[co-authors: Barbara Deathe (Senior Paralegal Specialist) and Marisa Posada Velasco]
Overview
On Thursday, May 15, the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines and Safety held a hearing titled, “Pipeline Safety Reauthorization: Ensuring the Safe and Efficient Movement of American Energy.” The hearing examined legislative priorities for reauthorizing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
The hearing centered on regulatory reform, emerging technologies, safety enforcement and threats to pipeline infrastructure, and featured witness testimony from representatives of the American Petroleum Institute, Liquid Energy Pipeline Association, American Gas Association and Pipeline Safety Trust. The industry trade association witnesses testified on mechanisms to improve the efficiency of PHMSA’s practices, including reforms to the special permit process, and on increasing penalties for rouge actors who trespass on pipeline property. Democrats on the Subcommittee and the witness for the Pipeline Safety Trust focused on ensuring that the nation’s pipeline network remains safe and subject to robust oversight by PHMSA. The hearing also focused on how the agency should respond to emerging technologies like advanced metering, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered leak detection and vehicle-mounted sensors that have the potential to improve pipeline safety and resilience. Some of these technologies were the product of demonstration projects authorized under the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260).
Reauthorization and Legislative Priorities
The Subcommittee is one of several panels developing bipartisan legislation to reauthorize PHMSA, including the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, which held a hearing on February 25, 2025. The PIPES Act of 2020, which was signed into law by President Trump shortly before the end of his first term, was the last time Congress passed a full reauthorization of PHMSA. The reauthorization process is a time for Congress to reevaluate PHMSA’s performance in implementing its legislative mandates. Several of such mandates included in the PIPES Act of 2020 remaining outstanding, including a rulemaking to modernize PHMSA’s regulations governing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, which we discussed in a prior alert.
