Congresswoman Janice Hahn (CA-44) recently announced the reintroduction of her pipeline safety legislation that would help to prevent oil spills like the 2014 spill in her district in Wilmington.
In March 2014, 1,200 gallons of oil bubbled into a Wilmington neighborhood from a pipeline that was mistakenly assumed to be empty and never inspected by its owner, Phillips 66. Congresswoman Hahn took action to prevent spills like this in the future by introducing legislation that would require companies to inspect pipelines they purchase and mandate third party verification of these inspections by the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) or a state authority.
This morning’s hearing reinforced the need for the bill to be reintroduced. PHMSA Administrator Dominguez acknowledged that, nearly two years after the Wilmington spill, no steps had been taken to instate third party verification.
“The residents of Wilmington and communities across the country living on top of oil pipelines need to know that they can trust the companies that run them,” said Congresswoman Hahn. “It is neglectful not to inspect these pipelines. The oil spill in Wilmington endangered the health and safety of many of my constituents not to mention property damage and costs to the local economy.”
The House Transportation Committee is working on legislation to reauthorize PHMSA. Today, Congresswoman Hahn requested that the chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Congressman Denham work with her to include these important reforms in the reauthorization.
