Review - S 2971 Introduced – Gas Transportation Definition

Earlier this month Sen Sheehy (R,WY) introduced S 2971, the Plant Safety Authorities Coordination Act of 2025. This bill would modify the current definition of the term ‘transporting gas’ in 49 USC 60101. The bill would remove from the definition ‘in-plant piping systems'. No new spending is authorized.

Moving Forward

Sheehy is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in committee. I expect that there would be some level of bipartisan support for this bill, though there may be some environmental opposition. This bill is not politically important enough to be considered by the Senate under regular order, and the environmental opposition would almost certainly stop consideration under the Senate’s unanimous consent process.

                        

For more details about the provisions of this bill, including a commentary on the lack of apparent need, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2971-introduced-gas-transportation - subscription required.