    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [October 12, 1996]
    [Page 1823]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act
    of 1996
    October 12, 1996

        Today, I have signed into law S. 1505, the ``Accountable Pipeline
    Safety and Partnership Act,'' a law that will protect public safety and
    the environment and help create a government that works better and costs
    less.
        This bipartisan bill will improve pipeline safety and provide the
    Department with the flexibility to develop innovative approaches to
    pipeline safety regulations.
        To ensure that the bill is carried out in a way that protects public
    safety and the environment, I am directing the Department of
    Transportation to put in place certain safeguards for implementation of
    the bill's risk management provisions. I note that the bill's risk
    assessment and cost-benefit provisions codify current Department of
    Transportation practices and, as Senators Glenn and Levin have made
    clear, are not to have any precedential effect for other programs.
        The Department also will ensure that risk management demonstration
    projects--new experiments in how to achieve safe pipelines--are approved
    only for superior performance by companies with a clear and established
    safety record. In addition, the Department will ensure that its programs
    protect all of our natural environment.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    October 12, 1996.

    Note: S. 1505, approved October 12, was assigned Public Law No. 104-304.