Pallone and DeGette Admonish E&C Republicans for Partisan Pipeline Safety Reauthorization Process, Demand Immediate Hearing

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO) wrote to Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) today condemning the Republican Majority’s purely partisan process to reauthorize vital pipeline safety programs at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).  The two Democratic Committee leaders urged Rodgers and Duncan to hold an immediate hearing considering that PHMSA’s pipeline safety authorities are set to expire on September 30.

“We are writing to express our disappointment with the lack of engagement and any bipartisan Committee process on reauthorizing vital pipeline safety programs at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). As you are aware, PHMSA’s pipeline safety authorities lapse on September 30, 2023, and to-date, the Committee has not undertaken any formal activity on legislation to reauthorize the programs,” Pallone and DeGette wrote to Rodgers and Duncan. “This lack of action makes it impossible to enact a final pipeline safety reauthorization bill by the end of this month. We ask that the Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing immediately into pipeline safety before advancing any partisan legislation.”

Pallone and DeGette went on to write that, eight months into this Congress, neither the Subcommittee nor the full Committee have held any oversight or legislative hearings on pipeline safety. The only action the Republican Majority has taken to date was sending a letter to PHMSA on the status of implementing the PIPES Act of 2020, and unilaterally releasing partisan draft legislation.

“Any legislation that will eventually be signed into law will need bipartisan support, yet Republican Majority Committee staff have not engaged with our staff on the draft bill. In fact, neither we nor Democratic Committee staff were notified that Republicans were working on partisan draft legislation until we saw a press release detailing the draft bill when it was released,” the two Democratic Committee leaders continued.

“The Republican draft bill has several poison-pill provisions completely unrelated to pipeline safety that Democrats oppose, including language that would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to overrule environmental protection statutes and shortcut the existing pipeline review process,” Pallone and DeGette continued. “Focusing on a partisan exercise will only further increase the amount of time it will take for us to come together on a bipartisan compromise that the House and Senate can support, and that the President can sign into law. The disturbing partisan process that you have taken stands in stark contrast to the one that Democrats moved forward with four years ago when we were in the majority.”

The Democratic Committee leaders also pointed out that this partisan process is much different than the one Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republicans have taken. The two committees share jurisdiction over pipeline safety. 

Pallone and DeGette concluded by urging the Republican Majority to put aside the partisanship, hold a hearing, and allow a bipartisan dialogue to finally begin.

Their full letter is available HERE.

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