Underground Construction - October 2019 - 13

of 2019 (S. 2299) on July 31, following
passing of the Safer Pipelines Act of
2019 (H.R. 3432) by the House Energy
& Commerce Committee, on June 26
by a voice vote.
The Senate bill is particularly mild
compared to the House bill and contains
few, new safety dictates on pipelines, with
the exception of an amendment from
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) addressessing
shortcomings of distribution line safety
exposed by the Merrimack Valley accident
in Massachusetts in 2018. Markey's Leonel
Rondon Pipeline Safety Act requires
PHMSA to promulgate regulations two
years after passage of the bill to "ensure
that each distribution integrity management plan developed by an operator
of a distribution system includes an
evaluation of the risks resulting from the
presence of cast iron pipes and mains in
the distribution system and the risks that
could lead to or result from the operation
of a low-pressure distribution system at a
pressure that makes the operation of any
connected and properly adjusted low-pressure gas burning equipment unsafe." The
House bill omits that provision.
The gas distribution industry has not
come out for or against that provision
because the Markey amendment could
change as the House and Senate decide
what to include in a final bill.
Otherwise, the Senate committee
declined to include amendments the
interstate pipeline industry would likely
oppose. Attempts by Democratic senators
to "toughen" the bill, by requiring methane
leak detection measures from pipelines and
enhanced protection for industry whistleblowers, were rejected. The committee
approved the overall bill with only one
dissent, from Sen. Udall (D-N.M.), the
sponsor of the leak detection amendment,
which he expects to push when the bill
comes to the Senate floor.
One major difference between the House
and Senate bills is that the latter gives the
industry something it has been asking
Congress for: the ability to test new safety
technologies without having to go through
a long, laborious approval process with
PHMSA. Both natural gas and hazardous
liquid lines can engage in testing on no
more than 5 percent of their pipeline
mileage for a maximum of four years, but
not in high-population areas. Any technol-

ogy would have had to be previously tested
through a research and development program. If a state objected to the technology
being tested, it would have to be heeded. A
report on the test would be required, and if
that report assures the technology works,
then PHMSA can propose regulations
allowing its widespread use.
The House bill, by contrast, includes
a number of pipeline-industry opposed
provisions, including new civil penalty
authority for PHMSA; omits the Rondel

bill; requires regulations for methods of
assessment of transmission pipeline facilities that would be viewed more favorably
than direct assessment, such as the use
of internal inspection devices or pressure testing and requiring transmission
pipelines to install remote or automatic
shutoff valves, "as appropriate" -i.e., based
on a risk assessment - in pipelines running
through high-consequence areas. There is
no provision endorsing pilot testing of new
safety technologies. *

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UConOnline.com | OCTOBER 2019

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Underground Construction - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - October 2019
