During a House Energy Committee hearing before the Congressional Recess, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) spoke about previous actions to regulate pipelines under the Biden administration.
00:00This is the chair of the FOOL Committee, the gentleman from Kentucky's 2nd District, for five minutes for an opening statement.
00:05Thank you, Chairman Allad, and thanks to our witnesses for being here today. We appreciate it.
00:09Pipelines are critical to the safe transportation and distribution of oil, natural gas, and other energy products, along with hazardous liquid products.
00:17As demand for energy is projected to skyrocket over the next decade, we must ensure our nation's pipeline safety laws are ready to meet the moment.
00:25The Energy and Commerce Committee plays an important role in the reauthorizing of Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's, FEMS's Pipeline Safety Program.
00:37Under the new leadership of Chair Lada and myself, I hope we can work in a bipartisan manner.
00:43As my friend from Florida said, we will work to do that in this effort.
00:47FEMS oversees the U.S. energy pipeline network of over 3.3 million miles of onshore pipelines.
00:55To accomplish this task, FEMS partners with states to ensure the entire network is safely operated and maintained.
01:02According to a 2019 FEMS report, pipelines delivered 180 million gallons of energy per safety incident,
01:08while trucks delivered only 55 million gallons of safety incident and trains only – trucks 55 states – trains only 50.
01:18Over the last 20 years, serious pipeline incidents have been reduced by approximately 34 percent.
01:24To continue this downward trend, FEMS must operate within its statutory authority and maintain its focus on public safety.
01:30Unfortunately, under the previous administration, FEMS strayed from this core responsibility,
01:35focusing more on environmental agendas than safety.
01:39The current FEMS has a busy docket, promulgating and finalizing statutory mandated regulations,
01:45updating regulations that are decades old, and refocusing the agency on its essential mission.
01:51Today's hearing will provide an important foundation as the committee examines the status of outstanding rulemakings
01:57from the PITES Act of 2020, ways to close penalty loopholes for pipeline vandalism,
02:03opportunities to streamline processes and the role emerging technologies can play,
02:07and mitigating risk and increasing efficiencies across the pipeline system.
02:12I believe a major consideration for the future of pipeline safety is ensuring adequate capacity is available.
02:19As operators work to replace aging infrastructure, we must have capacity available to take pipelines temporarily offline
02:27for upgrades and repairs while still meeting the needs of American consumers.
02:31Pipelines are essential to the energy security of our country.
02:36I look forward to working with Chair Lauda and ranking members Pallone and Castor to strengthen our nation's pipeline network.
02:42And thank you, and I'll yield back.
02:44And thank you, and thank you, and thank you, and thank you for the effort to move on.
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