By the OGJ Online Staff
WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 19 --The Bush administration's top pipeline safety official last week told a House subcommittee she is working diligently to better enforce regulatory mandates that government officials and consumer groups say have been neglected for far too long.
"I am determined to wipe the slate clean within 12 months," said Ellen Engleman, administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration's Office of Pipeline Safety within the Department of Transportation.
"At the beginning of my tenure, there were 65 outstanding mandates and recommendations," Engleman told the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
"We are making progress on the congressional mandates, completing four important rulemakings last month on integrity management, repair, and accident reporting and corrosion control for hazardous liquid pipelines."
She predicted that by month's end OPS will have dealt with nearly 50% of the remaining National Transportation Safety Board, Inspector General, and General Accounting Office recommendations in a "meaningful way."
Gas pipeline officials told the subcommittee they anticipate OPS will issue a proposed natural gas pipeline integrity rule in April or May. Pending pipeline legislation is also on the table in Congress.
Congressional staff predict that, in the Senate, lawmakers may try to attach pipeline safety legislation to the massive energy reform bill due for debate later this month. A comprehensive energy bill that passed the House in August does not address the issue.
Sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), S. 235 passed the Senate 98-0 in February 2001.
Industry opposes portions of the bill, saying it is too prescriptive. The legislation requires industry to inspect most pipelines every 5 years. It also raises the civil penalty for each safety infraction from $25,000 to $500,000 and raises the maximum civil penalty for more than one violation from $500,000 to $1 million. Pipeline operators also must report any release of hazardous liquids or carbon dioxide over 5 gal to OPS.
William J. Haener, executive vice-president of CMS Energy Corp. and testifying on behalf of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, called the Senate bill time frame of 5 years "unrealistic" and cited a study INGAA commissioned. That report found that the unintended consumer and economic impacts of pipeline capacity shortfalls caused by inspection intervals as short as 5 years could cost consumers up to $17.85 billion due to fuel shortages, lost productivity, and potential plant shutdowns.
William H. Shea, president and CEO of Buckeye Pipe Line Company LP and speaking on behalf of the Association of Oil Pipelines, added: "It is unwise and impractical to require an inspection frequency by statute across the board without reference to the details that a risk analysis of a pipeline segment would provide."
House action
Almost a year later, House Republican leaders, joined by Democrats from oil producing states, introduced their own legislation last December that is seen as more industry-friendly but which has come under harsh criticism from safety advocates and environmental groups. Opponents of the bill say it relies too much on the goodwill of industry to ensure aging pipelines are repaired and maintained in timely manner.
Subcommittee Chairman Tom Petri (R-Wis.) and his cosponsors of HR 3609 are proposing legislation that reauthorizes a total of $262.8 million for OPS through fiscal 2005.
Their bill allows pipeline companies to develop and implement their own safety programs, certified by DOT (or its designee).
The bill also increases penalties and fines for violations and enables OPS to direct an operator to take immediate corrective actions for potentially unsafe conditions.
The legislation also improves underground damage prevention programs ("one-call" notification programs) by requiring that municipal and state government excavators and their contractors participate in the program.
The House bill supplements DOT's current research and development efforts by creating a program to develop new technologies in areas including materials inspection techniques, risk assessment methodology, leak detection technologies, and information systems surety.
Homeland security concerns
There also is language in the pipeline safety bill that deals with new homeland security issues Congress never thought it would have to consider before the terrorist attacks on US soil on Sept. 11, 2001.
The House bill directs DOT to make recommendations regarding remedying vulnerabilities to terrorism and directs the secretary to review access to pipeline maps. And the legislation requires operators to develop terrorism security programs to be implemented in the event of an attack on a facility or other infrastructure asset.
A competing House bill sponsored by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation committee, increases state oversight of interstate natural gas and hazardous liquids pipelines. States now regulate only intrastate pipelines and facilities. Industry opposes the legislation, which has the support of the powerful ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.)
