BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO PRAIRIE PUBLIC) – A natural gas pipeline owner has been fined $10,000 for failing to file the necessary permit applications with the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
Caliber North Dakota LLC built the short 2.6-mile, eight inch diameter pipeline in McKenzie County without a siting or route permit.
Commissioner Julie Fedorchak said this matter came to light when the company asked the PSC for a temporary change in the pipeline’s operation.
“In the process, they realized they hadn’t been permitted to begin with, ” Fedorchak said. “So they came to us and said, ‘Oops — we didn’t permit this.”
Fedorchak said the company asked to keep operating the pipeline, and get temporary approval to do that, and then go through the permitting process.
PSC staff came to a “consent agreement,” under which the fine was levied. In December, an earlier consent agreement — which levied a $5000 fine — was rejected by the commission.
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