Colorado To Tighten Pipeline Rules After Fatal Gas Explosion
DENVER (AP) — Colorado officials say they will strengthen regulations for oil and gas pipelines to reduce the chances of another home explosion like one that killed two people in April.
Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the rule-tightening on Tuesday. It's one of seven steps recommended by state regulators who reviewed oil and gas operations at Hickenlooper's direction after the explosion.
Investigators blamed the explosion on gas leaking from a severed pipeline that was thought to be abandoned but was still connected to a well.
Hickenlooper endorsed another recommendation for the state to set up a service that lets landowners have trained workers identify the locations of pipelines on their property.
He also said the state will establish a fund to seal off so-called orphan wells, which are usually old, inactive wells that no one claims.
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