The use of liquefied petroleum gas equipment or a liquefied petroleum gas
appliance in a manner or for a purpose other than that for which the equipment or appliance
was intended and that purpose could not reasonably have been expected.
I. The commission or its appointed designee, may suspend any of the commission's
rules and regulations in Chapter 1, 2, or 15 of Part IX of Title 55 of the Louisiana
Administrative Code that do not materially affect safety during the time period of declaration
of an emergency or disaster by the governor. The commission shall promulgate rules and
regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act providing for such suspension prior
to exercising the authority granted in this Subsection.