HR 1484 Introduced – Pipeline Sabotage

Last month Rep Bost, (R,IL) introduced HR 1484, the Pipeline Sabotage and Accident Prevention Act. The bill would make it a criminal offence to cause or threaten to cause “a defect in a pipe, pump, or valve intended to be used or used in any pipeline facility”. There is no funding authorized in this bill.

The bill is fairly short and straightforward, it would amend 49 USC 60123 that provides for criminal penalties for violations of pipeline safety statutes. The legislation adds a new subsection (e):

(e) Penalty For Causing A Defect In Or Disrupting Operation Of Pipeline Infrastructure.—

(1) IN GENERAL. A person knowingly and willfully—

(A) causing, or threatening to cause, a defect in a pipe, pump, or valve intended to be used or used in any pipeline facility described in subsection (b) that would affect the integrity or safe operation of any such facility shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both; or

(B) disrupting the operation of any such facility shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.”

(2) RULE OF STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this subsection abridges the exercise of rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Moving Forward

Bost, and all five of his cosponsors, are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see this bill considered by the Committee. There will be significant Democratic opposition to the bill (see my commentary below), but that should not interfere with the bill’s consideration or passage in Committee. It will mean, however, that the bill would have to be considered under regular order since it would likely not obtain a supermajority needed to be considered successfully under the abbreviated suspension of the rules process. This will reduce the chances for the bill’s consideration by the Full House.

Commentary

At first glance this bill is a reasonable effort to protect pipelines against sabotage. But §60123(b) already criminalizes (with a 20-year prison term) ‘knowingly and willfully damaging or destroying… or attempting or conspiring to do such an act…”. What this bill adds to the mix is acts that are frequently associated with ‘civil disobedience’ actions; turning remote valve handles, disengaging control system leads, and the like. This is not to say that these actions are safe, they are not. But they are actions used by some anti-pipeline forces to get the attention of pipeline operators.

The crafters of this bill acknowledged this by the addition of the proposed paragraph (2). And on the plus side, they further acknowledged the special place civil disobedience plays in American politics by reducing the 20-year maximum sentence in subsection (b) to 10-years. But ten years is a bit stiff for efforts that are intended to be a political statement rather than a actual attack on systems.