Amid gridlock caused by hyperpartisanship, the 112th US Congress nevertheless passed some bills in 2011. Many came at the 11th hour when the federal government faced imminent financial default, shutdown, or similar calamities. The pipeline safety reauthorization bill, which US President Barack Obama just signed into law on Jan. 3, was a conspicuous exception.
Several factors worked in its favor from the outset, key industry officials who were involved from the outset told OGJ. “I think the important players in Congress and the stakeholders recognized that the legislation needed to be balanced,” said Andrew J. Black, president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines. “Pipeline safety is not a partisan issue, and everybody wanted the law to be reauthorized.”
“For all the talk of congressional dysfunction, the three jurisdictional committees worked remarkably well with measured, structured processes,” observed Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Pres. Donald F. Santa during a mid-December interview.
Martin E. Edwards, INGAA’s vice-president for legislative affairs, added, “It worked because virtually all of the outside stakeholders insisted it work, and lobbied Congress to that effect. They were all committed to completing authorization. That drove members of Congress to seek compromises, rather than go to their separate corners.”
Black said the work of committee and subcommittee chairmen Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Reps. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) “was one of responsible legislation and finding compromises.
Minority helped
“The ranking minority members on all the committees and subcommittees also mattered because the bill could have got bogged down at any point if they had not helped move it forward,” he added.
Two previous federal pipeline safety reauthorizations also meant there were fewer gaps to address. “In the hearings and markups, I heard broad acknowledgment that pipelines are the safest way to move fuels, and that the safety records of the pipeline industries continue to improve,” Black said. “Congress apparently thought there was not a need to do something significantly different.”
High-profile incidents helped keep the process moving instead of slowing it down, he continued. AOPL did not get the protection from third-party damage that it wanted, but believes a study Congress ordered will shed more light on the problem, he told OGJ.
Santa and Edwards said the emphasis moves now to the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration as it implements the new law’s provisions. INGAA also will continue discussing more safety improvements with other stakeholders, they indicated. “We have a good record, but we can always make it better,” Santa said.
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