S 1209 Introduced – Pipeline Replacement Fund

Last week Sen. Markey (D,MA) introduced S 1209, the Pipeline Revolving Fund and Job Creation Act. The bill would authorize PHMSA to make grants to State revolving loan funds established for repairing or replacing natural gas distribution lines. This bill is very similar to two bills introduced in the 113^th Congress; S 1768 and HR 4339. I have discussed the details in the post on S 1768. Neither bill was considered in committee in the last session.

Funds like this where the repayment of principle and interest on loans provides funds for subsequent loans are a means of taking a relatively small amount of current capital and leveraging it over a period of time. While the bill does authorize funding through 2026 it does not do so at any specific level. Without knowing how much funding will be available, it is hard to argue about the potential efficacy of the program.

Sen. Markey is a mid-ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. That is the committee to which this bill was forwarded for consideration, but it is unlikely that he has enough influence to bring the Committee to consider this bill. This is particularly true since he was not able to have the bill considered in the last session when the Democrats were in charge of the Committee.

Bills Introduced – 05-06-15

Forty-two bills were introduced in the Senate yesterday (the House is working in their districts this week). Of those two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

S 1208 A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to require gas pipeline facilities to accelerate the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of high-risk pipelines used in commerce, and for other.. Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]

S 1209 A bill to establish State revolving loan funds to repair or replace natural gas distribution pipelines. Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]

Markey is a junior Democratic member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, but it is unlikely that he has enough pull to get these two bills considered by that committee.

In addition to those two bills there were eleven separate bills introduced by Rep. Murkowski (R,AL), the Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that dealt with energy issues. None of those are directly related to topics on this blog, but they may end up touching on issues covered here.