WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Department says it has fined the El Paso Corp. and its subsidiary Colorado Interstate Gas Company $2.3 million in connection with a 2006 pipeline explosion in Wyoming that killed one worker and sent a giant fireball into the air.
The department said Tuesday the fine is the largest it has levied against a pipeline company.
In November 2006, a bulldozer ruptured a buried natural gas pipeline owned by an El Paso subsidiary, causing a fire that scorched 600 acres. The bulldozer operator was killed. An investigation by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found the pipeline hadn’t been located and marked according to federal safety regulations.
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