The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration resolved a record number of enforcement actions during 2011, the US Department of Transportation reported.
DOT said PHMSA issued 102 final orders last year, the most in a single year following the 2002 passage of the original federal pipeline safety act.
PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman said that the increased enforcement stemmed from improved internal tracking procedures and rigorous investigations and inspections of pipeline facilities by the agency’s field personnel.
“We will continue to conduct rigorous inspections to meet even more safety achievements in the future,” she said.
DOT said that since 2008, PHMSA has issued 281 final orders to pipeline operators, constituting almost 40% of all the agency’s final orders since 2002.
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