[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.