Review - S 2980 Introduced – PIPE Act

Last month, Sen Markey (D,MA) introduced S 2980, the Penalizing and Improving Prevention of Emergencies (PIPE) Act of 2023 (not to be confused with the annual PIPES Act). The bill would make several changes to existing US Code pipeline safety requirements, including removing the requirement for the consideration of cost-benefit analysis in new pipeline regulations, making existing pipelines subject to new standards, and specifically making a pipeline release a US Code violation. No new funding is included in this legislation.

Moving Forward

Markey is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Technology Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. While changes like these have long been sought by environmental activists, they have been strongly resisted by pipeline operators. That conflict would play out in the Committee’s consideration of this bill. That conflict probably means that this bill will not be considered without significant changes. If the bill were approved in Committee, there is no way that this bill would survive a cloture motion necessary for moving this bill to the floor of the Senate.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2980-introduced - subscription required.