PA Environment Digest Blog: How Long Must The Public Wait For Action On Bipartisan Pipeline Safety Bills? New Pipeline Bill Introduced

On August 7, Senators Tom Killion (R-Delaware) and Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) introduced Senate Bill 753 directing the Department of Environmental Protection and Public Utility Commission to develop new pipeline siting and safety guidelines.

“Public policy leadership is essential to ensuring that Pennsylvania puts in place an oversight framework that is consistent with the pace and scale that science demands to avoid the worst effects of bad pipeline management-- a framework flexible enough to adapt to technology innovation and advanced leak detection,” said Sen. Killion.

“The purpose of the legislation is to catalyze leadership-- reducing the risks pipelines pose to communities while allowing for the responsible development only the most essential and safest pipelines for the Commonwealth that can benefit all citizens,” he added.

“Today, more than 1 million Pennsylvanians live or work near oil and gas infrastructure. A clear commitment to require transparent safety management and siting plans will signal to communities that Pennsylvania is taking steps to reduce potential risks while working to make Pennsylvania energy development as safe as possible by requiring advanced leak detection that will not only reduce community impacts, but will also cut down on the waste of precious American natural gas or otherwise known as methane,” said Sen. Killion.

Pending Pipeline Safety Bills

On June 19, just before General Assembly broke for summer vacation, the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee amended and reported out Senate Bill 258 (Dinniman-D-Chester, Killion-R-Delaware), a bipartisan initiative to improve emergency response to pipeline incidents (sponsor summary) and Senate Bill 284 (Killion-R- Delaware, Dinniman-D-Chester) require pipeline companies to provide current emergency response plans to PUC (sponsor summary).

The bills remain on the Senate Calendar for action.

Sen. Dinniman (D-Chester) and Sen. Killion (R-Delaware) have introduced a bipartisan package of 12 bills to address pipeline issues and NONE of them have passed the Senate this year or in the last 2 and a half years--

-- Pipeline Safety Inspection (Killion): Senate Bill 283 - Centralizes pipeline safety inspection within the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and requires PennDOT to apply to the federal government for designation as an Interstate Agent in the inspection of interstate pipelines traversing Pennsylvania. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

-- Pipeline Impact Fee (Killion): Senate Bill 282 - Establishes a pipeline impact fee calculated based on the acreage of linear feet plus right-of-way width of a pipeline using the county average land value in an affected area. The funds would be collected by the PUC and deposited into a Pipeline Impact Fund where they would be distributed to the counties and municipalities impacted. Still in Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

-- Pipeline Safety – Notification Requirements (Killion): Senate Bill 281 - Requires pipeline companies to provide notification to residents, municipalities and other applicable parties affected by drilling at least five days in advance of the initiation of any project. Still in Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

-- Pipeline Safety – Mandatory Study Requirement (Killion): Senate Bill 280 - Requires pipeline operators to conduct proper studies and hydrological investigations of aquifers that may be potentially impacted by pipeline construction. Still in Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

-- Pipeline Safety and Advanced Leak Detection (Killion): Senate Bill 753 - Requires Pennsylvania and the DEP to develop clear permit conditions and siting guidelines to increase the focus on pipeline safety and pipeline infrastructure siting to reduce the dangers of improper siting, improper safety management and wasted resources. Still in Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

-- Establishing a Commission to Study Pipeline Construction and Operations (Killion): Senate Resolution 33 - Establishes a special bipartisan legislative commission to recommend safety, oversight and interagency coordination improvements for the transport of oil, natural gas and other hazardous liquids through pipelines in this Commonwealth. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

-- Pipelines Located Near Schools (Dinniman): Senate Bill 260 - Outlines types of information that pipeline operators must share with schools that fall within 1,000 ft of hazardous liquids and natural gas pipelines, including how to respond to a leak. Currently, pipeline operators are not required to provide this information. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

