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Committee hears bill to align Nevada pipeline civil penalties with federal limits
Summary
Senate Bill 321 would update Nevada’s civil penalty caps for pipeline safety violations to match federal limits and remove a provision that allowed penalties to be deducted from amounts the state owed a violator; sponsors and regulators said the change preserves state enforcement authority and compliance with PHMSA certification.
Senator Rochelle Wynne (presenting SB 321 through an intern, Cynthia Mora) told the committee that Senate Bill 321 would update Nevada’s civil penalties for pipeline safety regulation violations to align Nevada’s penalty structure with federal limits under the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the federal pipeline safety statute.
“By aligning our civil penalties for natural gas pipeline safety violations with those at the federal level, this bill ensures they remain an effective deterrent,” Cynthia Mora said in her presentation. She noted a recent fatal pipeline rupture in California and said federal caps are adjusted for inflation; federal per-violation caps cited in committee were $272,926 per day with a $2,729,245 cap for related violations (figures cited by the sponsor during testimony).
The bill would also remove a provision allowing the state to deduct civil penalties from sums the state otherwise owed a violator, a change sponsors described as closing a potential loophole and ensuring fines are paid directly rather than offset against state payments.
Paul McGuire, head of engineering at the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN), testified that the bill applies only to pipeline operators subject to federal pipeline safety rules; he said Nevada currently has 11 such operators and cited Southwest Gas and NV Energy as the state’s largest. McGuire told the committee the state has experienced reportable pipeline incidents, including a Southwest Gas rupture in 2015 (for which he said a fine of about $300,000 was imposed) and a 2019 NV Energy house explosion that caused no fatalities.
McGuire and other witnesses told the committee the update is necessary so Nevada can continue to certify to the U.S. Department of Transportation that state enforcement authority is “substantially similar” to federal authority. If federal civil penalties rise and the state’s caps do not, McGuire said federal enforcement could supplant state enforcement (he cited a recent Idaho example where federal enforcement took over).
Southwest Gas and the Nevada Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection both registered support during the hearing. No callers registered formal opposition during the hearing. The committee closed the SB 321 hearing after questions and testimony; no committee vote on final passage was recorded.
