November 2012, Vol. 239 No. 11
Government
Industry Speaks Out On PHMSAs Penalty Proposals And Other Actions
Pipeline groups are unhappy with the way the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is interpreting the new penalty authority Congress provided it under the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, which went into effect in January. That law jacked up allowable civil penalties considerably, making PHMSA administration of the legal process a much more significant issue. Civil penalties doubled, to $200,000 per violation per day of violation, with a maximum of $2 million for a related series of violations. The law made numerous changes with regard to inspections, delivery of citations and the hearings which sometimes follow. D

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