anniversary a national pipeline safety day commemorating in part the tragic accident in bellingham washington and other similar tragedies name a building for galveston the stork will foundation but there are some questions raised technical questions raised and then we will pull that building and resolve those matters and bring it up in another mark recognize recreational boating modernize the coast guard authorize maritime career training program give the coast guard additional authority to sustain safety of the nation's waterways and improve our coastal water quality standards salutes the aircraft owners and pilots association on its seventh anniversary in addition it recognizes a opus dedication to general aviation safety and the important contributions that the general aviation community provides to the united states the resolution also commands aopa for creating the air safety foundation which provides world class general aviation safety training and education leading the recovery of the general aviation light aircraft manufacturing industry set the stage for the development of the next generation air transportation system by being an early proponent of the civilian use of global positioning system since one thousand and thirty nine aopa has effectively served as a voice of general aviation in the united states aopa was a leading advocate of the general aviation revitalization act of one thousand nine hundred four and in recent years has been active on many general aviation issues such as the f a a reauthorization bill general makes a significant contribution to the national economy for many communities general aviation is the only option for air transportation moreover general aviation provides specialized air services to all communities such as and traffic patrol mr chairman i congratulate aopa on the celebration of that seven the at the anniversary i support a resolution h rest for seventy two and urge my colleagues to do the same i thank the express my concern last night i had a call from one of my staffers out in the district i was talking to one of your members on your side of the aisle about and about infrastructure she told me i had one form staffer who's about to lose your house doesn't work for for me anymore and six people in a similar situation or without jobs that they had staff to talk to my only regret taken about it woke up this morning thinking about how frustrated i am that we couldn't do more in putting people to work sooner it's just such a frustrating when you see the pain that people are in unemployment out there i think we're about to turn it around and we did probably as best we could given the circumstances but a frustration i wanted to express and then i also want to thank the chairman let our side know and i'm sure you're counseling with your side that we are making progress although we don't have the the major transportation bill forward that leadership on the committee has been working in a bipartisan manner and i want to thank the staff s both sides of the aisle for that effort we had a lot of member projects i don't know why but they seem to want to offer suggestions for projects for their districts but we've made good progress and people did try to vet them and submit them and we'll try to move forward with those and even though we we have a slight delay we are moving forward very one of the best bipartisan efforts i've thank everybody for their courtesan consideration on this on on may fifteenth two thousand and nine the aircraft owners and pilots association or a opus more commonly referred to celebrated its seventieth anniversary and since its inception on the eve of the second world war the open has grown to be one of the strongest voices for general aviation in the united states throughout its rich rich rich history aopa develop and maintain close working relationships with the federal government agencies including the department of  transportation department homeland security the federal aviation administration and the transportation security administration and by working closely with these agencies aopa has helped our nation create the safest most efficient aviation system in the world over the last seventy was also fostered a dynamic relationship with congress and specifically the members of this committee the associations first political activity was u s senate to pass legislation establishing the civilian pilot training program which allowed thousands of membership exceeds four hundred thousand including seven out of every ten pilots in this country confident that every member of congress currently has a valuable relationship with general aviation pilots flying in their districts on a personal note  believe the passage of this resolution congratulating aopa seventy years of service to our nation is a fitting way to salute the many pilots who helped make our aviation system the safest and most efficient the world at this time i yield back the balance of my time i thank the gentleman for actual construction work in progress the job description and dollar amounts committed to the various contracts across the country and we have we have and will continue to update each month accountable or see the progress being made under the recovery act and if progress isn't being made and if the figures that we report which we're getting directly from  it's a flash drive that connects with our committee web site so the information you're seeing on site differs from the information you're getting please let us know about it i want i want to know  bipartisan support for a very robust investment in surface transportation projects ready to go that that could be put under construction within ninety days u sixty four billion dollars that our committee is responsible for in the recovery act and will continue and this can continue its oversight to vigorous rigorous oversight of the implementation of together we're going to we're not going to be able to achieve the goal i intended to make this observation at the end of the market we're not going to achieve the goal that i had of getting a bill to the floor by the end of this month simply because there just isn't enough staffing capability in the office of legislative council to craft all the complex legislative language needed to translate the concepts into legislative form