Bush signs new U.S. pipeline safety legislation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law Friday legislation aimed at preventing the kind of runaway corrosion that plagued low pressure pipelines at the huge Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, which had been exempt from federal oversight.

The Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006 extends the U.S. Department of Transportation’s oversight to include oil and gas pipelines operating at low pressures.

Previous legislation had only required federal oversight of high pressure pipelines.

The move to increase federal supervision of oil pipelines came after severe corrosion inside low-pressure oil transit pipelines operated by oil major BP Plc at Prudhoe Bay led to a massive oil spill in March and the partial shutdown of the giant oil field in August.

Reuters