I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 22 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance pipeline safety, to provide 

communities with access to improved information concerning the equipment and operations of pipeline facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 5, 2011 

Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. STARK, Mr. HONDA, Ms. 

LEE of California, Mr. THOMPSON of California, and Mr. GARAMENDI) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on 

Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance pipeline 

safety, to provide communities with access to improved 

information concerning the equipment and operations of 

pipeline facilities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Pipeline Safety and Community Empowerment Act of 

6 2011’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.— 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. References to title 49, United States Code. 

Sec. 3. Notice to property owners and residents. 

Sec. 4. Facility operation information standards. 

Sec. 5. Required periodic inspection of pipelines by instrumented internal inspection devices. 

Sec. 6. Automatic or remote shut off valves. 

Sec. 7. Availability of industry standards and procedures adopted in regulations 

by reference. 

Sec. 8. Leak detection. 

Sec. 9. Considerations for identification of high consequence areas. 

Sec. 10. Public education programs. 

2 SEC. 2. REFERENCES TO TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE. 

3 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

4 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

5 of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other 

6 provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to 

7 a section or other provision of title 49, United States 

8 Code. 

9 SEC. 3. NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS AND RESIDENTS. 

10 Section 60102(c)(4) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(C) NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS AND RESI13 DENTS.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one 

15 year after the date of enactment of this sub16 paragraph, the Secretary shall prescribe min17 imum standards to require the owner or oper18 ator of a pipeline facility to notify all owners 

19 and residents of property located within 2,000 

20 feet of a transmission line of the facility of— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the proximity of the property to 

2 the transmission line; and 

3 ‘‘(II) in the case of a transmission 

4 line located on private residential property, 

5 the specific location of the line on the 

6 property. 

7 ‘‘(ii) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—The no8 tice under clause (i) shall include, at a min9 imum— 

10 ‘‘(I) a method for electronic access to 

11 the information described in clause (i) 

12 through an Internet Web site and toll free 

13 telephone number; 

14 ‘‘(II) information on how to obtain a 

15 map of the pipeline system through the 

16 National Pipeline Mapping System; and 

17 ‘‘(III) such other information as the 

18 Secretary considers appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(iii) DEADLINES.—The notice under 

20 clause (i) shall be provided not later than 2 

21 years after the date of enactment of this sub22 paragraph and at least once every 3 years 

23 thereafter.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. FACILITY OPERATION INFORMATION STANDARDS. 

2 Section 60102(d) is amended by striking the first 

3 sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘Not later than one 

4 year after the date of enactment of the Pipeline Safety 

5 and Community Empowerment Act of 2011, the Secretary 

6 shall prescribe minimum standards under this section re7 quiring an operator of a pipeline facility subject to this 

8 chapter to maintain information related to operating the 

9 facility as required by the standards prescribed under this 

10 chapter and to provide that information, including any up11 dates and changes, to the Secretary, State regulatory offi12 cials, State and local emergency responders, and such 

13 other entities as the Secretary considers appropriate (ex14 cept that in the case of a local emergency responder the 

15 Secretary shall provide the information described in para16 graphs (1), (2), (5), and (6) only to the extent applicable 

17 to the local district). The Secretary shall keep on file the 

18 information submitted to the Secretary under the pre19 ceding sentence.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. REQUIRED PERIODIC INSPECTION OF PIPELINES 

21 BY INSTRUMENTED INTERNAL INSPECTION 

22 DEVICES. 

23 Section 60102(f)(2) is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(2) PERIODIC INSPECTIONS.— 

25 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 

26 days after the date of enactment of the Pipeline 


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1 Safety and Community Empowerment Act of 

2 2011, the Secretary shall prescribe additional 

3 standards requiring the periodic inspection of 

4 each pipeline the operator of the pipeline identi5 fies under section 60109. 

6 ‘‘(B) INSPECTION WITH INTERNAL INSPEC7 TION DEVICE.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro9 vided in clause (ii), the standards pre10 scribed under subparagraph (A) shall re11 quire that an inspection be conducted at 

12 least once every 5 years with an instru13 mented internal inspection device. 

14 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR SEGMENTS

15 WHERE DEVICES CANNOT BE USED.—If a 

16 device described in clause (i) cannot be 

17 used in a segment of a pipeline, the stand18 ards prescribed in subparagraph (A) shall 

19 require use of an inspection method that 

20 the Secretary certifies to be at least as ef21 fective as using the device in— 

22 ‘‘(I) detecting corrosion; 

23 ‘‘(II) detecting pipe stress; and 

24 ‘‘(III) otherwise providing for the 

25 safety of the pipeline. 


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1 ‘‘(C) OPERATION UNDER HIGH PRES2 SURE.—The Secretary shall prohibit a pipeline 

3 segment from operating under high pressure if 

4 the pipeline segment cannot be inspected— 

5 ‘‘(i) with a device described in sub6 paragraph (B)(i) in accordance with the 

7 standards prescribed pursuant to such sub8 paragraph; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) using an inspection method de10 scribed in subparagraph (B)(ii) in accord11 ance with the standards prescribed pursu12 ant to such subparagraph.’’. 

13 SEC. 6. AUTOMATIC OR REMOTE SHUT OFF VALVES. 

14 Section 60102(j) is amended by adding at the end 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(4) AUTOMATIC OR REMOTE SHUT OFF VALVES.— 

17 ‘‘(A) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—Not later than 

18 one year after the date of enactment of this para19 graph, the Secretary shall prescribe minimum stand20 ards to require an owner or operator of a covered 

21 pipeline facility to install and use automatic or re22 mote shut off valves to reduce risks in the event of 

23 a rupture. 

