House passes pipeline safety bill
WASHINGTON – The House passed a bill Monday that doubles the maximum fine for pipeline safety violations but ignores several key recommendations arising from investigations of deadly natural gas explosions and high-profile oil spills over the past two years.
The compromise bill was passed by a voice vote. Senate action is expected this week, perhaps as early as today.
The bill extends federal safety oversight of 2.3 million miles of gas, oil and other liquid pipelines through 2015. It also doubles the maximum fine for safety violations to $2 million and authorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to hire 10 more safety inspectors. That’s far fewer new inspectors than most safety experts say the agency needs.
The bill also doesn’t include several safety recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board in response to a Sept. 9, 2010, gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., that killed eight people, injured 58 others and damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes. The board blamed the accident on a series of failures by one of the nation’s largest natural gas companies, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., but it also said weak federal and state oversight contributed to the tragedy.
The bill would allow the transportation secretary to require that newly constructed pipelines include automatic shutoff valves that isolate a section of pipe in event of a rupture, preventing further gas or liquid from escaping. But the NTSB said the valves are especially needed on aging pipelines in highly populated areas. Pipeline operators don’t want to be forced to install valves in those areas because it costs significantly more to install valves on lines already in place than lines being newly laid.
Lawmakers said they wanted more time for Congress and the administration to study some of the safety issues.