Pervasive organizational failures by a pipeline operator along with weak federal regulations led to a pipeline rupture and subsequent oil spill in 2010, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.

The American Petroleum Institute Pipeline Subcommittee adopted eight pipeline safety principles at meetings recently with industry operators and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines.

As with so many movements these days, a campaign to oppose the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has gone online, in the form of a petition that pits a Texas farmer against a giant oil company.

Earlier today, I received the Secretary of State’s recommendation on the pending application for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Prompted by last year’s deadly gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., lawmakers in Washington moved uncharacteristically quickly. The Senate Finance Committee in May unanimously passed the Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2011 to toughen regulations. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, support for the legislation was so broad that Senate Democrats initiated steps to get it passed by unanimous consent.

A California utility’s “lax” approach to pipeline safety – coupled with inadquate government oversight – is the probable cause of the devastating 2010 San Bruno, California pipeline accident that killed eight people, injured dozens and destroyed nearly 40 homes, displacing numerous residents.