24 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF MINIMUM STAND25 ARDS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) NEW FACILITIES.—The minimum 

2 standards shall apply to a covered pipeline facil3 ity that is newly constructed or entirely re4 placed after the date of issuance of the stand5 ards. 

6 ‘‘(ii) EXISTING FACILITIES.— 

7 ‘‘(I) FACILITIES LOCATED NEAR

8 EARTHQUAKE FAULTS.—The minimum 

9 standards shall apply to a covered pipeline 

10 facility that exists as of the date of 

11 issuance of the standards and is located 

12 within 10 miles of a significant earthquake 

13 fault beginning on the earliest date that 

14 the Secretary determines is technically fea15 sible and not later than 2 years after the 

16 date of issuance of the standards. 

17 ‘‘(II) OTHER FACILITIES.—The min18 imum standards shall apply to a covered 

19 pipeline facility that exists as of the date 

20 of issuance of the standards (other than a 

21 facility described in subclause (I)) not later 

22 than 5 years after the date of issuance of 

23 the standards. 

24 ‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, the fol25 lowing definitions apply: 


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1 ‘‘(i) COVERED PIPELINE FACILITY.—The 

2 term ‘covered pipeline facility’ means a pipeline 

3 facility that is located in a Class 3 or 4 loca4 tion, as described in section 192.5 of title 49, 

5 Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the 

6 date of enactment of the Pipeline Safety and 

7 Community Empowerment Act of 2011. 

8 ‘‘(ii) SIGNIFICANT EARTHQUAKE FAULT.— 

9 The term ‘significant earthquake fault’ means 

10 an earthquake fault for which there is a 1 in 10 

11 chance or greater of a magnitude 6.7 or greater 

12 earthquake in the next 50 years, as determined 

13 by the Secretary based on information compiled 

14 by the United States Geological Survey.’’. 

15 SEC. 7. AVAILABILITY OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND PRO16 CEDURES ADOPTED IN REGULATIONS BY 

17 REFERENCE. 

18 Section 60102 is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(n) AVAILABILITY OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND

21 PROCEDURES ADOPTED IN REGULATIONS BY REF22 ERENCE.—The Secretary shall ensure that industry stand23 ards and procedures adopted by reference as part of the 

24 Federal pipeline safety regulatory program under this 

25 chapter are easily available to the public free of charge. 


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1 This subsection shall apply to regulations issued before, 

2 on, or after the date of enactment of this subsection.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. LEAK DETECTION. 

4 Section 60102 (as amended by section 7 of this Act) 

5 is further amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(o) LEAK DETECTION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An owner or operator of a 

8 pipeline facility shall ensure that the facility is 

9 equipped with a leak detection system capable of 

10 promptly detecting a leak. 

11 ‘‘(2) PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.—Not later 

12 than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

13 subsection, the Secretary shall issue a final rule es14 tablishing performance standards for such leak de15 tection systems. In establishing the performance 

16 standards, the Secretary shall consider, at a min17 imum, requiring— 

18 ‘‘(A) hazardous liquid pipeline facilities to 

19 have the continuous capability to detect a daily 

20 discharge equal to not more than one percent of 

21 daily throughput; 

22 ‘‘(B) natural gas transmission pipeline fa23 cilities to provide for flow verification through 

24 an accounting method such as volume balance 


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1 and rate of pressure at least once every 24 

2 hours; 

3 ‘‘(C) in the case of a remote pipeline, in4 creased aerial surveillance of the pipeline; and 

5 ‘‘(D) owners and operators of pipeline fa6 cilities to meet other requirements as the Sec7 retary determines necessary and practicable to 

8 enhance the ability of such owners and opera9 tors to promptly detect a leak.’’. 

10 SEC. 9. CONSIDERATIONS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF HIGH 

11 CONSEQUENCE AREAS. 

12 Section 60109 is amended by adding at the end the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(g) CONSIDERATIONS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF

15 HIGH CONSEQUENCE AREAS.—In identifying high con16 sequence areas under this section, the Secretary shall con17 sider— 

18 ‘‘(1) the seismicity of the area; 

19 ‘‘(2) the age of the pipe; and 

20 ‘‘(3) whether the pipe at issue can be inspected 

21 using the most modern instrumented internal inspec22 tion devices.’’. 

23 SEC. 10. PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

24 Section 60116 is amended by adding at the end the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL PROCESS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ap3 prove or disapprove a public education program sub4 mitted to the Secretary by the owner or operator of 

5 a pipeline facility under subsection (b). 

6 ‘‘(2) CONTEXT OF REVIEW.—The Secretary 

7 may conduct the approval process under paragraph 

8 (1) as an element of the Secretary’s inspection of an 

9 owner or operator. 

10 ‘‘(3) INADEQUATE PROGRAMS.—If the Sec11 retary determines that a public education program 

12 does not comply with the requirements of this sec13 tion or regulations issued under this section or has 

14 not been adequately implemented, the Secretary may 

15 conduct proceedings under this chapter. 

16 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION PRO17 GRAMS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT.—The Comptroller General 

19 shall conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of 

20 the public education programs carried out under this 

21 section. 

22 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

23 one year after the date of enactment of this subVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:29 Jan 06, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H22.IH H22

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1 section, the Comptroller General shall submit to 

2 Congress a report on the results of the assessment.’’. 

Æ 


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