LACEY, Wash. — The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission has named Scott Rukke acting director of the commission’s pipeline safety division, according to a commission press release.

Rukke, who has worked for the UTC for the last 23 years with its Pipeline Safety Program, will oversee the commission’s office responsible for inspecting the state’s natural gas and hazardous liquids pipelines to ensure that pipeline operators comply with federal and state laws and regulations, the press release said.

According to the press release, the UTC regulates transportation companies, electric and natural gas utilities, water and garbage companies, landline phone companies, marine operations like ferry companies, and low-level radioactive waste repositories.

According to the website of oil company Phillips 66, the company operates a pipeline that delivers refined petroleum products to a storage terminal north of Moses Lake at the corner of North Stratford Road and Road 7 NE. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based natural gas provider Williams also runs a high-pressure natural gas line from fields in Colorado and Wyoming that provides natural gas to industrial users in Warden and Moses Lake.