-- Pipeline Siting Review (Dinniman): Senate Bill 262 - Requires pipeline companies to submit a detailed application to the Public Utility Commission prior to construction of a new pipeline. It also requires approval from the Department of Environmental Protection, the local governing body of a county and the local emergency management organization coordinators in evaluating each metric, and at least two public hearings in each county where the construction would take place. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

-- Pipeline Emergency Response Fund (Dinniman): Senate Bill 261 - Authorizes counties to enact an ordinance to impose a fee on all covered pipelines in the county. If the county does not enact an ordinance, each municipality in the county is authorized to impose the fee on the pipelines in the county. The funding is distributed only to those counties or municipalities based on the total distance of pipelines in each county or municipality. Still in Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

-- Pipeline Emergency Notification (Dinniman): Senate Bill 258 - Requires public utility facilities transporting natural gas or natural gas liquids to meet with the county emergency coordinator entrusted to respond in the event of natural gas release and provide vital emergency response and evacuation information. On the Senate Calendar for action.

-- Pipeline Safety Valves (Dinniman): Senate Bill 263 - Calls for incorporating automatic or remote shutoff valves on pipelines that impact high consequence areas throughout Pennsylvania. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

-- Regulation of Land Agents (Dinniman): Senate Bill 257 - Holds pipeline land agents accountable by defining their role and requiring registration with the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission. In addition, the bill calls for allowing public access to a listing of registered agents, requiring criminal history background checks, and providing the commission with the authority to revoke or suspend them for reasons such as fraud or misrepresentation. Still in Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

This is not the entire list of pipeline bills pending in the Senate that have not seen action, just most of the bipartisan ones.

House Pipeline Bills

No pipeline safety legislation has been passed by the House either, bipartisan or otherwise. And like the bills in the Senate, many have been introduced this year and last session with no action.

The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee is scheduled to hold its second hearing of this year on pipeline safety issues on August 21 in Harrisburg to hear comments on Rep. Carolyn Comitta’s (D-Chester) House Bill 1568.

The bill would create a new Pipeline Safety and Communication Board made up of representatives of the six different state agencies with responsibility for pipeline safety in the state and other members appointed by the House and Senate.

The responsibilities of the Board are to collect and disseminate public information on planning, siting, operation and safety of pipelines and to coordinate communications with federal, state and local government agencies and pipeline companies and the public.

The Committee held a hearing on May 30 in Delaware County on pipeline safety issues.

Bipartisan bills similar to those listed above for the Senate have been introduced in the House, including--

-- New Pipeline Siting Review: House Bill 735 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

-- Pipeline Impact Fee: House Bill 187 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Neilson-D-Philadelphia). House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee.

-- Pipeline Safety Assessment: House Bill 889 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

-- Sharing Emergency Response Information: House Bill 890 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

-- Pipelines Near Schools: House Bill 733 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

-- Emergency Shutoff Valves: House Bill 886 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

-- Mandatory Inspections Following Shutdowns: House Bill 888 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Otten-D-Chester). House Consumer Affairs Committee.

There are more, but they haven’t seen any action either.

Governor’s Pipeline Task Force

In February 2016, the Pipeline Task Force presented a series of 184 suggestions to Gov. Wolf to help Pennsylvania achieve responsible development of natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the state. Among the recommendations were--

-- Plan, site and route pipelines to avoid/reduce environmental and community impacts

-- Amplify and engage in meaningful public participation

-- Establish early coordination with local landowners and lessors

-- Educate landowners on pipeline development issues

-- Develop long-term operations and maintenance plans to ensure pipeline safety and integrity

-- Train emergency responders

-- Enhance emergency response training for responder agencies

-- Employ construction methods that reduce environmental impact

-- Minimize impacts of stream crossings

-- Ensure adequate agency staffing for reviewing pipeline infrastructure projects

Click Here for a copy of the report.

Has anyone figured out what happened to these recommendations?