Legislation to improve the safety and security of pipelines finished its long road through the U.S. Congress Thursday and was on its way to the president, who is expected to sign into law new rules for pipeline inspection and employee training, increased penalties for operating violations, establishment of a nationwide one-call system and protections for whistle-blowers (H.R.3609).

The measure also includes research and development authorizations to improve pipe quality and various elements for the inspection, security and information control for pipelines. Passed by the house and senate during the closing days of a lame duck session, it was the only part of proposed comprehensive energy legislation to make it through the 107th Congress.

The bill was first introduced by the Clinton Administration in April, 2000 (see Daily GPI, April 14, 2000), following on calls for action after the explosion of a gasoline pipeline in Bellingham, WA killed three persons in 1999. It got a boost from the August, 2000 explosion of the El Paso Natural Gas mainline near Carlsbad, NM which killed 11 members of an extended family.

Following the El Paso accident, the U.S. Transportation Department, which regulates pipeline safety, found the line had not been properly inspected in 48 years and had extensive corrosion. Rep. John Dingell, D-MI, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was a leading proponent of the measure, sponsoring several studies showing oversight by the Transportation Department’s Office of Pipeline Safety was lax and the regulations were inadequate.

The new law will provide for pipeline integrity inspections under which facilities with the highest risk factors will be given priority for completing inspections within a five-year period, which lawmakers interpret as meaning at least 50% of gas pipeline facilities need to be inspected within the next five years. All facilities must be examined within 10 years. Pipelines then must be re-examined again in seven years. Also the transportation secretary will be able to order an operator to fix a pipeline that has a potentially unsafe condition.

Other parts of the law will:

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