Pipeline Safety Act of 2002

Segments like this are regulated under the Pipeline Safety Act.

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 is a federal law mandating that operators of oil and natural gas pipelines identify line segments that are specifically prone to mishaps, conduct risk analyses of the problem segments, and also inspect the entire pipeline every seven years, except in special circumstances. It also set penalties for violating safety standards.

History

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 17, 2002. The legislation was written by Congress largely in response to pipeline ruptures in Carlsbad, New Mexico and Bellingham, Washington. It is an amendment to similar legislation, the 1994 Pipeline Safety Law, which itself was a combination of two laws that had been signed in past decades: the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 and the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979.

Function

What the law mainly does is tighten federal inspection and safety requirements. It established mandatory inspections of all oil and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. within 10 years as a way to help prevent leaks and ruptures. However, pipelines that were known to have a history of leaks or other problems would have to be inspected within the next five years. After the initial inspections, all pipelines not known to have problematic histories would have to be re-inspected every seven years after the 10-year interval.

Requirements

In addition to the mandatory inspections, the law required companies to identify all problematic line segments within two years of the law's passage. They were also required to submit specific line integrity management programs to the Office of Pipeline Safety, a segment within the U.S. Department of Transportation. All pipeline segments with histories of problems were required to be inspected by December 17, 2008, along with remediation plans for the line segment, if necessary.

Protections

The act includes protection for whistleblowers by banning pipeline operators from firing or taking any other punitive action against employees who give information regarding pipeline safety to the employer or to the federal government. The act also protects high-population density areas by mandating that operators of natural gas pipelines to conduct an analysis of the risks of their pipeline facilities in such areas and adopt and implement management programs for the integrity of the facilities.

Penalties

Under the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act, a pipeline operator can be assessed a civil penalty of between $25,000 and $100,000 per safety violation. Also, an amount between $500,000 and $1 million can be levied for a series of violations. The fine amounts are levied on a case-by-case basis, and can include various factors, such as the amount of damage caused to the local environment, if any; degree and scale of the violation; and if the violator was found to have known about, and/or tried to cover up the incident.

References

• Pipeline Safety Act Description

Resources

• Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002