{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 120133001","title":"COVE POINT LNG, LP — Notice of Probable Violation","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2013-03-04","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 191.17(b).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-120133001.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-120133001.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-120133001","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/120133001","body":"Notice of Probable Violation involving COVE POINT LNG, LP. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulation as 191.17(b). The case was opened on 2013-03-04 and is reported as closed as of 2013-07-17. Proposed civil penalty: $15,000. Assessed civil penalty: $15,000. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n120133001_Final Order_07112013.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/120133001/120133001_Final%20Order_07112013.pdf\n\n120133001_Final Order_07112013_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/120133001/120133001_Final%20Order_07112013_text.pdf\n\n120133001_NOPV PCP_03042013.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/120133001/120133001_NOPV%20PCP_03042013.pdf\n\n120133001_NOPV PCP_03042013_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/120133001/120133001_NOPV%20PCP_03042013_text.pdf\n\n120133001_Operator Response to Notice_04012013.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/120133001/120133001_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_04012013.pdf\n\n120133001_Final Order_07112013_text.pdf\n\nJULY 11, 2013\nMr. Thomas F. Farrell, II\nPresident\nDominion Resources Services, Inc.\n701 East Cary St.\nRichmond, VA 23219\nRe: CPF No. 1-2013-3001\nDear Mr. Farrell:\nEnclosed please find the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes findings of\nviolation and assesses a civil penalty of $15,000. The penalty payment terms are set forth in the\nFinal Order. This enforcement action closes automatically upon receipt of payment. Service of\nthe Final Order by certified mail is deemed effective upon the date of mailing, or as otherwise\nprovided under 49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\nThank you for your cooperation in this matter.\nSincerely,\nJeffrey D. Wiese\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety\nEnclosure\ncc: Mr. Byron Coy, Eastern Region Director, OPS\nMr. Alan Mayberry, Deputy Associate Administrator for Field Operations, OPS\nMr. Jeffrey L. Barger, Vice President, Pipeline Operations, Dominion Transmission, Inc.,\n445 West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV 26301-2450\nMr. Mark Reaser, Director – LNG Operations, 2100 Cove Point Road, Lusby, MD 20657\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\n\n\n\nU.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION\nPIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION\nOFFICE OF PIPELINE SAFETY\nWASHINGTON, D.C. 20590\n____________________________________\n)\nIn the Matter of )\n)\nDominion Transmission, Inc. ) CPF No. 1-2013-3001\n)\nRespondent. )\n____________________________________)\nFINAL ORDER\nOn October 4, 2012, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60117, a representative of the Pipeline and\nHazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS),\nreviewed annual report records of Cove Point LNG, Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of\nDominion Transmission, Inc. (Dominion or Respondent). Dominion is a subsidiary of Dominion\nResources Services, Inc., and operates 7,800 miles of natural gas pipelines in six states — Ohio,\nWest Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia.1\nAs a result of the inspection, the Director, Eastern Region, OPS (Director), issued to Respondent,\nby letter dated March 4, 2013, a Notice of Probable Violation and Proposed Civil Penalty\n(Notice). In accordance with 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice proposed finding that Dominion\nhad violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.17 and proposed assessing a civil penalty of $15,000 for the alleged\nviolation.\nDominion responded to the Notice by letter dated April 1, 2013 (Response). The company did\nnot contest the allegation of violation but provided an explanation of its actions and requested\nthat the proposed civil penalty be eliminated. Respondent did not request a hearing and therefore\nhas waived its right to one.\nFINDING OF VIOLATION\nIn its Response, Respondent did not contest the allegation in the Notice that it violated 49 C.F.R.\nPart 191, as follows:\nItem 1: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.17(b), which states:\n1 https://www.dom.com/business/gas-transmission/index.jsp (last accessed April 15, 2013).\n\n\n\n2\n§ 191.17 Transmission systems; gathering systems; and liquefied\nnatural gas facilities: Annual report.\n(a)…\n(b) LNG. Each operator of a liquefied natural gas facility must submit\nan annual report for that system on DOT Form PHMSA 7100.3-1. This\nreport must be submitted each year, not later than March 15, for the\npreceding calendar year, except that for the 2010 reporting year the report\nmust be submitted by June 15, 2011.\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.17(b) by failing to submit an\nannual report on DOT Form PHMSA 7100.3-1 for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years for the\nCove Point LNG facility. Specifically, the Notice alleged that Dominion did not submit this\nreport by March 15, 2012, for the 2011 reporting year and by June 15, 2011 for the 2010\nreporting year, as prescribed in § 191.17(b). Respondent did not contest this allegation of\nviolation. Respondent filed the annual reports for both years on November 1, 2012.\nAccordingly, based upon a review of all of the evidence, I find that Respondent violated\n49 C.F.R. § 191.17(b) by failing to submit an annual report on DOT Form PHMSA 7100.3-1 for\nthe 2010 and 2011 calendar years for the Dominion Cove Report LNG facility.