Pub.L. 104-305 To combat drug-facilitated crimes of violence, including sexual assaults. <> ...

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[[Page 110 STAT. 3793]]

Public Law 104-304
104th Congress

                                 An Act


 
  To reduce risk to public safety and the environment associated with 
 pipeline transportation of natural gas and hazardous liquids, and for 
          other purposes. <<NOTE: Oct. 12, 1996 -  [S. 1505]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress <<NOTE: Accountable Pipeline Safety 
and Partnership Act of 1996.>> assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT <<NOTE: 49 USC 60101 note.>> TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accountable Pipeline Safety and 
Partnership Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

    Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an 
amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal 
of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to 
be made to a section or other provision of title 49, United States Code.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 60101(a) is amended--
            (1) by striking the periods at the end of paragraphs (1) 
        through (22) and inserting semicolons;
            (2) by striking paragraph (21)(B) and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(B) does not include the gathering of gas, other 
                than gathering through regulated gathering lines, in 
                those rural locations that are located outside the 
                limits of any incorporated or unincorporated city, town, 
                or village, or any other designated residential or 
                commercial area (including a subdivision, business, 
                shopping center, or community development) or any 
                similar populated area that the Secretary of 
                Transportation determines to be a nonrural area, except 
                that the term `transporting gas' includes the movement 
                of gas through regulated gathering lines;''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(23) `risk management' means the systematic application, 
        by the owner or operator of a pipeline facility, of management 
        policies, procedures, finite resources, and practices to the 
        tasks of identifying, analyzing, assessing, reducing, and 
        controlling risk in order to protect employees, the general 
        public, the environment, and pipeline facilities;
            ``(24) `risk management plan' means a management plan 
        utilized by a gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility owner or 
        operator that encompasses risk management; and
            ``(25) `Secretary' means the Secretary of Transportation.''.

[[Page 110 STAT. 3794]]

    (b) Gathering Lines.--Section 60101(b)(2) is amended by inserting 
``, if appropriate,'' after ``Secretary'' the first place it appears.

SEC. 4. GENERAL AUTHORITY.

    (a) Minimum Safety Standards.--Section 60102(a) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``transporters of gas and hazardous liquid 
        and to'' in paragraph (1)(A);
            (2) by striking paragraph (1)(C) and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(C) shall include a requirement that all 
                individuals who operate and maintain pipeline facilities 
                shall be qualified to operate and maintain the pipeline 
                facilities.''; and
             (3) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
            ``(2) The qualifications applicable to an individual who 
        operates and maintains a pipeline facility shall address the 
        ability to recognize and react appropriately to abnormal 
        operating conditions that may indicate a dangerous situation or 
        a condition exceeding design limits. The operator of a pipeline 
        facility shall ensure that employees who operate and maintain 
        the facility are qualified to operate and maintain the pipeline 
        facilities.''.

    (b) Practicability and Safety Needs Standards.--Section 60102(b) is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Practicability and Safety Needs Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--A standard prescribed under subsection 
        (a) shall be--
                    ``(A) practicable; and
                    ``(B) designed to meet the need for--
                          ``(i) gas pipeline safety, or safely 
                      transporting hazardous liquids, as appropriate; 
                      and
                          ``(ii) protecting the environment.
            ``(2) Factors for consideration.--When prescribing any 
        standard under this section or section 60101(b), 60103, 60108, 
        60109, 60110, or 60113, the Secretary shall consider--
                    ``(A) relevant available--
                          ``(i) gas pipeline safety information;
                          ``(ii) hazardous liquid pipeline safety 
                      information; and
                          ``(iii) environmental information;
                    ``(B) the appropriateness of the standard for the 
                particular type of pipeline transportation or facility;
                    ``(C) the reasonableness of the standard;
                    ``(D) based on a risk assessment, the reasonably 
                identifiable or estimated benefits expected to result 
                from implementation or compliance with the standard;
                    ``(E) based on a risk assessment, the reasonably 
                identifiable or estimated costs expected to result from 
                implementation or compliance with the standard;
                    ``(F) comments and information received from the 
                public; and
                    ``(G) the comments and recommendations of the 
                Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, the 
                Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards 
                Committee, or both, as appropriate.

[[Page 110 STAT. 3795]]

            ``(3) Risk assessment.--In conducting a risk assessment 
        referred to in subparagraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) identify the regulatory and nonregulatory 
                options that the Secretary considered in prescribing a 
                proposed standard;
                    ``(B) identify the costs and benefits associated 
                with the proposed standard;
                    ``(C) include--
                          ``(i) an explanation of the reasons for the 
                      selection of the proposed standard in lieu of the 
                      other options identified; and
                          ``(ii) with respect to each of those other 
                      options, a brief explanation of the reasons that 
                      the Secretary did not select the option; and
                    ``(D) identify technical data or other information 
                upon which the risk assessment information and proposed 
                standard is based.
            ``(4) Review.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall--
                          ``(i) submit any risk assessment information 
                      prepared under paragraph (3) of this subsection to 
                      the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, 
                      the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety 
                      Standards Committee, or both, as appropriate; and
                          ``(ii) make that risk assessment information 
                      available to the general public.
                    ``(B) Peer review panels.--The committees referred 
                to in subparagraph (A) shall serve as peer review panels 
                to review risk assessment information prepared under 
                this section. <<NOTE: Reports.>> Not later than 90 days 
                after receiving risk assessment information for review 
                pursuant to subparagraph (A), each committee that 
                receives that risk assessment information shall prepare 
                and submit to the Secretary a report that includes--
                          ``(i) an evaluation of the merit of the data 
                      and methods used; and
                          ``(ii) any recommended options relating to 
                      that risk assessment information and the 
                      associated standard that the committee determines 
                      to be appropriate.
                    ``(C) Review by secretary.--Not later than 90 days 
                after receiving a report submitted by a committee under 
                subparagraph (B), the Secretary--
                          ``(i) shall review the report;
                          ``(ii) shall provide a written response to the 
                      committee that is the author of the report 
                      concerning all significant peer review comments 
                      and recommended alternatives contained in the 
                      report; and
                          ``(iii) may revise the risk assessment and the 
                      proposed standard before promulgating the final 
                      standard.
            ``(5) Secretarial <<NOTE: Standards.>> decisionmaking.--
        Except where otherwise required by statute, the Secretary shall 
        propose or issue a standard under this Chapter only upon a 
        reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended 
        standard justify its costs.
            ``(6) Exceptions from application.--The requirements of 
        subparagraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (2) do not apply when--

