DCA Testifies on Need for Pipeline Safety Legislation

Pipeline safety, especially preventing damage to underground facilities during excavation, is a longstanding priority in DCA’s government relations program. On February 25, our association testified before Congress on pending pipeline safety reauthorization legislation with a sharp focus on proposed language intended to improve state pipeline safety programs. The hearing, entitled “Promoting and Improving Safety and Efficient Pipeline Infrastructure,” was overseen by the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

In the 118th  Congress, two pipeline safety bills were introduced and passed through their respective committees in the House but failed to advance to a floor vote. In fact, legislation was not even introduced in the Senate. Although pipeline safety bills have traditionally been bipartisan measures, high-profile disputes over if and how climate change should be considered in the pipeline safety debate seem to have poisoned the well following enactment of the last reauthorization (2020).

The impasse during debate of the PIPES Act of 2020 stemmed from language that mandated the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to consider methane emissions from pipeline systems and their impacts on pipeline safety. In what was considered by some as retaliation, Republicans serving in the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee pushed for inclusion of provisions addressing project permit reform and ensuring “fuel choice” for energy consumers. While these DCA priorities would be beneficial to the industry and to American consumers, they were received as “poison pills” when it comes to including them in pipeline safety legislation. DCA and other industry leaders are working to get the conversation back on track.

The hope is to help advance a new pipeline safety bill in the 119th Congress that is similar to the T&I Committee’s Pipeline Efficiency and Safety Act of 2023. That legislation included bipartisan language intended to improve state pipeline safety programs and crack down on those engaging in criminal activities when protesting events are conducted near pipeline infrastructure and related equipment located on pipeline projects. The T&I bill did not include the lightning rod provisions related to permit reform and fuel choice.
DCA’s testimony called for a new pipeline safety reauthorization bill and underscored the need to include language that addressed several important issues related to underground facility damage prevention. To back up our statements and recommendations, DCA referred to the work of the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) early and often.

DCA’s witness was Emanuel A. Paris, vice president of Alex E. Paris Contracting Company, located in Atlasburg, Pennsylvania. Paris, who was joined by representatives from the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, and the Pipeline Safety Trust provided outstanding testimony on behalf of the gas distribution construction industry. 

DCA made its point straight out of the gate. “While there are many facets to pipeline safety, our industry is especially concerned with the enduring problem of damage to underground facilities during excavation activity,” Paris said. “Organizations like ours and leading damage prevention organizations like the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) have long supported the concept of sharing responsibility in damage prevention. A fundamental responsibility included in this process is ensuring for accurate and timely locating and marking of subsurface facilities prior to excavation.”

Because DCA has long been associated with CGA and remains very active in the organization, we pointed to CGA data to back up our claims that improvements are needed. According to CGA’s 2023 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report, excavators face essentially 50-50 odds of being able to legally start work on time due to utilities not providing timely locates, which obviously undermines confidence in the 811 system.

On top of that, CGA indicates that failure to locate underground facilities accurately and on time was the root cause attributed to 34% of damages to underground utilities in 2023. Records of the location of underground utilities are often inaccurate or incomplete and are sometimes unavailable to damage prevention stakeholders.

The legislation in the last congress addressed challenges to the damage prevention process by proposing improvements to state damage prevention programs. Specifically, DCA testified that state pipeline safety authorities should support and encourage adoption of several leading practices to improve their damage prevention programs. The leading practices contained in the last bill include: 

1. Examining and limiting exemptions to the damage prevention process, including municipal exemptions 
   
2. Requiring a “positive response” from the facility owner prior to excavation to ensure that underground facilities are marked, or that the excavation area is clear of any underground facilities
   
3. Requiring marking of all lines and laterals, including sewer lines and laterals 
   
4. Encouraging training for locate professionals 
   
5. Encouraging the use of state-of-the-art technologies to locate underground facilities, especially geographic information systems (GIS), which offer the most detailed and prolific pipeline mapping available 
   

DCA hit the need for better facility mapping hard and noted that the PIPES Act of 2020 began to address the issue. “The last pipeline safety reauthorization bill enacted into law, commonly referred to as the PIPES Act of 2020, included language that would require operators of gas distribution pipelines to identify and manage traceable, reliable, and complete records, including maps and other drawings,” Paris said. “Accurate mapping of underground utility infrastructure facilitates locating, and use of geographic information systems (GIS) is the most effective way to identify and document a wide range of data about the underground infrastructure in a given area.” 

According to DCA, ensuring the use of available GIS mapping technologies would clearly be the most efficient way to identify and document the exact location of underground infrastructure, and that sentiment is shared by other industries. Several letters in support of GIS mapping put together by DCA in the 118th Congress were signed on and supported by other national associations and organizations representing engineers, equipment manufacturers and distributors, technology experts, and labor unions.

DCA also noted past support for language that would hold those who engage in physical attacks on pipeline infrastructure accountable. Specifically, the House bills considered in the last congress would have established a criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison for those who cause a defect to or disruption of a pipeline system. Importantly, the provision would include pipeline facilities under construction.

All in all, the hearing was a success, and hopefully DCA’s appearance will help encourage lawmakers to move on pipeline safety reauthorization sooner rather than later. As always, DCA’s Regional Advocacy Teams will be holding several “fly-in” events to help advance a new bill—one that retains the important provisions we supported in the 118th Congress.