The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“IMPLEMENTING THE ONE-CALL LAW” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S9041 on July 27, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IMPLEMENTING THE ONE-CALL LAW
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today I want to advise my colleagues on the implementation of the one-call notification (``call-before-you-dig'') law. This legislation, which was enacted into law as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21), has taken almost three Congresses to complete. However, this Congress was able to accomplish the goal, thanks to bipartisan support and lots of cooperation among the affected entities: pipeline, telecommunications, cable and electric utility companies, state one-call systems and numerous others of good will.
Last week the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety announced a public meeting will be held on August 25-26. The purpose of this meeting is to begin organizing a process to collect information on the suggested ``best practices'' in one-call notification. All affected parties--underground facility operators, excavation contractors, railroads, one-call centers, states and municipalities--should participate in this meeting which will be a joint government-industry effort to bring together the best information on one-call notification practices, techniques, technologies and enforcement processes. Information on these best practices would then be shared among the various state one-call programs, in order to improve performance. The ink is barely dry on the law, and already implementation rulemaking has begun. This is great because this is all about the public's safety.
This is enlightened federalism: the federal government working together with the states and the private sector to mutually decide how to protect our nation's vital underground infrastructure. The federal government does not dictate to state and local governments, nor does it try to fit private companies into some prescriptive regulatory scheme. That never works. Results come by working together.
I congratulate the Senate Appropriations Committee for including a modest but sufficient amount of support for implementing the one-call bill in the FY 1999 Transportation Appropriations bill. I hope the House appropriators will follow this lead and an agreement can be reached in conference for funding to be available in the coming fiscal year.
The one-call bill, which was enacted into law, provides that general revenues are to be used to improve our one-call systems. Realizing there is such a long list of beneficiaries from better one-call notification, this is only fair. I expect the appropriations process to reflect this principle of fairness and to fund this program from general revenues.
We have all seen the tragedies and near tragedies that can occur when accidents happen at underground facilities. These accidents are preventable, and this law provides the surest way to present these accidents. I urge all affected parties to join in participating in the August 25-26 meeting to begin the cooperative, responsible process envisioned in the one-call law.
Mr. President, I promised my good friend, former Senator Bill Bradley, when he left the Senate that his colleagues would continue the legislative effort to enact a one-call notification bill. This was accomplished this year. The terrible 1994 accident in Edison, New Jersey, showed Congress the kind of accident which must be prevented. Now a law has been enacted that can do the job. Let's continue to work together to carry it out.
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