Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000

Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to implement the oil and gas pipeline safety improvement recommendations provided for in the Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General's Report (RT-2000-069). (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary, the Administrator of Research and Special Program Administration, and the Director of the Office of Pipeline Safety to comply fully with certain Federal transportation law requirements to ensure timely responsiveness to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations about pipeline safety (including to make a copy of each recommendation on pipeline safety and response available to the public at reasonable cost). (Sec. 4) Requires each pipeline operator, or, in the case of an intrastate pipeline facility operator, the appropriate State regulatory agency, to submit to the Secretary a plan designed to enhance the qualifications of pipeline personnel and reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries. (Sec. 5) Requires the Secretary to issue regulations requiring operators of natural gas transmission pipelines and of hazardous liquid pipelines to: (1) evaluate the risks to their pipeline facilities in environmentally sensitive areas and high-density population areas; and (2) adopt and implement a program for integrity management that reduces the risk of incident in those areas. Directs the Secretary to require an operator's integrity management plan to be based on risk analysis and contain at least internal inspection or pressure testing that periodically assesses the integrity of the pipeline, clearly defined criteria, and measures that prevent and mitigate unintended releases. Authorizes a State authority under contract with the Secretary to review and assess an operator's risk analyses and integrity management plans required for interstate pipelines located in that State. Requires the Secretary to review and monitor such plans. (Sec. 6) Amends Federal transportation law to revise the Secretary's authority to decide a pipeline facility is hazardous. Authorizes the Secretary, or the appropriate State regulatory agency, to shutdown the operation of the facility if it is determined that continued operation of such facility creates an imminent hazard. (Sec. 7) Revises the public education program requirements for gas pipeline facility owners or operators, including specified items. Applies such requirements to owners or operators of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility. Requires an operator of a gas transmission or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to initiate and maintain liaison with the State emergency response commissions, and local emergency planning committees (or local fire, police, and other emergency response agencies in the absence of a committee) in the areas of pipeline right-of-way, established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 in each State in which it operates. Requires an operator to make available, upon request, to the State emergency response commissions and local emergency planning committees, and in a standardized form to the Office of Pipeline Safety for public dissemination, specified information as well as the operator's integrity management program. Requires the owner or operator of each gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to provide annually to the governing body of each municipality in which the pipeline facility is located a map identifying the facility's location. (Sec. 8) Increases from $25,000 to $500,000 the civil penalty for each facility operator failure to: (1) mark accurately the location of pipeline facilities in the vicinity of a demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction; or (2) comply with safety standards, prepare and carry out an inspection and maintenance plan, allow access to records, or allow required entries or inspections. Increases the maximum civil penalty for a related series of violations to $1 million. Authorizes a court to award temporary or permanent injunctive relief and to assess civil penalties in a civil action brought by the Attorney General to enforce pipeline safety law. (Sec. 9) Authorizes the Secretary, if a State pipeline safety program certification is accepted, to make an agreement with a State authority authorizing it to: (1) participate in the oversight of interstate pipeline transportation, including a plan for the State authority to participate in special investigations involving incidents or new construction, as well as (subject to specified requirements) other activities involving interstate pipeline transportation; or (2) assume additional inspection or investigatory duties. Allows the Secretary to end an agreement for the oversight of interstate pipeline transportation when the State authority has not complied with any provision of the agreement. Requires the Secretary to end such an agreement when: (1) gaps are found in the State authority's responsibilities for oversight of intrastate pipeline transportation; (2) the State actions under the agreement have failed to meet certain requirements; or (3) continued oversight participation by the State authority is not promoting pipeline safety. Requires the Secretary to continue to permit a State to carry out interstate pipeline oversight activities under an agreement in effect in 1999, including inspection responsibilities and other actions to ensure compliance with Federal pipeline safety regulations. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the collection and use of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline data to revise the causal categories on the accident report forms to eliminate overlapping and confusing categories and include subcategories. Requires the plan to include components to provide the capability to perform sound accident trend analysis and evaluations of pipeline operator performance using normalized accident data. Requires any owner or operator of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility to report to the Secretary each release to the environment greater than five gallons of the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide. Directs the Secretary to establish a national depository of data on events and conditions, including spill histories and corrective actions for specific incidents, that can be used to evaluate the risk of, and to prevent, pipeline failures and releases. (Sec. 11) Requires the Secretary, as part of the DOT research and development program, to direct research attention to the development of alternative technologies: (1) to expand the defect detection capabilities of internal inspection devices; (2) to inspect pipelines that cannot accommodate internal inspection devices available on the date of enactment; and (3) to develop innovative techniques measuring the structural integrity of pipelines. (Sec. 12) Authorizes appropriations with respect to gas and hazardous liquid, State grants, and certain pipeline damage prevention activities. Requires the transfer of specified amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out authorized programs. (Sec. 13) Requires the operator involved in an accident the DOT or the National Transportation Safety Board investigates to: (1) make available to their representatives all records and information pertaining to the accident (including integrity management plans and test results); and (2) afford all reasonable assistance in such investigation. Deems as hazardous any pipeline facility operated by an operator that fails to take prompt action to relieve, reassign, or place on leave (with or without compensation) until the investigation's conclusion any employee whose duties affect public safety, and whose performance of such duties is the subject of such an investigation. (Sec. 14) Sets forth whistle blower protections prohibiting discrimination by pipeline operators or contractors or subcontractors against employees who: (1) provide information, directly or indirectly, to the employer or the Federal Government about any alleged violation of Federal law or regulations relating to pipeline safety; (2) file a related Federal proceeding; or (3) testify or otherwise assist or participate in such a proceeding. Prescribes a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against by any person in violation of this prohibition. (Sec. 15) Requires the Secretary to create a Pipeline Safety Advisory Council pilot program to establish one or more Pipeline Safety Advisory Councils to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on a range of hazardous liquid or natural gas transmission pipeline safety issues affecting pipelines operated in the State in which the Council is established. Requires a Council to report annually to the Secretary on all activities undertaken by it to improve the safety of pipelines, and any action taken by the State and DOT to address pipeline operation safety as a result of the Council's activities. (Sec. 16) Directs the DOT Inspector General to analyze and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) DOT's assessment of fines and penalties on gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines, including the cost of corrective actions required by DOT in lieu of fines; and (2) recommendations for actions by the Secretary or Congress to ensure the fines assessed are an effective deterrent for reducing safety risks. (Sec. 17) Authorizes the Secretary to study how best to preserve environmental resources in conjunction with maintaining pipeline rights-of-way.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 13, 2000. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.