"House and Senate leaders on Thursday reached agreement on tougher safety rules for the nation’s vast network of pipelines in the wake of a spate of incidents including a deadly pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., last year that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes."

"he measure would double the maximum fine for safety violations, from $1 million to $2 million, and require automatic and remote-controlled shut-off valves, "where economically, technically, and operationally feasible," on new gas pipelines.

But it does not include a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to require automatic and remote-controlled shut-off valves on existing pipelines in heavily populated areas. That recommendation came in response to the nearly 95 minutes it took utility workers to manually shut off gas spewing from the San Bruno site. That idea has run into industry opposition because of the potential cost."

Richard Simon reports for the Los Angeles Times December 8, 2011. [2]