April 14, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Jackie Speier
(D-San Francisco/San Mateo counties) demanded accountability from the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in the
face of serious revelations about their lax oversight of natural gas
pipeline companies and regulators. Testifying before the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads,
Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, she called for PHMSA to enforce and
implement existing safety laws and laid out a framework for robust
pipeline safety measures nationwide.
“It is clear to me that PHMSA does not have the teeth—or the will—to enforce pipeline safety in this country,” said Speier.
“As we’ve seen in California, it is often powerless over state
regulators. Even when it has crystal-clear authority, it still refuses
to act. PHMSA is not only a toothless tiger, but one that has overdosed
on Quaaludes and is passed out on the job.”
Following a push for improved safety regulations by Congresswoman
Speier, Congress passed the Pipeline Safety and Community Empowerment
Act of 2011, which eliminated the “grandfather clause” that had given
operators a pass on gas transmission pipelines installed before adequate
testing was required. According to this law, PHMSA was supposed to
close the loophole within 18 months, but instead PHMSA has disregarded
the statute for four years.
Meanwhile, ongoing revelations of poor management at the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) underscore the need for heightened
federal oversight. This week, an external auditor hired by the CPUC
found that its gas safety enforcement efforts have, in many areas,
actually gotten worse since the explosion in San Bruno. PHMSA has not
been conducting adequate oversight of these state regulatory agencies.
Despite PHMSA paying for 80 percent of the pipeline safety program’s
costs, a crony culture developed between industry and state
regulators—and PHMSA claims they can do nothing about it. Reports by the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Department of
Transportation Inspector General found its work to disorganized and lax,
and have recommended major overhauls of PHMSA policies.
In her testimony, Congresswoman Speier demanded that PHMSA increase its
oversight over state pipeline inspection agencies and enact the NTSB
recommendations. She plans to introduce legislation to tighten pipeline
safety requirements and increase PHMSA’s ability to ensure that state
pipeline safety agencies are held accountable for enforcing safety
rules.
In September 2010, a pipeline run by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
exploded in San Bruno, California, taking eight lives and leveling 38
homes. The force of the explosion was so great that it propelled a piece
of pipe weighing 3,000 pounds for 100 feet. The National Transportation
Safety Board’s investigation revealed that the explosion was caused by a
defective weld and cobbled together pipe in a 1956 segment of the line,
a portion of the line that was never adequately re-inspected after the
pipe was put into the ground. Since then, natural gas pipeline
explosions have continued across the country, including in Allentown,
Pennsylvania (2011), Charleston, West Virginia (2012), and Harlem, New
York City (2014). The toll of dead and injured is in the hundreds.
We have been saying for a long time that lack oversight of pipelines, railroads and other parts of the transportation network. The recent rupture of the Plains All American Cheapskates pipeline in Santa Barbara, CA is yet another testament of the state of the pipeline networks.
