# Penalties

**Citation:** W. Va. Code § 24B-4-6  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** West Virginia Legislature  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** Not stated

(a) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or any valid regulation or order issued thereunder is subject to a civil penalty to be imposed by the commission not to exceed $200,000 for each violation for each day the violation persists: Provided, That the maximum aggregate civil penalty may not exceed $2 m

## Document text

(a) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or any valid regulation or order issued thereunder is subject to a civil penalty to be imposed by the commission not to exceed $200,000 for each violation for each day the violation persists: Provided, That the maximum aggregate civil penalty may not exceed $2 million for any related series of violations.

(b) Any civil penalty may be compromised by the commission. In determining the amount of penalty, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, the commission shall consider the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation, and the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve compliance after notification of the violation. The amount of the penalty, when finally determined, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, may be deducted from any sums owing by the state to the person charged or may be recovered in a civil action in the state courts.

(c) Civil penalties collected by the commission under this section shall be submitted to the Treasurer for deposit into the General Revenue Fund.

(d) No civil penalty paid under this section may be considered by the commission in support of any application for a rate increase submitted by the violator.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://code.wvlegislature.gov/24B-4-6/>
- Source ID: `wv-pipeline-safety`
- SHA-256: `c1fee5e2b95672cc24c45a687c7c63f8d4a97871152c4f052633b62dd01be3a0`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T12:04:38.773Z
- Exported: 2026-08-25T05:26:53.465Z
- Document slug: `wv-code-24b-4-6`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-WV",
  "legalLayer": "statute",
  "pipelineScope": "intrastate-gas-and-hazardous-liquid-with-separate-phmsa-certifications",
  "exactScope": "This corpus contains the complete current text of the two directly applicable pipeline-safety sections of active 150 CSR 4 (sections 9 and 11) and all 21 current sections of West Virginia Code Chapter 24B. The Secretary of State active rule record and Legislature Chapter 24B publication are the completeness boundaries.",
  "applicabilityCaveat": "The PSC program covers intrastate natural-gas distribution and transmission, covered LPG systems, certain regulated gathering lines, and intrastate hazardous-liquid transmission under separate 49 U.S.C. 60105 certifications. PHMSA's 2024 gas and hazardous-liquid evaluations each identify the West Virginia PSC as 60105(a) certified and as an interstate agent. Interstate-agent work is federal assistance, not independent state jurisdiction; the PSC states that interstate gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines remain regulated by PHMSA. Facility, commodity, gathering-line, rural-production, storage, and interstate status must be resolved before applying any provision.",
  "incorporationCaveat": "150 CSR 4 sections 9.3.1 and 11.3.1 adopt 49 CFR Parts 191, 192, 195, and 199 without naming an edition. This connector records those dynamic references but does not reproduce federal text, determine the effect of later federal amendments, or infer adoption of an unlisted federal part.",
  "publicationCaveat": "The Secretary of State identifies the July 11, 2018 version of 150 CSR 4 as active and prior versions as historical. The active rule still states superseded section 9.10 penalty limits of $1,000 per violation and $200,000 per related series; current W. Va. Code section 24B-4-6 instead states up to $200,000 per violation per day and $2 million per related series. Users must reconcile the current statute, later orders, and federal law rather than relying on the stale rule figures. Retrieval dates are observations, not legal effective dates.",
  "excludedScope": "150 CSR 4 utility-service, rates, metering, customer relations, gas quality, engineering, testing, promotional-practice, and tariff provisions are not made searchable except where sections 9 and 11 directly govern pipeline safety. Sections 5, 6, and 8 are inventoried as adjacent utility engineering, inspection, and odorization material. Chapter 24C damage prevention is adjacent and not reproduced as a direct pipeline-operator corpus. Dockets, orders, forms, operator lists, incident records, siting, routing, economic regulation, environmental requirements, local law, federal text, and private standards are excluded.",
  "rights": "Official West Virginia and federal-government artifacts are archived with attribution and SHA-256 provenance. Public availability does not resolve rights in site presentation, agency marks, forms, maps, photographs, or incorporated material; downstream redistribution requires separate review.",
  "rightsReviewRequired": true,
  "certificationStatus": {
    "intrastateGas": "49 U.S.C. 60105(a) certified",
    "intrastateHazardousLiquid": "49 U.S.C. 60105(a) certified",
    "interstateGas": "PHMSA; WVPSC acts only as federal interstate agent",
    "interstateHazardousLiquid": "PHMSA; WVPSC acts only as federal interstate agent"
  },
  "federalIncorporation": null,
  "incorporatedFederalParts": [],
  "references": [],
  "phmsaEvidenceUrls": [
    "https://primis-uat.phmsa.dot.gov/stakeholder-comms/states/west%20virginia/",
    "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2026-03/wv-2024-gas-program-evaluation.pdf",
    "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2026-03/wv-2024-hazardous-liquid-program-evaluation.pdf"
  ],
  "originSourceId": "wv-legislature-chapter-24b",
  "region": "WV"
}
```
