US Senate clears pipeline safety bill
Date: 15-Nov-02
Country: USA
The Senate accepted, with some changes, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in July requiring more safety inspections of oil and gas pipelines and boosting the penalties for failing to keep those pipelines in good condition. It now goes back to the House for final approval.
The bill would increase, from $25,000 to $100,000, the penalties against companies that fail to mark the location of pipelines at construction sites or fail to inspect and maintain their facilities. The maximum civil penalties for a related series of safety violations would double to $1 million.
An average of four pipeline accidents causing death, injury or major property damage occur each week, according to Congress' General Accounting Office. But environmental groups say only one in 25 pipeline violators are ever hit with fines.
The pipeline safety measure had been wrapped into a broader overhaul of U.S. energy policy that Congress was considering. But lawmakers this week declared that effort dead for the year and began trying to salvage some of its component parts.
