Washington, D.C. – Today, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved H.R. 6494, the Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2023, which reauthorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) pipeline safety programs for the next four years and provides an efficient and effective framework to advance the safety of energy infrastructure across the United States.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced on November 29th by T&I Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO); T&I Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA); Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chairman Troy Nehls (R-TX); and Subcommittee Ranking Member Donald M. Payne Jr. (R-NJ). The bill was approved by voice vote and now awaits consideration by the full House of Representatives.
“The United States is blessed with abundant energy resources, and new technologies and processes make it possible to safely and affordably produce and transport vast quantities of American energy, reversing the production declines of the past. Pipelines remain the safest and most economically efficient means of delivering these resources,” said Graves. “This bill ensures the right balance between environmentally-friendly U.S. production and the safe transportation of all our energy resources, ensuring that we remain a competitive global leader in the production and exportation of newer energy resources. I want to thank Chairman Nehls and Ranking Members Larsen and Payne for their hard work in developing this bipartisan bill.”
“Increasing pipeline safety has been a priority of mine throughout my time in Congress, and passing the bipartisan PIPES Act today is an important step in advancing that goal,” said Larsen. “Our bill will strengthen the safety of the millions of miles of existing pipelines as well as the new carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines made possible by investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. I thank Chair Graves for his leadership on this important issue and look forward to this strong bipartisan bill becoming law.”
Additionally, the Committee approved H.R. 6278, the Maximizing Office Value and Efficiency Act of 2023 (MOVE Act of 2023), and H.R. 6276, the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023 (USE IT Act of 2023).