this is a transformational bill transform the department of transportation will transform the programs of the o t and transform our delivery and the state's delivery of transportation services highways transit ferryboats and bicycling walking and all the rest and we will but we will my goal is that we'll have a subcommittee market by the end of this month and then in tandem with the ways and means of bringing our bill the completed full bill through the full committee in july and then in tandem with the ways and means to the house floor by the end of july actually airport is is located reagan in virginia is essentially shut down still for g to the general general aviation despite the instrumental work of this committee this committee and  strong bipartisan terms got to the airport generation airport opened finally by not letting this issue rest  and what the response of the agency was was to make general aviation nevertheless impossible here i think we've gone down from two thousand a month to two hundred or a year and to two hundred a year out i will get those figures for the record and the reason is that  a a plane from here to new york for example you've got to have armed federal marshal on after being after b after going through all the strictures to make sure that there's no danger you still have to have an armed federal marshal you know if you've got four people that takes up one seat and you know everybody but the federal marshals you you've got to thaw out three say to the committee we'll show you you can make us open it all you want to but we're going to make it so on earth that we will essentially keep general aviation shut down in the nation's capital the signal we're sending what is it seven years after nine eleven is that the united states of america the all powerful united states of america has not found a way to keep its capital safe so it shuts down small planes coming in this is chairman general aviation was within a few days after nine eleven in case nobody remembers manhattan was struck it's a place full of skyscrapers and yet in the interest of commerce and communication and is a strong power they said you won't shut us down we will show you we will be up and it won't be just the seven forty seven's it will be all of us up in the air at every jurisdiction the united states has done that an exec the nation's capital and i want to know it here as we as we can graduate the aircraft owners and pilots association of america who have pressed for this reopening with generally you'll be we pleased to yield to the gym and i just want to make a reference an echo what  has said that i have legislation pending that would require the t s a to enter a negotiated rulemaking to deal with those onerous regulations on the large aircraft security program i think all of us find troubling we need regulations that are to say very candidly the national airports general aviation axis is held hostage by the secret service every time and every one of those meetings they're the ones who who resisted any initiative this is a case that nobody wants to say yes it's far easier to say no and it may take legislation the type mr down to as proposed to do and i know mr offer the amendment to which is including at national airport require people stay in their seats there have been many an accident in the seat because people couldn't get up to go to the bathroom and it was took a legislation to terminate that foolhardy policy look we've got to secure doors we have guns in the in the flight deck air marshals on every one of those flights we so this this is this good action by the committee maybe it'll raise the profile for national airport when i'll consider the bill for amendment are there any amendments to the resolution national pride last safety day i want to commend congressman lawson for introducing this important legislation the pipeline accident that occurred in your district was tragic and help move congress to improve the safety of our the nation pipeline system every day in the us millions of gallons of the use of the has liquid travel through two point two million miles of pipeline deliver those important commodities to the local towns and businesses in my home state of florida along we have nearly thirty two miles of pipeline one of the top priorities for the committee when the democrats took over was the expansion of the oversight role that was slowly like him and a lot of the administration to go on check back congress no where was this oversight more necessary than the pipeline infrastructure in this country which transport the gallons of fuel natural gas and has his material this continued to be a critical issue as we struggle to make our nation infrastructure safe from accident and secure from attacks it is also clear that pipeline this don't just impact the community where they happen but it can have an impact on the entire economy the nation aberration and to help restore a pipeline operation join just after and implement a number of long standing national transportation safety board recommendation the legislation also and cruise inspectors by fifty percent democrat the certification  support the goals of the national safety board and encourage all of my colleagues to do the same i thank the chair for those very thoughtful comments and very vigorous defen of this legislation this tragedy of the olympic pipeline occurred just shortly after mr larsen was elected to congress and took a seat on this committee and i remember vividly as vigorous advocacy for strong legislation to first of all advocacy and understand how the tragedy occurred and then to deal with lapses in pipeline safety and i also want to take this opportunity to press my appreciation for the young who in the following year became chair of the committee and supported our efforts to pass  larsen and it was a lot of discussion between mr dingell and mr oberstar myself mr larsen and everybody involved it was a very good example of how we work together to solve a problem  and we solve it without going too far to the left which can happen in this body or too far to the right we solve the problem by working together and we do have a a very good record now on pipeline safety and we have to continue that without impeding the commerce of this country we've been able to make it safer so