Wildlife group threatens lawsuit over pipeline safety

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) says it will sue the federal government over what it considers lax enforcement of pipeline safety laws. 

The NWF is filing an intent to sue notice against the Department of Transportation (DOT), the group announced Tuesday, arguing the department has not properly authorized pipeline projects in the United States for almost 25 years.

{mosads}A 1990 law enacted after the Exxon Valdez oil spill requires the DOT to approve pipeline operator response plans for worst-case oil spills. 

The group contends that the department never established protocols to meet those requirements, and has thus never formally authorized pipelines that traverse rivers, lakes or other navigable waters.

“The Department of Transportation’s failure to even require such plans therefore is a huge oversight,” said National Wildlife Federation senior counsel Neil Kagan said.

“The U.S. Department of Transportation needs to act with urgency and purpose to provide the long-overdue protection of our country’s rivers and lakes mandated by the Oil Pollution Act.”

Citing federal data, NWF said oil pipelines cross inland bodies of water at 5,110 locations in the United States. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has found 20 accidents involving those crossings since 1991. 

NWF said their push is meant to pressure the federal government to protect the Great Lakes from potential accidents at two pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan.

“We hope today’s action will be a catalyst for long-overdue protections that benefit people, communities, and wildlife,” said Mike Shriberg, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. 

“The federal government needs to enforce the law to prevent oil pipeline disasters from fouling our water and threatening our communities and iconic places.”