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Legislation would align Nevada pipeline civil penalties with federal standards to preserve local oversight
Summary
SB 321 would update Nevada’s civil penalty provisions for public utilities to align with federal pipeline safety penalty caps and preserve state certification under the federal program; supporters said the change helps Nevada retain local enforcement authority.
The Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure heard SB 321, a bill that revises Nevada’s civil penalty structure for regulations adopted by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) to conform with federal pipeline safety law and maintain the state’s certification to enforce pipeline safety locally.
Senator Rochelle Winn introduced the bill and cited the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion as an example of the consequences of pipeline failure. Paul McGuire, head of engineering at the PUCN, explained that the state enters an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation to keep pipeline safety enforcement local and must certify that state penalties and enforcement authorities are equivalent to federal standards.
McGuire told the committee that federal inflation adjustments have raised the federal penalty cap — “they're about to roll over to 3,000,000,” he said — and Nevada’s current statutory cap of $2,000,000 may not be seen as equivalent. “So this just allows us to say we have the same rules and allows it to keep us local,” McGuire said, adding that some other states had lost local enforcement authority when their penalty caps lagged behind federal adjustments.
Supporters included Southwest Gas, whose representative said the bill would align state standards with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulations and allow reporting directly to the state. No testimony in opposition was recorded. The committee closed the hearing on SB 321 without a recorded vote.
