Rep. Robert Franks (R-NJ) told natural gas executives yesterdaythe Pipeline Safety Act of 1995, which is up for reauthorization inCongress this year, has been a success story so far and that hedoesn’t think it should be changed.

“That was truly landmark legislation. And let me give you apiece of good news – I ain’t out to fix something that ain’t broke.I believe in that bill…I believe that the approach embodied inthat legislation, while at the time revolutionary, in my judgmenthas proven itself in terms of being able to contribute to thepublic’s safety and welfare,” he said during a Natural GasRoundtable luncheon in Washington D.C.

Franks has been a big supporter of pipeline safety since March1994 when Edison, NJ, which is part of his district, was rocked bya major pipeline explosion. “That brought the issue of pipelinesafety home to me as no other event candidly could have.”

Prior to the 1995 law, reauthorization efforts “were driven bysuccessive reactions to pipeline accidents. We would look at anaccident or a number of accidents and try to devise aone-size-fits-fall approach” to deal with them, said Franks, who aschairman of the House Transportation and InfrastructureSubcommittee has shared oversight over pipeline safetyreauthorization.

In short, Congress then believed that “more and more regulation”was the best way to reduce the chances of pipeline accidents. Butin taking this course of action, it was “missing some of the mostimportant dangers,” he said.

“We weren’t analyzing the level of the risk, and we weren’tapplying our resources to diminish the most important risks.” ButFranks noted all of that changed when the 104th Congress moved awayfrom the one-size-fits-all mentality and established a modelrequiring an analysis of the risk-reduction benefits and associatedcosts of proposed regulations. Under the model, which was used inthe pipeline safety bill, proposed regulations that had too manycosts in relation to benefits didn’t qualify to become law.

The 1995 pipeline safety law will expire in September 2000.Franks noted his subcommittee will hold hearings later this year onthe issue. He urged the gas industry to tell subcommittee members”what you think has worked, what hasn’t [and] what might needfine-turning.” A key issue, he said, will be the term of the reauthorization. “Whether it will be a two-year or four-yearreauthorization has yet to be determined.”

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