The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration sent a notice of probable violation and proposed compliance order to Colonial Pipeline Company which includes a number of federal pipeline violations the company committed.
According to a May 5 PHMSA news release, the compliance order includes a $986,400 civil penalty for the breaches of federal standards. These violations came to light after the PHMSA sent inspectors to Colonial Pipeline Company from January through November 2020. The probably violation notice claims Colonial was partly responsible for the failure of pipelines due to the May 2021 cyberattack because the company hadn’t prepared or practiced a manual shutdown and restart plan prior to the attack, according to the release.
“The 2021 Colonial Pipeline incident reminds us all that meeting regulatory standards designed to mitigate risks to the public is an imperative,” PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown said, according to the release.
The release states that under Congressional authorities, PHMSA can propose civil penalties and the recipient has the option to contest, contest in part or accept.
A pipeline operator that receives a penalty proposal also has the option to request and receive an informal hearing, according to the release. The hearing would be in front of a presiding agency official and before the finalization of the civil penalty.