[[Page 110 STAT. 3796]]

                    ``(A) the standard is the product of a negotiated 
                rulemaking, or other rulemaking including the adoption 
                of industry standards that receives no significant 
                adverse comment within 60 days of notice in the Federal 
                Register;
                    ``(B) based on a recommendation (in which three-
                fourths of the members voting concur) by the Technical 
                Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, the Technical 
                Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, or 
                both, as applicable, the Secretary waives the 
                requirements; or
                    ``(C) the Secretary finds, pursuant to section 
                553(b)(3)(B) of title 5, United States Code, that notice 
                and public procedure are not required.
            ``(7) Report.--Not later than March 31, 2000, the Secretary 
        shall transmit to the Congress a report that--
                    ``(A) describes the implementation of the risk 
                assessment requirements of this section, including the 
                extent to which those requirements have affected 
                regulatory decisionmaking and pipeline safety; and
                    ``(B) includes any recommendations that the 
                Secretary determines would make the risk assessment 
                process conducted pursuant to the requirements under 
                this chapter a more effective means of assessing the 
                benefits and costs associated with alternative 
                regulatory and nonregulatory options in prescribing 
                standards under the Federal pipeline safety regulatory 
                program under this chapter.''.

    (c) Facility Operation Information Standards.--The first sentence of 
section 60102(d) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``as required by the standards prescribed 
        under this chapter'' after ``operating the facility'';
            (2) by striking ``to provide the information'' and inserting 
        ``to make the information available''; and
            (3) by inserting ``as determined by the Secretary'' after 
        ``to the Secretary and an appropriate State official''.

    (d) Pipe Inventory Standards.--The first sentence of section 
60102(e) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and, to the extent the Secretary considers 
        necessary, an operator of a gathering line that is not a 
        regulated gather line (as defined under section 60101(b)(2) of 
        this title),''; and
            (2) by striking ``transmission'' and inserting 
        ``transportation''.

    (e) Smart Pigs.--
            (1) Minimum safety standards.--Section 60102(f) is amended 
        by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
            ``(1) Minimum safety standards.--The Secretary shall 
        prescribe minimum safety standards requiring that--
                    ``(A) the design and construction of new natural gas 
                transmission pipeline or hazardous liquid pipeline 
                facilities, and
                    ``(B) when the replacement of existing natural gas 
                transmission pipeline or hazardous liquid pipeline 
                facilities or equipment is required, the replacement of 
                such existing facilities be carried out, to the extent 
                practicable, in a manner so as to accommodate the 
                passage through such natural gas transmission pipeline 
                or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities of instrumented 
                internal inspection devices

[[Page 110 STAT. 3797]]

                (commonly referred to as `smart pigs'). The Secretary 
                may extend such standards to require existing natural 
                gas transmission pipeline or hazardous liquid pipeline 
                facilities, whose basic construction would accommodate 
                an instrumented internal inspection device to be 
                modified to permit the inspection of such facilities 
                with instrumented internal inspection devices.''.
            (2) Periodic inspections.--Section 60102(f)(2) is amended--
                     (A) by striking ``(2) Not later than'' and 
                inserting the following:
            ``(2) Periodic inspections.--Not later than''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, if necessary, additional'' 
                after ``the Secretary shall prescribe''.

    (f) Updating Standards.--Section 60102 is amended by adding at the 
end the following:
    ``(l) Updating Standards.--The Secretary shall, to the extent 
appropriate and practicable, update incorporated industry standards that 
have been adopted as part of the Federal pipeline safety regulatory 
program under this chapter.''.
    (g) Mapping.--Section 60102(c) is amended by adding at the end 
thereof the following:
            ``(4) Promoting public awareness.--
                    ``(A) Not later than one year after the date of 
                enactment of the Accountable Pipeline Safety and 
                Accountability Act of 1996, and annually thereafter, the 
                owner or operator of each interstate gas pipeline 
                facility shall provide to the governing body of each 
                municipality in which the interstate gas pipeline 
                facility is located, a map identifying the location of 
                such facility.
                    ``(B)(i) Not later than June 1, 1998, the Secretary 
                shall survey and assess the public education programs 
                under section 60116 and the public safety programs under 
                section 60102(c) and determine their effectiveness and 
                applicability as components of a model program. In 
                particular, the survey shall include the methods by 
                which operators notify residents of the location of the 
                facility and its right of way, public information 
                regarding existing One-Call programs, and appropriate 
                procedures to be followed by residents of affected 
                municipalities in the event of accidents involving 
                interstate gas pipeline facilities.
                    ``(ii) Not later than one year after the survey and 
                assessment are completed, the Secretary shall institute 

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