The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has stepped up enforcement efforts concerning pipeline and LNG terminal construction. Construction-related inspections have resulted in a number of recent enforcement actions, and the agency plans to hire 100 or more safety inspectors this year. A PHMSA official recently confirmed at a King & Spalding webinar that construction is a 2015 enforcement priority area. In addition, EPA and DOJ are increasingly interested in PHMSA’s enforcement matters, particularly to align PHMSA with the other agencies and U.S. Attorneys around the country who seek criminal penalties for willful violations.

Based on PHMSA’s enforcement activities, it appears that at least some energy infrastructure developers do not realize that PHMSA’s federal safety standards apply to the design, siting, and construction of new gas and liquids pipeline facilities and LNG terminals and to major modifications of those facilities (major modifications are typically defined as costing $10 million or more). See generally 49 C.F.R. Parts 190-195.