Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater announced Friday thatthe Department of Transportation (DOT) has formed a partnershipwith Washington state — the site of a major pipeline-relatedexplosion a year ago — to allow its safety inspectors toparticipate in the inspections of interstate pipelines.

Washington state would join about seven or eight other statesthat have similar partnerships with DOT’s Office of Pipeline Safety(OPS). Each state essentially has agent status and acts as acontractor for OPS. The states don’t have any regulatory authorityover interstate lines, however.

The announcement came one week after DOT said it would seek a$3.05 million civil penalty — the largest ever proposed for apipeline operator — against Olympic Pipe Line for the explosionthat killed three in Bellingham, WA, last June. Some believe thepenalty may be just the tip of the iceberg for Olympic, a petroleumproducts pipe that is owned and operated by Houston-based Equilon.

“Tragic events like this pipeline failure must never happenagain,” said Secretary Slater. “This civil penalty is one of aseries of actions we have and are taking to help protect the peopleand environment along this pipeline,” which has been shut downsince the explosion. Some question whether the DOT will ever allowthe Olympic to open its pipeline again. The pipeline had asked theOPS for permission to start up its line last January.

Although the explosion involved a petroleum products line,observers in the natural gas industry have been watching eventsclosely because of the fallout they have had on interstate gaspipelines, which critics have targeted as unsafe as well.

While “the penalty itself was significant,” Terry Boss of theInterstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) said he waseven more concerned by the fact that DOT levied the fine before thecause of the accident was officially determined.

Boss pointed out that the Environmental Protection Agency, theNational Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the JusticeDepartment were each investigating various aspects of the pipelinefailure. This “makes me suspicious” that there might be additionalaction taken against Olympic.

The failure of the Olympic line and the three deaths has led toa number of pipeline safety proposals in Congress and from theClinton administration seeking stricter federal and state oversightof hazardous product lines and natural gas pipelines, stiffer civilpenalties and potential criminal action against violators.

Olympic declined to comment on the DOT penalty given that theaccident still is being investigated by the NTSB and others.However, in a prepared statement, Olympic Pipe Line Vice Presidentand Manager Carl Gast said that “during the past several months,Olympic has worked very hard to comply with all of the safetydirectives issued by the Office of Pipeline Safety, and even now isengaged in a comprehensive internal inspections program of itsentire 400-mile network.”

Susan Parker

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