Government Safety Regulations

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It may seem like common sense, but the Federal Aviation Administration nonetheless has had to declare a No Drone Zone at the site of the world’s largest hot air balloon festival. This year’s Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta will take place October 6 – 14 at Balloon Fiesta Park. It is expected to draw more than 500 hot air balloons.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for new national requirements for seating and seat belt systems on limousines, citing evidence gathered in investigations of accidents in three states, including the October 18 crash of a stretch limousine in Schoharie, New York, that killed the driver, 17 passengers and two pedestrians.

Federal safety regulators, state oil and gas authorities, and the energy industry need to close regulatory gaps that contributed to the worst oil drilling accident in nearly a decade, a federal agency said in an unprecedented report. The 2018 explosion and fire outside Quinton, Okla., killed five people, making it the deadliest accident in the drilling industry since 2010, when a BP oil rig exploded and killed 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil and natural regulations change frequently so the Public Service Commission of West Virginia and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association want to make sure operators have the latest information. The two organizations have jointly hosted a couple of seminars in West Virginia to focus on recent changes and developments of federal and state requirements in the past year.

The new-look Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is beginning to rewrite state rules to emphasize public safety and the environment instead of energy production. The previous law said encouraging production was regulators' top priority. In addition to the new focus on protecting the public and the environment, the law gives local governments some authority over the location of wells and changes the commission makeup to dilute industry influence.

One of Alaska's biggest oil producers—BP—has announced it is selling all of its Alaska operations to Hilcorp, a privately-owned company with a troubled safety and environmental track-record. The $5.6 billion sale includes BP's stakes in the Trans Alaska Pipeline and the Prudhoe Bay oil field, one of the nation's largest and once its most productive oil field, which BP currently operates.

California oil regulators levied more than $2.7 million in fines against Chevron Wednesday for alleged violations related to a series of west Kern oilfield leaks that shone a harsh light on the industry even as the state said they caused minimal environmental damage.

OSHA has cited Howard Industries Inc. – a manufacturer and supplier of electrical transmission and distribution equipment – for exposing employees to struck-by and fall hazards after a fatality at the company’s Laurel, Mississippi, facility. The company faces $53,040 in penalties. The employee was performing a leak test on a transformer when a drive chain supporting the equipment failed.

California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday signed into law nearly 22 measures aimed at preventing and fighting wildfires, which have caused tremendous damage and loss of life in the state in recent years. The bills were based on key recommendations from a state task force.