Reuters: Regulatory News: US pipeline oversight to be toughened under proposed rules

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

US pipeline oversight to be toughened under proposed rules Aug 17th 2012, 17:29 Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:29pm EDT * Proposed rules subject to comment period * New rules to be retroactive to January WASHINGTON Aug 17 (Reuters) - Oversight of the U.S. pipeline system will be toughened, including a doubling of fines for mishaps, under proposed rules announced by the Department of Transportation on Friday. The proposed rules, which follow a number of high-profile oil leaks in the United States, are meant to implement the bipartisan pipeline safety act that Congress passed last year. "There are 2.6 million miles of pipeline crisscrossing this nation that impact each and every one of us," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Our job at the Department of Transportation is to make sure they operate safely." The act authorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to double the maximum civil penalty to $200,000 per violation per day. It also raises the fine for a series of related violations to $2 million from $1 million. The fine structure under the rule, which will be subject to a 30-day comment period, would be effective from Jan. 3, 2012, the day President Barack Obama signed the act into law. Canada's Enbridge Inc has come under withering criticism from federal regulators over its pipeline leaks, including its most recent spill that shut a line that feeds Chicago refiners for 11 days earlier this month. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions