WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao today transmitted to Congress a legislative proposal to reauthorize the Department’s pipeline safety programs.  The proposed legislation prioritizes safety, promotes innovation, and encourages reliable energy infrastructure in the United States.

“The Department looks forward to working with Congress to pass a robust pipeline safety reauthorization bill that will strengthen the safety of critical energy transportation infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

The proposed legislation would reauthorize pipeline safety programs at the Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for fiscal years 2020-2023.  Among its provisions are measures that would modernize PHMSA’s incident and construction data collection, establish a voluntary safety information sharing program, encourage replacement for aged local pipeline systems, and clarify certain regulatory measures to prevent incidents from occurring on our nation’s pipeline system.

“This proposal renews our commitment to pipeline safety by encouraging innovation and greater stakeholder collaboration, as well as by clarifying certain pipeline replacement practices for local distribution systems to help prevent future incidents,” said PHMSA Administrator Skip Elliott.

The legislation also includes provisions that would streamline and enhance PHMSA’s support for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, enabling the United States to export natural gas globally.  Moreover, the proposal embraces innovation by promoting research and development initiatives aimed at deploying new technologies to enhance pipeline safety and reliability. 

For additional information, parties can view or download the proposed legislation by visiting https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/news.

About PHMSA:

The mission of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives.  PHMSA develops and enforces regulations for the safe operation of the nation’s 2.8 million-mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly 1.2 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air.  Please visit https://www.phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.