Calling the blasts on the El Paso Natural Gas and Olympic PipeLine systems the “most visible indications of a serious, long-termproblem,” Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-MN) introduced pipeline safetylegislation this week in the House that he says takes a tougherstance against natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines than theSenate measure passed last month.

Some, however, don’t believe it has a prayer of getting throughthe House before Congress adjourns next week. “…I think it’s alittle too late. It’s got a lot of similarity to the Senate bill.From Mr. Oberstar’s perspective, it puts a finer point on a lot ofissues, but it has absolutely no chance of going anywhere,” said aWashington DC lobbyist for the pipeline industry.

In order for Congress to get a pipeline safety reauthorizationmeasure to President Clinton before the 106th session ends, hebelieves the House has no other choice than to adopt the Senate’slegislation. “That’s the only chance of a pipeline safety billbeing passed this year.” There “will probably” be a vote in theHouse on the Senate bill next week, he said, “but that hasn’t beenofficially scheduled yet.”

Oberstar, the ranking minority member of the HouseTransportation and Infrastructure Committee, contends it would be a”serious mistake” for the House to approve the Senate pipelinesafety bill unchanged. Not only does it fail to “dealsatisfactorily” with key safety issues, he said, but passage of thelegislation by both houses would foreclose any opportunity forCapitol Hill to take any further action on the issue during thenext three years. Oberstar’s committee shares jurisdiction overpipeline safety with the House Commerce Committee.

“We are trying to find ways to bring the bill up on its own [onthe House floor] or as a substitute amendment to the Senate bill,”said a press aide to Oberstar. Whether this can be done will dependon the House leadership. If the House does somehow amend the Senatebill, it would then have to be sent back to the Senate. If theSenate opposes the amendment, the bill would be referred toconference, which would pretty much kill any chance for pipelinesafety legislation this year.

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater applauded Oberstar andRep. John Dingell (D-MI), a co-sponsor of the bill, for introducingthe legislation. He further urged the House leadership to movequickly to pass a comprehensive safety measure.

The 1996 pipeline safety law expired last month. But “thatdoesn’t mean it [the pipe safety program] completely shuts down ifyou don’t pass a reauthorization bill” this year. “It justcontinues to operate as is,” said a pipeline source.

Both the Oberstar bill and Senate legislation require periodicinspections of gas and hazardous pipelines located inhigh-population areas, as well as the implementation of integritymanagement programs. The key difference, however, is that while theSenate bill requires the Department of Transportation’s Office ofPipeline Safety (OPS) to enact regulations requiring these actions,the Oberstar measure would bypass the OPS and require gas andliquid pipelines to comply statutorily.

Oberstar said he took this approach because legislationrequiring the OPS to adopt regulations mandating periodic pipelineinspections “has been tried and failed.” It’s been eight yearssince Congress first directed the OPS to devise such regulations,and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has beencalling for periodic inspections for 13 years. Still, the OPS “hasnot issued a single regulation imposing pipeline inspectionrequirements,” he said.

From the House floor, Oberstar said he believe the mid-Augustexplosion on the El Paso system in southeastern New Mexico, whichkilled 12 persons, could have been avoided if the requirement forperiodic inspections had been in place.

Based on a preliminary investigation, the NTSB said the failedsections of El Paso had significant internal corrosion andpipe-wall loss in some areas of more than 50%. The board furthernoted the 50-year-old line had never been properly tested. “Ibelieve that inspections probably would have uncovered thesecorrosion problems before they led to [the] tragedy,” Oberstarcharged.

In addition to periodic inspections, Oberstar’s bill requiresthat pipeline employees be qualified, well trained and certified;expands the public’s right to know about a pipeline’s accidenthistory, inspection results and enforcement actions; requiresgreater accountability by pipelines; raises the maximum civilpenalty for a single violation four-fold to $100,000, and doublesit for a series of violations to $1 million; expands the U.S.Attorney General’s authority to pursue civil violations; expandsstates’ inspection and oversight authority over pipelines; allowsfor citizen involvement in pipeline safety issues; and increasesfunding for the OPS to carry out an “active, aggressive” inspectionprogram.

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