KRS 278.992: Penalty for certain pipeline violations.

(1) Any person who violates any minimum safety standard adopted by the United States

Department of Transportation pursuant to the federal pipeline safety laws, 49 U.S.C.

secs. 60101 et seq., as amended, or any regulation adopted and filed pursuant to

KRS Chapt er 13A by the Public Service Commission governing the safety of

pipeline facilities or the transportation of gas as those terms are defined in the

Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, shall be subject to a civil penalty to be assessed by

the Public Service Com mission not to exceed the maximum civil penalty as

contained in 49 C.F.R. sec. 190.223, as amended, for a violation of any provision of

49 U.S.C. secs. 60101 et seq., or any regulation or order issued thereunder, for each

violation for each day that the vi olation persists. Any civil penalty assessed for a

violation may be compromised by the commission. In determining the amount of

the penalty, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, the appropriateness of the

penalty to the size of the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation,

and the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve compliance, after

notification of the violation, shall be considered. The amount of the penalty, when

finally determined, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, may be deducted

from any sums owing by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to the person charged or

may be recovered in a civil action in the Franklin Circuit Court.

(2) Any person who willfully and knowingly defaces, damages, removes, or destroys

any pipeline sign or right -of-way marker required by the Natural Gas Pipeline

Safety Act or any regulation or order issued pursuant to it shall, upon conviction, be

subject for each offense to a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000),

imprisonment for a term not to exceed one (1) year, or both.