[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 141 (Monday, October 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12776-S12777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  FINDING ``COMMON GROUND'' TO PROTECT OUR UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in January of this year I reported on an 
important public-private partnership to protect our nation's 
underground infrastructure--electric power and fiber optic cables, 
telephone lines, water and sewer mains and pipelines. This partnership 
is based on S. 1115, the Comprehensive One-Call Notification Act, which 
I introduced in 1997 with the Minority Leader, Senator Daschle. The 
bill passed the Senate unanimously and became law as part of the 
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA 21.
  Among other things, the bill called on the Secretary of 
Transportation to convene a comprehensive study of best practices in 
underground damage prevention. This study was completed and released by 
Secretary Rodney Slater on June 30, 1999. The study has been a model 
for conducting a cooperative effort between the public and private 
sectors. All those with an interest in underground damage prevention--
the excavation community, one-call notification center representatives, 
locating contractors, railroads and underground facility operators 
worked together to produce the 250-page ``Common Ground'' report. This 
report is a veritable gold mine of practical real-world advice for all 
those involved in protecting our underground infrastructure in 
government and in the private sector.
  The study is so valuable because of the 160 people with hands-on 
experience in underground damage prevention who worked together to 
write it. Nine teams covered the key aspects of underground 
infrastructure protection: one-call center practices, excavation, 
mapping, locating and marketing, compliance, planning and design, 
reporting and evaluation, public education, and emerging technologies. 
The full study is available at the DOT's Office of Pipeline Safety web 
page http://ops.dot.gov.
 Steps are underway to keep this valuable and cooperative spirit alive 
and make the Common Ground process a continuing one, but this time with 
private leadership. This year's Senate Appropriations Committee Report 
on

[[Page S12777]]

Transportation Appropriations (S. Rept. 106-55) including the 
following:

       The Committee believes that the group effort, dubbed 
     ``Common Ground'', has the potential to serve as a basis for 
     a self-sustaining entity that can advance underground damage 
     prevention by identifying and encouraging best practices, 
     providing badly needed public education, and collecting and 
     disseminating information on damage to underground 
     facilities. The Committee directs OPS to use existing 
     resources to support the formation and initial operation of a 
     non-profit organization that will further the work of 
     ``Common Ground'' and implement other innovative approaches 
     to advance underground damage prevention.

  On October 28, the Office of Pipeline Safety will respond to this 
direction by convening a public meeting of the Common Ground 
participants and an even wider group of interests to lay the foundation 
for the non-profit organization described in this Report language. This 
non-profit damage prevention organization could be the key to a far 
more robust and effective national effort to protect our underground 
infrastructure that would be led and funded by the private sector.
  To Secretary Slater's credit, the Department understands the 
importance of letting the private participants take the lead. The 
Department of Transportation will provide the initial resources for 
startup, but will then step back, so the private participants can be 
responsible for defining the path forward for underground damage 
prevention. In order to succeed, the new non-profit organization cannot 
be federally run or federally controlled. To succeed it cannot be run 
or controlled by any one of the interests in underground damage 
prevention. It must be a cooperative, power sharing enterprise in which 
excavation community, one-call notification center representatives, 
locating contractors, railroads, underground facility operators and 
other important interests join together to make decisions 
democratically.
  The potential for such an organization to get things done is simply 
enormous, because it can include all the important affected interests 
from the beginning. The private effort and resources devoted to 
underground damage prevention today are very significant, but 
fragmented. This non-profit damage prevention organization is the 
missing piece that can pull these efforts together in a constructive 
way to create a powerful national impact on the largest preventable 
threat to our underground infrastructure. I urge all those in 
attendance at the October 28 meeting to keep this big picture vision 
firmly in mind. This is a tremendous opportunity that should not be 
missed.
  Mr. President, I congratulate Secretary of Transportation Rodney 
Slater for seizing the opportunity offered by the Common Ground 
initiative. It seems to me that Secretary Slater, Research and Special 
Programs Administrator Kelley Coyner and Office of Pipeline Safety head 
Richard Felder all have this exactly right. This effort will be most 
effective if it is privately led and privately funded. This is an 
instance, all too rare, where the Federal Government is seeking to 
return power to the private sector. I urge all the Common Ground 
private participants--the excavation community, one-call notification 
center representatives, locating contractors, railroads, insurance 
providers, equipment manufacturers and underground facility operators 
to take up the leadership responsibility the Secretary is offering.
  I will continue to monitor developments in underground damage 
prevention and the efforts to set up the non-profit privately led 
organization envisioned in the Senate Appropriations Committee Report. 
I look forward to working with all involved to further improve 
protection of our vital underground infrastructure.

                          ____________________