TSA Pipeline Security 5.2: 5.2 Facility criticality: written policy and determination rules

Pipeline companies should have a written policy and procedure to identify critical facilities within their enterprise risk management process and the TSA guidance. TSA notifies operators of TSA-designated critical pipeline systems, on which operators should focus identification. A facility is critical if it provides primary service to designated critical infrastructure and the operator determines it to be a single point of failure (no redundancy or systematic backup; inoperability would degrade service so the infrastructure cannot perform its critical mission). Operators conduct an operational assessment to find the facilities critical systems need to function; may consider redundancies, contingency plans and mitigations (documenting how redundancies are evaluated, protected as sensitive security information, provided to TSA on request) but not external mutual aid; coordinate with internal sales, marketing and rates functions to find feeds to critical infrastructure such as gas-fired power plants, military bases and defense industrial base manufacturers; may weigh firm versus interruptible contracts (validated with the infrastructure owner), severity adjustments (climate, restart capability, life safety) and continued operation capability shown to have no deliverability impact. TSA may designate specific facilities in consultation with operators; operators may apply stricter criteria. A pipeline facility follows 49 CFR 192.3, 193.2007 and 195.2, and critical facilities may include interconnections, metering and regulating stations, pump and compressor stations, operational control facilities, main line valves, tank farms and terminals; a facility meeting any one Table 1 criterion should be designated critical.