What Happened to Pipeline Oversight?

Recent deadly natural gas explosions have highlighted the lax oversight of pipelines throughout the U.S. During the past five years, gas pipeline explosions have killed 60 people and injured 230 more. Those numbers don’t include the final toll in the San Bruno, California explosion, that killed seven and injured at least 50. Independent government reviews have found the regulator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to be weak. In 2004, a General Accounting Office report found the agency’s $30,000 fines were too small to deter bad behavior from energy companies. Four years later, the Congressional Research Service called the agency’s enforcement capabilities an “ongoing concern.” And an investigation by The New York Times discovered that a third of all enforcement cases since 2002 are still unresolved. Since 2004, the agency has imposed 40 percent fewer fines on pipeline companies. And some cases from the ‘90s are still open. The agency says it’s getting a new database so it can better keep track of cases.