this was a bipartisan effort and i want to thank everybody involved we solve the problem i'd like to see this done and all of the future legislation on the floor of the house i don't have great hope   i will recognize mr larson for his comments on the legislation mr chairman thanks for your help to advance this resolution and i want to thank the chair of the subcommittee as well u kennedy got shot i literally in my district people know exactly where they were when this pipeline exploded on june tenth one thousand nine hundred ninety had that much impact this rupture release more than a quarter million gallons of gasoline into walking creek it ignited so in a fireball racing down the creek that killed two ten year old boys who were fishing an eighteen year old man and response this tragedy and several their pipeline explosions across the country congress passed legislation to pipes act or pipeline inspection protection force and safety act since that day in june we've made significant progress and ensuring the safety of our nation's pipelines but we have to remain vigilant that's why i introduced house resolution four eight four a resolution to recognize tenth two thousand and nine the ten year anniversary of the building a pipeline explosion as a national pipeline safety day my resolution encourages individuals state local governments and pipeline safety stakeholders use this day to create public awareness of pipelines and pipeline safety in fact one thing that bill didn't pass them as chairman is that the eight one one program when one is know what's below it's a call before you dig and it's something anybody and everybody can do to ensure the safety of our pipeline infrastructure just to call it one one and call before you do this resolution as a support of our state's governor chris gregoire the walk in county council the pipeline safety trust pipeline association for public awareness the american gas association and the american public gas association so i'd encourage my colleagues to support this resolution and i want to thank the chairman and and ranking member and chairman of the subcommittee as well as my good colleague from  very vividly this is this was not an abstract issue i remember the anguish and distress gentleman's face when this news came just hit him like a ton of bricks and it was so evident a wall of  fire rolling down the river in devouring these young lads who were just out to us doing something decent recreational outing after graduation celebrating their graduation their and wasn't detected and for probably two days gasoline leaked out of the pipe and the fumes that came up through the soil and these things always happen it seems in the middle of the night but in two am the car driving along that street had a loose tail pipe struck the pavement caused  spark in the fumes that settles down near the ground they don't evaporate of the air exploded buckled and melted the asphalt and a mother and her six year old came running out the front door to see it was going on and a wall of flame incinerated them in their house these are unforgettable images and it's not that these are isolated incidents two thousand eight hundred eighty eight significant pipeline incidents over the last ten years hundred seventy three fatalities six hundred thirty two injuries nearly three billion dollars in property damage we have to maintain vigilance over pipeline safety in this country are not personnel of the federal level the federal government isn't doing enough in its partnership with the states to support additional pipeline safety inspectors that there is a need for more pipeline inspectors at the national level the state level more more and more effective federal state cooperation and more automatic shut up valves especially where pipelines go through populated speed one thank you for recognizing me in a four eighty four which expresses support for designating june tenth as national pipeline safety day i think is is a good way to highlight safety because pipelines ha historically been the safest most critical mode of transportation for gas and hazardous materials in this country every day trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of tons of liquid petroleum are safely transporter throughout our nation's two million mile pipeline system and more than three thousand companies operating these pipelines work every day to ensure that safety problems are being taken with the transportation of these materials and this was mentioned earlier ten years ago and bellingham washington  ruptured and exploded claiming three lives over the past decade there has been considerable improvements in the area pipeline safety department transportation the pipeline safety community and industry and leaders have worked together along with this committee to significantly reduce the number of pipeline incidents designated you tenth as a national pipeline safety day will serve as a reminder to both local governments and pipeline industry leaders of the important responsibility to safely to deliver trillions of cub gas and petroleum products to millions of americans this resolution how it's the need to properly maintain pipelines and encourage it is element of pipeline safety programs i want to commend the gentleman from washington for putting forward this resolution and i urge my colleagues to support it and that must include maintaining vigilance or thought of protection that is the electronic electrical power signals that surround a pipe and keep that product of the benefit of the of the tragedy of bellingham to assure that that construction companies working in the vicinity of pipelines call ahead discern where pipelines are and take proper precautions and we had a pipeline failure just two years ago in my district liquid petroleum pipeline outing up seventy feet into the air we don't have oil in northern minnesota passing motorists saw this guys are spouting into the air and he was absolutely astonished but within sixty seconds from his call the pipeline was shut off from remote sensing station in oklahoma and and it's that kind of right we have a vote on the floor we'll conclude with the can put action on this bill and recess pending this and any subsequent vote and resume as soon as pending this vote on the read to the resolution pending on those fou