U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Power
Good morning, Chairmans Whitfield and Upton, Ranking Members Rush and Waxman and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to speak today on the important subject of pipeline safety.
The Pipeline Safety Trust came into being after a pipeline disaster in Bellingham, Washington that occurred twelve years ago which left three young people dead, wiped out every living thing in a beautiful salmon stream, and caused millions of dollars of economic disruption.
Born from that tragedy and other tragedies in places like Edison, New Jersey; Carlsbad, New Mexico; and Walnut Creek, California we have testified to Congress for years about the improvements needed in regulations to help prevent more disasters. For years we have talked about the need for more miles of pipelines to be inspected by smart pigs. We have pleaded for clear standards for leak detection and the placement of automated shut off valves, closing the loopholes that allow some pipelines to remain unregulated, and for better information to be available so people will know if they live near a large pipeline.
So here we are again after new tragedies in Marshall, Michigan, San Bruno, California and Allentown, Pennsylvania asking for the same things we have asked for at other hearings following previous tragedies. We are pleased to see some of our recommendations included as part of legislation recently passed unanimously by the Senate Commerce Committee, and we hope this body will build on that legislation to provide an even stronger more comprehensive bill. It is our sincere desire not to be back here again in the future saying the same things after yet another disaster.
Pipeline safety should be an easy task. The pipeline industry, regulators, and citizen groups all agree that safety is job one. Every trade association has come out with some statement that their highest priority is no deaths, no injuries, zero incidents. So if we all agree that zero incidents is the goal, then lets look at what changes in the rules can get us to zero.
Clearly providing PHMSA and the states with more funding and personnel so they can better inspect industry efforts and analyze safety needs should move us toward zero incidents, so we all should support that.
Since integrity management requirements were passed nearly 10 years ago more than 34,000 flaws were found in pipelines and repaired reducing the possibility of many failures. Since 75% of all deaths caused by failures of transmission pipelines have occurred in areas that fall outside of the current integrity management requirements, and only 7% of gas pipelines and only 44% of liquid pipelines fall under these inspection requirements, it is clear we could reduce incidents by requiring integrity management inspections on all miles of pipelines. We are glad that INGAA in their recently released new set of guiding principles commits to “applying integrity management principles on a system-wide basis.”
Likewise, any pipeline near people should be required to operate in such a way that prevents failures. Unfortunately, with the rapid expansion of new shale gas drilling in more populated areas there are now 100s of thousands of miles of gas gathering lines that are under-regulated or not regulated at all. Many of these lines are of the same size and pressure as transmission pipelines. Clearly if our priority is safety than these gathering lines need to fall under the same safety regulations as other similar pipelines.
If zero is our goal than state agencies need to continue to be pushed to improve their pipeline damage prevention laws, and the efforts of state pipeline safety agencies need to be clearly evaluated and those evaluations shared with the public.
If safety is our highest priority than the disconnect that exists between the agencies that site new pipelines and PHMSA, the agency in charge of pipeline safety needs to be corrected. PHMSA needs to have the authority and the resources necessary to engage in safety reviews as these pipelines are planned, and to inspect them thoroughly as they are going into the ground.
And if getting to zero incidents is really our priority than local governments who have zoning and permitting authority regarding land uses near pipelines need to be engaged actively in these safety discussions since more and more development is encroaching near pipelines.
NTSB’s recommendation that companies can clearly document that the operating pressure they run their transmission lines at is based on real knowledge of what is in the ground needs to be adopted. Also requirements for excess flow valve installation on appropriate multifamily and commercial applications needs to be moved forward.
I see my time is about up so let me close by saying that there are many things that clearly can make pipelines safer. We have outlined many of the specifics in our written testimony. Many of the leaks, spills, injuries and deaths that are still occurring are preventable. Instead of just saying getting to zero is our highest priority we all need to start doing things that will actually get us there. You have the opportunity this year with this legislation to help guide us all toward zero incidents. We hope you will seize the opportunity to help hold us all to our fine talk. Thank you
Full Weimer Testimony here
