Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey / Axios
With demand rising for natural gas projects, Congress is teeing up a long-overdue reauthorization of the federal pipeline safety program.
Why it matters: Republicans and Democrats diverge on how aggressively to regulate pipeline operators, who are pressing the GOP-led Congress for a lighter touch on more than 3 million miles of regulated pipelines.
- A 2020 Princeton University study projected that 65,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipelines could be needed by 2050.
Driving the news: The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee heard at a hearing Thursday from three gas industry officials and the Pipeline Safety Trust, an independent industry watchdog.
- Committee Chair Ted Cruz attacked Democrats for failing to nominate a PHMSA director and to hold a hearing on pipeline safety in the last Congress.
- Cruz also railed against "extraneous requirements" on special pipeline permits and a Biden administration leak detection rule that regulated LNG facilities and underground gas storage.
- And aiming at environmental activists protesting pipeline projects, he called for passage of legislation to strengthen criminal penalties for vandalism.
Cruz said he plans to hold a confirmation hearing soon for Paul Roberti, a Rhode Island lawyer and utility regulator who's President Trump's nominee for PHMSA administrator.
The other side: The industry's record is at an historic "low point," said Bill Caram, the watchdog's executive director.
- He cited a lack of funding for PHSMA that he said has sapped state utility commissions and pipeline inspectors of resources.
- PHMSA's annual budget for pipeline safety stands at $218 million, which has gradually risen over the last decade.
- "Not only has the agency been chronically underfunded," he said, the "potential buildout of carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines demand an increase in resources from Congress, both to the agency and just as significantly to state programs."
PHMSA has reported a 90% drop-off of enforcement cases since Trump took office. Sen. Maria Cantwell told Caram she's sending a letter to PHMSA demanding answers on the issue.
Between the lines: Republicans and industry regard aspects of the pipeline safety program — last renewed in 2020 — as an impediment.
- The previous administration expanded PHMSA's purview "beyond the congressional mandate into environmental issues like climate change," said Robin Rorick, vice president of midstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute.
What we're watching: How PHMSA seeks to regulate carbon-dioxide pipelines — key linkages in carbon capture and storage efforts that came under scrutiny after a Mississippi pipeline leak sickened dozens of people.
- The Biden White House announced stronger standards for carbon-dioxide pipelines in January.
