New policies and higher standards were implemented this past year in the state of California for oil pipelines. Three bills were signed into law to make safety standards much tougher on pipelines throughout the state.
One bill (SB 295) requires state pipelines to be inspected annually by a Fire Marshall. Another (SB 414) calls for making oil response times faster and more effective in organization for clean-up. The final one (AB 864) forces old and new pipelines near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coast zone to install the best-known technology. One such technology includes automatic shutoff valves that are automatically triggered with any kind of incidents. Advocates say such valves are a simple way of limiting damage from accidents.