Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Bill Passes out of Energy and Commerce Committee

Today, Rep. Lois Capps (CA-24) celebrated passage of the Pipeline Safety Act (H.R. 5050) out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This bill would improve federal oil and gas pipeline safety regulations across the country. The bill passed by voice vote with strong bipartisan support.

During the committee markup, Capps was recognized for her leadership in drafting the legislation by a bipartisan group of her colleagues, including Chairman Fred Upton, Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Rush, and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. During the course of the bill's drafting, Capps led the effort to ensure that the bill incorporated important safety improvements, several of which stemmed directly from the issues raised during the Plains Pipeline spill which occurred May 19, 2015, along the Gaviota Coast.

The bill includes several Capps-led provisions, including:

Language to clarify the definition of "High Consequence Area" to include coastal beaches around the country, which will ensure that these sensitive regions are subject to stronger safety standards and more frequent integrity assessments;
Requirements for additional research on the underlying causes of corrosion, which was central to the Plain's pipeline failure last May, and the best mechanisms for preventing it;
A closer examination of how pipeline integrity assessment frequency is determined and recommendations for increased inspections.

Each of these components will help to ensure that lessons learned from the Plains All American Pipeline failure are incorporated into federal pipeline safety regulations.

Rep. Capps also continues to lead efforts to ensure that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) finalizes rules mandated in the 2011 pipeline safety reauthorization on automatic shutoff valves and leak detection. Rep. Capps has met with PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez several times and has pushed for these rules to be finalized as soon as possible.

Capps' statement prior to the passage of the bill as prepared is enclosed below:

I move to strike the last word.

Chairman Upton, Ranking Member Pallone: thank you for holding this markup on such an incredibly important topic.

The bill we are considering today marks an important step forward to strengthen the safety standards in place for our nation's pipeline and hazardous materials infrastructure, a priority which I know many on this committee hold.

It is an unfortunate truth that far too many of us and our constituents across the country have been impacted by failures of our oil and gas infrastructure.

Oil spills, gas leaks, and facility explosions threaten public health, mar the environment, and hurt local economies.

But, as long as we rely on fossil fuels for our energy needs, it is only a matter of time until we are faced with another accident.

That is why we must find ways to minimize the risks associated with this industry, and maximize the safety standards that are put in place.

That means we must learn from past accidents, ensuring that we are instituting the best practices.

However, far too often we have failed to act on these lessons learned.

The bill before us, however, attempts to correct some of these missed opportunities.

I am pleased that this bill includes language to clarify the term "high consequence area" and a provision to study the underlying causes of corrosion and the best methods to prevent it.

Both of these address problems that were highlighted when the Plains Pipeline spill occurred in my district last May.

Immediately after the spill, we were faced with questions about whether the Gaviota Coast was a high consequence area and how that uncertainty would impact the response to the spill.

The language in this bill will make it clear that this region, and other sensitive coastal regions around the country, are high consequence areas and subject to more frequent integrity assessments and additional risk control measures.

Similarly, the corrosion study language included in this bill would address the heart of the cause of the Plains spill.

If we are going to minimize the risk for future pipeline failures, we must have a better sense of what causes corrosion and how to best prevent it.

And the bill also includes emergency order authority, which provides PHMSA with the authority to address industry wide or systemic problems that require immediate consideration.

These are important provisions that will make a real impact on pipeline safety.

However, there is still room to strengthen this bill.

And I am happy to report that the manager's amendment includes some necessary provisions to do just this.

In particular, the amendment addresses the need to review pipeline inspection frequency.

There is bipartisan agreement that there are pipelines, such as those highlighted in Section 12, that require more frequent inspection than existing standards.

However, exactly how to determine which pipelines should be included continues to be contentious.

The manager's amendment would set the stage to gain a better understanding of how to best set assessment frequency.

Now I know that some will say that this is not the perfect bill.

I agree.

But this compromise will strengthen safety standards, and for that reason it should be supported.

I would like to thank the majority for negotiating in good faith so that we were able to arrive at a bipartisan agreement and Ranking Member Pallone for his commitment to getting the strongest possible legislation.

This bill is critically important to my community, and I urge the committee's full support.

Thank you, I yield back.

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