[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 30, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PIPELINE SAFETY STUDY ACT

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                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 30, 2021

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the ``Pipeline Safety 
Study Act'' to direct a National Academy of Sciences study and report 
to Congress on the vulnerabilities in our oil and natural gas pipeline 
infrastructure. This bill is based on legislation I cosponsored last 
Congress with former Congressman Harley Rouda (D-CA-48). I also want to 
thank the National Society of Professional Surveyors, Subsurface 
Utility Engineering Association, and U.S. Geospatial Executives 
Organization for endorsing my bill.
  Specifically, the legislation I introduce today would direct the 
National Academy of Sciences to review current federal regulations for 
pipeline safety and identify risks to pipelines from earthquakes and 
climate change-related weather events, whether by their design or their 
location. The federal guidelines for earthquake-resistant construction 
of gas and liquid fuel pipelines have not been meaningfully updated 
since 1992.
  Since then, the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas 
has been linked to increasingly frequent earthquakes in states with 
virtually no prior history of naturally occurring earthquakes. Because 
California is riddled with active fault lines and has experienced 
increasingly regular and severe forest fires due to climate change, my 
home state's energy infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to these 
threats.
  In 2010, eight people died in San Bruno, California when a defective 
pipeline exploded, but this tragedy was eminently avoidable. Residents 
had reported smelling a gas leak days ahead of the explosion, and 
investigators later found evidence of shoddy welds that had rendered 
the pipeline vulnerable to any number of potential disruptions. While 
this event was not directly linked to an earthquake and instead caused 
by shoddy maintenance and failure to replace an antiquated line, the 
federal government can and must do better to improve pipeline safety.
  Madam Speaker, Congress cannot begin to strengthen the safety and 
resiliency requirements for federally regulated pipelines before we 
understand the gaps in the government's own outdated regulations and 
industry practices. The National Academy of Sciences study authorized 
in my bill would do just that, so that Congress can understand the 
scope of the problem and begin to legislate the solution.
  I thank Chairman DeFazio (D-OR) for including my bill in the hazmat 
title of the ``Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and 
Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act'' (H.R. 3684).

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