Ted Cruz: This Is Proof That 'The Biden Administration Didn't Give A Damn About Pipeline Safety'

Forbes Breaking News

At Thursday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke about pipeline safety policy.

Transcript

00:00What federal policies would ensure that energy America needs is affordable, reliable, and safe?

00:08The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA,

00:12is the agency within the Department of Transportation responsible for overseeing pipeline safety.

00:18This is no small task, with over 3 million miles of oil, natural gas,

00:24and other hazardous liquid pipelines all across this nation.

00:28Good federal policy would ensure that pipeline operators have a clear understanding of the safety requirements,

00:36federal regulations are based on data and address risk appropriately,

00:41and the regulations are cost-effective.

00:45So what was the previous administration's policy on pipeline safety?

00:49One maxim of politics is that personnel is policy.

00:54If that's the case, then the Biden administration didn't give a damn about pipeline safety

01:01because they didn't nominate anyone to be the PHMSA administrator.

01:06That's right.

01:07It's not that they nominated someone and then withdrew that person.

01:11They simply never bothered to nominate any human being to lead the pipeline safety agency.

01:19Instead, they relied on a deputy administrator for the entire four years,

01:25a position that is not confirmed by the United States Senate.

01:29That was a shameful dereliction of duty.

01:33Unfortunately, in that entire time, this committee never held a single hearing on pipeline safety

01:39for those entire four years, denying us any opportunity for oversight.

01:44So there was nobody nominated by the president in the position, nobody confirmed by the Senate in the position,

01:49and this committee held zero hearings on pipeline safety.

01:54That gives you an indication of what priority they put on this topic.

01:59President Trump has corrected this error by nominating Paul Roberti to lead PHMSA.

02:06I hope to hold a hearing on his nomination very soon.

02:10The unaccountable Biden PHMSA also attempted to remake the pipeline safety agency into a climate change agency

02:19because every agency in the federal government under Biden was a climate change agency

02:23instead of doing what its damn purpose was,

02:26not only duplicating the work of other agencies,

02:30but disregarding the explicit statutory language that Congress carefully negotiated.

02:36One egregious example of the Biden PHMSA's overreach

02:40is the Natural Gas Leak Detection and Repair Rule

02:44in which PHMSA included the regulation of underground natural gas storage

02:50and liquefied natural gas facilities despite the statute explicitly

02:55not including those among the list of facilities to be addressed by that rulemaking.

03:01It's notable that more actions finalized during the Biden PHMSA

03:07were overturned by a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

03:11than any other administration since Congress created the agency in 2004.

03:18Listen to that again.

03:2021 years ago, Congress created that agency.

03:23The last four years under President Biden,

03:26they had more of their actions overturned by a federal court of appeals

03:30than any administration in history.

03:33I suppose that's not surprising given that they didn't have anyone named to run the agency

03:38and they didn't have the Senate engaged in oversight on them.

03:43Fortunately, President Trump stopped the leak detection rule before it could be promulgated.

03:48This Congress, we have the opportunity to debate

03:53and to pass a pipeline safety reauthorization.

04:00Today's hearing is designed to help inform that discussion.

04:04One topic I expect to hear from the witnesses

04:06is the threat to pipeline safety from eco-terrorists.

04:12Though the current statute has penalties against individuals, quote,

04:17damaging or destroying an operational pipeline,

04:20it does not expressly address eco-terrorists

04:24who tamper with pipelines or damage pipelines under construction.

04:29The unauthorized turning of pipeline valves

04:32is a major safety concern

04:35that threatens the very environment

04:38that the eco-terrorists claim they're trying to protect.

04:41Pipeline operators have been forced to shut down their lines

04:45in response to threats from eco-terrorists.

04:49I'm proud to co-sponsor Senator Sheehy's

04:52Safe and Secure Transportation of Energy Act,

04:56which would close this gap in statute

04:58by adding, quote,

05:00vandalizing, tampering with, disrupting the operation or construction of

05:04or preventing the operation or construction of a pipeline

05:07to the list of actions for which penalties could be applied.

05:12I also want to hear from the witnesses about ways

05:15that pipeline operators are seeking to improve

05:17the safe operation of their pipelines,

05:20but for which outdated or misguided regulations

05:23are currently barriers to greater safety.

05:26I look forward to the witnesses' testimony

05:30and their response to questions.

05:31Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:32Well, thank you, Senator Cruz,

05:34for that opening statement.

05:37We'll now move to member questions,

05:40and I'll begin with Mr. Leger.

05:43As I mentioned in my opening statement,

05:45I'm interested in using this PHMSA reauthorization

05:49to modernize our pipeline safety laws

05:52and to seize on opportunities

05:54that would allow industry to deploy innovative technologies

05:58to enhance safety within the broader ecosystem.

06:03Mr. Leger, can you provide an example

06:06of a promising safety technology

06:08and what legislative changes might be needed

06:12to promote further adoption of this technology

06:15or new technologies in general?

06:18Absolutely, Senator Young.

06:23Thank you for the question.

06:25At CenterPoint Energy,

06:26we've certainly embraced new technology

06:30as well as our other member companies

06:32that are associated with AGA.

06:34I have a couple of things that we work on.

06:37Number one, one of the things

06:38that I'm really most proud of

06:40that would certainly be helpful

06:42to have PHMSA weigh in on

06:44is we are currently deploying

06:46advanced metering technology

06:48and that's a first in the industry

06:53and we plan to install

06:56the one millionth meter of that this year.

07:01Over a seven-year period,

07:02we plan to replace every single one of our meters

07:04on our system with this advanced meter technology.

07:06So one of the things that this does,

07:10it is directly affects what you were talking about

07:15is the safe operation of our system.

07:18So the meter that we are working with

07:20has a couple of sensors on the inside.

07:22One is a heat sensor.

07:23And if there's a fire on the inside of the house

07:27and the building wall gets to a certain temperature,

07:29it will automatically shut that meter off.

07:32Additionally, there's a flow sensor in there

07:34that when it gains flow

07:36that's excessive of what is normal through that meter,

07:40it will automatically shut that meter off,

07:42thereby providing safety features for the homeowner.

07:45You'll see you soon.

07:49Quite the same.

07:50Outroinder

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