Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1323 - The Pipeline Safety Act of 1995

(House)
(Shuster (R) Pennsylvania and 5 cosponsors)

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1323.

The Administration supports risk assessment and cost/benefit analysis legislation that is fair, effective, and affordable. H.R. 1323, however, would impose unnecessarily prescriptive, costly, and time-consuming analytical requirements on the pipeline safety regulatory program and would encourage excessive litigation. Criticism of the existing pipeline safety rulemaking process has largely been directed to the length of time the process has taken and the extent to which needed safety rules have been delayed. The bill's risk assessment provisions, however, would build additional delays into the process by requiring extensive analytical steps not presently performed and not necessary or relevant to making decisions about pipeline safety requirements.

The Administration also opposes the inadequate authorization levels contained in H.R. 1323. For FY 1996, these levels are less than 44 percent of the amounts requested in the FY 1996 Budget and 45 percent lower than amounts appropriated for FY 1995.