U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety (PHMSA) Administrator Paul Roberti announced the largest civil penalty ever proposed in a pipeline safety enforcement action.
The enforcement action, brought against Panther Operating Company, LLC, includes a $9,622,054 proposed civil penalty for alleged violations that occurred in connection with a November 2023 failure of the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) pipeline system. The failure released 1.1 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of America.
“Safety drives everything we do,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “We are sending a clear signal: when companies fail to abide by the rules, we won’t hesitate to act decisively. We’ll continue to enforce the law to ensure the safety and efficiency of our energy infrastructure.”
PHMSA’s investigation identified multiple probable violations of its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations related to integrity management and operations and maintenance requirements, including those specific to leak detection, emergency response, and the protection of high consequence areas. Details of each probable violation can be found in the Notice of Probable Violation PHMSA issued to Panther last week.
“PHMSA’s focus on safety and holding operators accountable when they fail to comply with federal safety regulations will never change,” said PHMSA Administrator Paul Roberti. “It is important for pipeline operators to remain vigilant in their operations to prevent these types of failures or there will be serious consequences.”
The enforcement action also includes a proposed compliance order that would require the company to take certain actions to ensure compliance with federal pipeline safety regulations. As part of the order, Panther will be required to evaluate and develop a plan that works to protect the MPOG pipeline system against future unanticipated external loads caused by geotechnical and geological hazards.
