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“PIPELINE SAFETY LEGISLATION AND THE LONGHORN PARTNERS PIPELINE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H8773-H8774 on Oct. 4, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PIPELINE SAFETY LEGISLATION AND THE LONGHORN PARTNERS PIPELINE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, before the end of the 106th Congress, I am hopeful to be able to pass a comprehensive pipeline safety bill. On September 7, the Senate unanimously passed the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000. This bill is tough and has many public safety provisions. For example, the daily penalty for a violation of regulations increases from $25,000 a day to $500,000 a day. In addition, pipeline companies must now report spills in excess of five gallons as opposed to 50 barrels or 2,100 gallons under current law.
Other provisions in this bill require pipeline companies to have a detailed pipeline integrity plan as well as mandating stronger training and qualification requirements. The bill also strengthens the public's right to know and provides whistle-blower protections for pipeline employees.
I believe this bill is a good start. Although I would still like to include other public safety protections, I understand the need for a pipeline safety bill this year. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Committee on Commerce that I serve on but also in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure if necessary to move even more legislation, stronger legislation next year. Pipelines have been shown to be a much safer way to transport products than trucks or other methods and the current bill increases that safety factor.
I have also been working with several of my Texas colleagues and colleagues in the southwestern United States to secure Federal approval of a project called the Longhorn Pipeline. The Longhorn Pipeline begins at Galena Park, Texas, in east Harris County in the district I represent and goes across Texas for approximately 700 miles to El Paso, Texas.
This pipeline is intended to carry refined petroleum production from Houston to southwest markets of the United States in El Paso and Midland/Odessa and hopefully beyond. After much delay, the Federal Government now seems to be willing to move forward in the process. George Frampton, chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, has recommended the EPA and the Department of Transportation to include the analysis of the Longhorn Pipeline project by finishing the environmental assessment.
The many studies and analyses conducted by the Federal Government indicate that the extensive mitigation plan supports this action. The Longhorn Mitigation Plan protects the environment and all the people along the pipeline route and is of a scope and rigor unprecedented in the pipeline industry. It includes measures designed to reduce the probability of a spill as well as measures designed to provide greater protection to the more sensitive areas, including areas where communities and drinking water could be affected.
The Longhorn Pipeline meets or exceeds current statutory, regulatory and industry standards. The pipeline would be the safest in the history of the United States. I do not make this statement lightly. For instance, the mitigation measures are adjusted along the route of the pipeline based on the sensitivity of the area. The route was divided into approximately 8,000 segments, and the relative sensitivity at each segment was determined based on factors including the proximity to population centers, drinking water supplies, and protected species habitat.
I cannot begin to understand why the Federal Government has taken this long, and to have made such a difficult process in the regulatory lag is amazing. We still have time to salvage the good intentions and still have the success that was started with this process. But we need to act now. I say we, the Federal Government. Since Longhorn filed for the pipeline conversion in 1997, two other previous crude-oil-
conversion-to-refined-products pipelines are up and running. I repeat, they are up and running with not the mitigation measures that are part of this Longhorn Pipeline.
If we are interested in pipeline safety, we need to encourage pipeline companies to establish mitigation measures such as these. Working together, we can ensure that pipelines remain a viable transportation means while maintaining and improving public safety.
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