\nThis finding of violation will be considered a prior offense in any subsequent enforcement action\ntaken against Respondent.\nASSESSMENT OF PENALTY\nUnder 49 U.S.C. § 60122, Respondent is subject to an administrative civil penalty not to exceed\n$200,000 per violation for each day of the violation, up to a maximum of $2,000,000 for any\nrelated series of violations. In determining the amount of a civil penalty under 49 U.S.C.\n§ 60122 and 49 C.F.R. § 190.225, I must consider the following criteria: the nature,\ncircumstances, and gravity of the violation, including adverse impact on the environment; the\ndegree of Respondent’s culpability; the history of Respondent’s prior offenses; the Respondent’s\nability to pay the penalty and any effect that the penalty may have on its ability to continue doing\nbusiness; and the good faith of Respondent in attempting to comply with the pipeline safety\nregulations. In addition, I may consider the economic benefit gained from the violation without\nany reduction because of subsequent damages, and such other matters as justice may require.\nThe Notice proposed a total civil penalty of $15,000 for the violation cited above.\nItem 1: The Notice proposed a civil penalty of $15,000 for Respondent’s violation of 49 C.F.R.\n§ 191.17(b), for failing to submit DOT Form PHMSA 7100.3-1 for the 2010 and 2011 calendar\nyears for the Dominion Cove Report LNG facility. Dominion neither contested the allegation\nnor presented any evidence or argument justifying a reduction in the proposed penalty.\nDominion stated that PHMSA extended the submission deadline in PHMSA Advisory Bulletin\nADB-11-03 from March 15, 2011 to August 15, 2011. Dominion argued that it experienced\nproblems with PHMSA’s submission portal and was unable to obtain assistance from PHMSA\nuntil several months after its August 12, 2011 request. Section 191.7(d) provides instructions for\n\n\n\n3\nusing an “alternative reporting method” if electronic reporting imposes an undue burden and\nhardship for the operator. Dominion did not seek an alternate method to file the annual report\nwhen it was unable to use the submission portal and the 2010 report was not submitted until\nNovember 1, 2012.\nDominion also argued that PHMSA had been invoicing Dominion under OPID 2619 since\nDominion began operating the facility in 2002 and continued to do so through 2010. Upon\nreview of PHMSA’s records, OPID 31664 was created when the Cove Point LNG unit was\nestablished in the system on October 20, 2002 per Dominion’s request. Respondent should have\nbeen aware of OPID 31664 since it made the request for the OPID. Although it received the\ninvoice for OPID 2619 in 2010, in May 2011, it was invoiced for OPID 31664 and was alerted\nthat OPID 2619 was inactive.\nRespondent raised a number of other reasons as to why the penalty should be reduced such as: it\noverlooked filing the annual report, the failure to submit the 2010 annual report did not result in\nany harmful or detrimental pipeline safety consequences, and that the failure to submit the 2011\nreport was purely accidental. I find none of these reasons persuasive.\nRespondent had filed annual reports in previous years, which indicates that it was fully aware of\nthe annual reporting requirements. Accordingly, having reviewed the record and considered the\nassessment criteria, I assess Respondent a civil penalty of $15,000 for violation of 49 C.F.R.\n§ 191.17.\nIn summary, having reviewed the record and considered the assessment criteria for the Item cited\nabove, I assess Respondent a total civil penalty of $15,000.\nPayment of the civil penalty must be made within 20 days of service. Federal regulations\n(49 C.F.R. § 89.21(b)(3)) require such payment to be made by wire transfer through the Federal\nReserve Communications System (Fedwire), to the account of the U.S. Treasury. Detailed\ninstructions are contained in the enclosure. Questions concerning wire transfers should be\ndirected to: Financial Operations Division (AMZ-341), Federal Aviation Administration, Mike\nMonroney Aeronautical Center, P.O. Box 269039, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125. The\nFinancial Operations Division telephone number is (405) 954-8893.\nFailure to pay the $15,000 civil penalty will result in accrual of interest at the current annual rate\nin accordance with 31 U.S.C. § 3717, 31 C.F.R. § 901.9 and 49 C.F.R. § 89.23. Pursuant to\nthose same authorities, a late penalty charge of six percent (6%) per annum will be charged if\npayment is not made within 110 days of service. Furthermore, failure to pay the civil penalty\nmay result in referral of the matter to the Attorney General for appropriate action in a district\ncourt of the United States.\nUnder 49 C.F.R. § 190.215, Respondent has a right to submit a Petition for Reconsideration of\nthis Final Order. The petition must be sent to: Associate Administrator, Office of Pipeline\nSafety, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, East Building, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC\n20590, with a copy sent to the Office of Chief Counsel, PHMSA, at the same address. PHMSA\nwill accept petitions received no later than 20 days after receipt of service of this Final Order by\n\n\n\n4\nthe Respondent, provided they contain a brief statement of the issue(s) and meet all other\nrequirements of 49 C.F.R. § 190.215. The filing of a petition automatically stays the payment of\nany civil penalty assessed. Unless the Associate Administrator, upon request, grants a stay, all\nother terms and conditions of this Final Order are effective upon service in accordance with\n49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\n___________________________________ __________________________\nJeffrey D. Wiese Date Issued\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety","truncated":false,"body_characters":10985}