Underground Gas Storage Safety Act

Summary: Underground Gas Storage Safety Act This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum safety standards, meeting specified requirements, for underground gas storage facilities.   A state authority may, however, adopt additional or more stringent safety standards for intrastate underground gas storage facilities. Until final standards are prescribed, all underground natural gas storage facilities shall comply with certain minimum requirements, including those in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifer reservoirs and those in solution-mined salt caverns.  DOT shall make grants for research and development activities relating to: (1) improved underground gas storage safety, or (2) an odorant additive for gas that is both detectable and nontoxic.  A user fee shall be imposed on each operator of an underground gas storage facility to which specified safety requirements apply.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Underground Gas Storage Safety 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REGULATION OF UNDERGROUND NATURAL GAS STORAGE FACILITIES.

    Section 60102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Underground gas storage facilities.--
                    ``(A) Minimum safety standards.--Not later than 180 
                days after the date of the enactment of the Underground 
                Gas Storage Safety Act, the Secretary, in consultation 
                with other relevant Federal agencies, shall prescribe 
                strong minimum safety standards for underground gas 
                storage facilities.
                    ``(B) Requirements.--The standards prescribed under 
                subparagraph (A) shall at a minimum--
                            ``(i) require operators to have 
                        comprehensive and up-to-date processes, 
                        procedures, plans, mitigation measures, 
                        periodic assessments and reassessments, and 
                        emergency plans in place to maintain the safety 
                        and integrity of all underground gas storage 
                        facilities, whether operating, abandoned, 
                        idled, or plugged; and
                            ``(ii) require compliance with all of the 
                        recommendations made by the Pipeline and 
                        Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in 
                        the second paragraph of Advisory Bulletin ADB-
                        2016-02, issued February 2, 2016, except to the 
                        extent that the Secretary establishes by clear 
                        and convincing evidence that it is not in the 
                        public interest.
                    ``(C) Preemption.--A State authority may adopt 
                additional or more stringent safety standards for 
                intrastate underground gas storage facilities.
            ``(5) Emergency temporary regulatory requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Until the Secretary prescribes 
                final standards under paragraph (4), all underground 
                natural gas storage facilities shall at a minimum 
                comply with the following:
                            ``(i) All underground natural gas storage 
                        in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifer 
                        reservoirs shall comply with American Petroleum 
                        Institute Recommended Practice 1171, titled 
                        `Functional Integrity of Natural Gas Storage in 
                        Depleted Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Aquifer 
                        Reservoirs', First Edition, issued September 
                        2015, or a standard determined appropriate by 
                        the Secretary.
                            ``(ii) All underground natural gas storage 
                        facilities in solution-mined salt caverns shall 
                        comply with--
                                    ``(I) American Petroleum Institute 
                                Recommended Practice 1170, titled 
                                `Design and Operation of Solution-mined 
                                Salt Caverns Used for Natural Gas 
                                Storage', First Edition, issued July 
                                2015; and
                                    ``(II) to the extent not 
                                inconsistent with standards in the 
                                document referred to in subclause (I), 
                                Interstate Oil and Gas Compact 
                                Commission standards titled `Natural 
                                Gas Storage in Salt Caverns--A Guide 
                                for State Regulators'.
                            ``(iii) All underground natural gas storage 
                        facilities shall comply with all of the 
                        recommendations made by the Pipeline and 
                        Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in 
                        the second paragraph of Advisory Bulletin ADB-
                        2016-02, issued February 2, 2016, or a standard 
                        determined appropriate by the Secretary.
                    ``(B) Variance.--The Secretary may provide a 
                variance from compliance with the requirements under 
                subparagraph (A) where appropriate.
            ``(6) Underground gas safety research.--The Secretary shall 
        establish a program to make grants for research and development 
        activities relating to--
                    ``(A) improved underground gas storage safety; or
                    ``(B) an odorant additive for gas that is both 
                detectable and nontoxic.
            ``(7) Definition.--In this subsection, the term 
        `underground natural gas storage facility' means a gas pipeline 
        facility that stores natural gas in an underground facility, 
        including--
                    ``(A) a depleted hydrocarbon reservoir;
                    ``(B) an aquifer reservoir; or
                    ``(C) a solution-mined salt cavern reservoir.''.

SEC. 3. USER FEES.

    Section 60301 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ``an underground gas 
        storage facility,'' after ``liquefied natural gas pipeline 
        facility,''; and
            (2) in subsection (d)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (A); and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
            ``(C) related to an underground gas storage facility may be 
        used only for an activity related to underground gas storage 
        under chapter 601 of this title; and''.