During a House Energy Committee hearing in July, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asked Sarah Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer, GPA Midstream Association about the death of a pipeline worker who died while working on a pipeline in Kansas in 2020.
00:00Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from New York's 14th district for five minutes for questions.
00:04Thank you so much, Mr. Charum.
00:06Mr. Chairman, Mr. Charum, I want to touch on something that you mentioned in your written testimony,
00:12which is that pipeline safety law currently prevents the Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration, or PHMSA,
00:21which we are discussing today, from imposing safety regulations on existing pipelines.
00:27And that was, frankly, shocking to me.
00:31It means that it will be a monumental task to make the existing 3.3 million miles of pipelines in our communities safer.
00:40Can you talk about how this requirement prevents us from making the most dangerous pipelines in America safer?
00:47And should we look at altering that requirement in any reauthorization of PHMSA?
00:53Yeah, thank you for that question.
00:54The Pipeline Safety Act, passed by Congress, has a section in it, a provision,
01:00where it says that any design, construction, or initial testing standards adopted by PHMSA cannot apply to existing pipelines,
01:10only new and replaced pipelines.
01:12So, you know, operational regulations and things like that can apply to existing pipelines,
01:18but those, you know, initial testing, design, and construction standards cannot.
01:21And what that means in practice is that PHMSA has been unable to make certain life-saving regulatory changes,
01:30including those recommended by the NTSB after tragedies like San Bruno,
01:36like requiring rupture mitigation valves in high-consequence areas that we know would save lives.
01:42So in practice, this permanently exempts about half of the nation's pipelines from and including those at the highest risk from meeting critical modern safety standards.
01:56Thank you so much, Mr. Karam.
01:57And as you mentioned, it's important to highlight something that you said.
02:00Half of pipelines in the U.S. are essentially blocked from having these additional safety standards for communities and workers on them and being updated to be safer.
02:12Ms. Miller, you represent an association of pipeline companies, and I see here in your testimony that it states that your members, quote,
02:23appreciate improved due process, unquote, for companies that violate the laws as a priority.
02:30I want to discuss the consequences for pipeline companies when they fail to follow the law and PHMSA's rules.
02:36Just over five years ago, an employee of Energy Transfer, a pipeline company and a member of your organization,
02:44was killed while conducting maintenance activities on a gas pipeline in Kansas.
02:50This employee was attempting to remove an object that had become stuck due to ice in a partly pressurized pipeline.
02:57Now, PHMSA's rules require operators to completely depressurize pipelines before working on them.
03:03But this worker was attempting to remove the object using a steel rod when the object became dislodged and due to remaining pressure in the pipeline,
03:13struck him in the abdomen, and killed him.
03:15Now, Energy Transfer is in court, arguing that it should not be held to account for the fact that it did not follow PHMSA's rules.
03:24Mr. Chair, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record a complaint brought by the Attorney General in the Northern District Court of Texas.
03:31Without objection, so ordered.
03:32This complaint states that, quote,
03:34PHMSA's investigation indicates that Energy Transfer failed to follow its manual of written procedures for conducting operations and maintenance activities
03:44at the Borcher Station in connection with this fatal incident.
03:48Someone died.
03:50Now, one of the biggest companies in the industry, Energy Transfer,
03:54is in court arguing that PHMSA shouldn't be able to hold any company that violates its rules responsible.
04:01Ms. Miller, you mentioned due process for companies that violate laws in your testimony as a priority.
04:07In your opinion, if a pipeline company does not follow the rules and a worker is killed,
04:13should PHMSA be able to hold that company responsible?
04:16Ms. Thank you for the question, Congresswoman.
04:18I would say that any specific questions about Energy Transfer's litigation, I would have to defer to them.
04:24But for our GPA midstream members, generally speaking, we do encourage that our members are able to rely on a strong enforcement protocol
04:37and that it is executed in a way that is transparent and complies with law.
04:43Due process being part of that to ensure that they are, that there are.
04:48I apologize, I only have 15 seconds left.
04:50Should PHMSA be able to hold the companies responsible?
04:54We do believe that PHMSA should be a strong enforcement agency and equitably apply its rules across the industry.
05:03Okay, great.
05:04So they should be able to hold these companies responsible.
05:08And yet we are in an environment where the Trump administration and their enforcement actions against pipeline companies...
05:13I'm sorry, the General Leeds Times has expired.
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