U.S. House committee advances pipeline safety act

The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bill this week that reauthorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) pipeline safety programs for the next four years.

The Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2023, H.R. 6494, provides a framework to advance the safety of energy infrastructure across the United States.

The bill supports the safe operations of both traditional and innovative, emerging energy sources and the technology to support them. Further, it authorizes a study of current hydrogen blending projects; requires PHMSA to complete a rulemaking on standards for the transportation and temporary storage of carbon dioxide; directs a study of composite pipeline material for potential hydrogen service; and creates a federal working group to clarify regulation and oversight of liquefied natural gas facilities.

In addition, it reemphasizes and improves upon PHMSA’s safety mission. It directs PHMSA to move forward rulemakings allowed by Congress in previous laws to improve pipeline operations; strengthens criminal penalties for pipeline damage or disruption; increases civil penalties on operators that violate safety rules; authorizes the hiring of additional pipeline safety experts to address workforce shortages; expands leading practices for preventing excavation damage; and directs the National Academies to study PHMSA’s integrity management regulations and their impact on safety.

Finally, it improves clarity, transparency, and accountability at PHMSA. Specifically, it requires PHMSA to maintain a list of industry standards considered for adoption and the agency’s adjudication of those standards; creates a system to encourage voluntary information sharing from stakeholders; improves PHMSA’s public outreach and engagement efforts; makes publicly available a report of PHMSA’s inspection and enforcement priorities through fiscal year 2027; encourages the issuance of guidance to improve pipeline safety information sharing with the public; and increases the available funding for small and mid-sized educational institutions to participate in PHMSA’s competitive academic agreement program efforts.

“The United States is blessed with abundant energy resources, and new technologies and processes make it possible to safely and affordably produce and transport vast quantities of American energy, reversing the production declines of the past. Pipelines remain the safest and most economically efficient means of delivering these resources,” U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), the bill sponsor and chairman of the T&I Committee, said. “This bill ensures the right balance between environmentally friendly U.S. production and the safe transportation of all our energy resources, ensuring that we remain a competitive global leader in the production and exportation of newer energy resources.”

Along with Graves, the bill was introduced by U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA), Troy Nehls (R-TX), and Donald Payne (D-NJ). The bill now awaits consideration by the full House of Representatives.

“Our bill will strengthen the safety of the millions of miles of existing pipelines as well as the new carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines made possible made by investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act,” Larsen said.