Pipeline Violation Bills | Video

Jessica Roose | 1/17/2013

Members of the Public Service Commission showed their support at the Capitol today for a bill that would increase the penalty for pipeline violations, such as a spill or a leak. Fines can now reach $10,000 dollars a day for each violation, with the maximum being $500,000.

Brian Kalk says that doesn`t match up with federal penalties, so he supports raising the fine to $200,000 a day, with a maximum of two million dollars. "You probably hear some concerns about, `Holy cow this is a lot of money.` But it really has to be this amount of money to match what federal guidelines to make sure we can get the 50-percent match, to continue a good damage prevention program."

Kalk says the goal is not to fine, but to encourage operators to comply.

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