US pipeline firm settles over safety problems

A US pipeline organisation will pay $450,000 (£290,000) in civil charges after it failed to follow safety regulations at oil plants in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

The Associated Press reports that Texas-based NuStar Pipeline Operating Partnership did not have adequate disaster control measures in place to combat spills and other problems.

As part of the settlement, the firm will also be paying $768,000 to deploy tank monitoring equipment and alarm systems throughout a number of its sites in the US.

The announcement was made in a news release by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which noted that final decree will need to be approved by the district court in Omaha.

NuStar operations affected by the case include LeMars, Milford and Rock Rapids structures in Iowa; Kansas's Hutchinson and Salina plants and buildings at Columbus, Geneva and Norfolk in Nebraska.

The EPA recently fined the Roberson Oil Company in Texas $3,693 for failing to meet standards outlined in the Clean Water Act, after brine discharges and salts from the firm contaminated a local tributary.