Federal officials agreed to a $1.4 million fine against one of the country’s largest pipeline companies to settle alleged violations from a fatal accident in Kansas nearly six years ago.
The Department of Transportation had been seeking a $2.5 million penalty in connection with the death of Everett Leon Rogers, 59, before Dallas-based Energy Transfer challenged its enforcement efforts in federal court last year.
Energy Transfer did not admit liability in the settlement.
The company’s challenge, tracking with a national conservative legal push to trim federal enforcement powers, pulled the tragedy into a larger political and judicial battle about whether and how federal agencies should be allowed to punish companies when inspectors find safety, environmental or financial violations.
