Udall Improvements to PIPES Act to Prevent Harmful Methane Pollution Clear Senate

Press Release

U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced that the improvements he secured to the pipeline safety legislation to hold pipeline operators responsible for detecting and addressing dangerous methane leaks have passed the Senate. Methane leaks pose serious public health risks to communities located near natural gas facilities and worsen climate change at 84 times the warming potency of carbon dioxide.

The PIPES Act, which was reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee in July, would reauthorize pipeline safety programs at the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the agency charged with regulating pipelines for safety and environmental purposes. After leading an effort to prevent Senate passage of the legislation without stronger methane provisions, Udall successfully advocated for including requirements for operators of natural gas facilities to deploy the latest technology to prevent, detect and address dangerous methane leaks. The changes are based on his legislation, the METHANE Act. During Commerce Committee consideration in July 2019, Udall also successfully included an amendment to require PHMSA regulation for the first time to nearly 100,000 miles of natural gas "gathering" pipelines.

"With all we know about climate science, it is simply beyond belief that we continue to fly blind when it comes to leaks of a highly potent greenhouse gas," Udall said. "Communities in New Mexico that are near natural gas pipelines should not have to risk life and limb from preventable leaks and the Trump administration's repeated attempts to loosen safeguards on methane pollution have our country's climate policy on the wrong track. Methane leaks release a staggering 1.3 million metric tons of this super-pollutant every year, which worsen the existential threat of climate change. I fought for provisions to prevent future methane leaks that endanger our families and our climate, and I appreciate Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Cantwell for negotiating a much better Senate bill that now includes these commonsense rules to prevent future methane leaks."

"Leaky natural gas pipes pose a significant hazard, and are major contributors to global warming, so we should be requiring the use of the latest technology to detect and prevent methane leaks from these pipes," Ranking Member Maria Cantwell said. "I am pleased the PIPES Act included Senator Udall's methane amendment to do just that."

"This bill responds to the growing problems of pipeline accidents and methane leakage, which are hazardous to public safety and to the environment," said Elgie Holstein, Senior Director for Strategic Planning for the Environmental Defense Fund. "Among its most important provisions is the requirement that operators of gas gathering lines, transmission lines, and distribution lines must conduct surveys of those lines using commercially available advanced leak detection technologies to find and repair leaks. The bill will simultaneously make communities safer and reduce the emissions of climate-damaging methane from the nations natural gas transportation systems. Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Udall worked tirelessly to hone a compromise that will ensure a safer, more environmentally responsible gas pipeline network. We appreciate their commitment and patience, and we urge passage of the bill."

"Leakage of methane and other toxic and explosive substances from gas pipelines endangers nearby communities and drives dangerous climate change," said David Doniger, Senior Strategic Director of the Climate and Clean Energy Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The Senate bill addresses some of the most glaring flaws in the pipeline safety agency's management of these hazards while preserving the authority of other agencies under other laws already on the books. We will press for further health and environmental safeguards as the bill moves toward enactment."

"For the first time this Senate bill directs PHMSA to address and mitigate the serious environmental effects from pipelines that until now have been allowed to leak methane in their regular course of business," said Carl Weimer, Executive Director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. "New gas leak detection technology is efficient and economical. Increasing its use by gas pipeline operators will improve our understanding of how much methane has routinely been leaking from leaks large and small and will speed the process of getting those leaks repaired, increasing pipeline safety from explosive hazards and reducing the harmful effects on human health and the environment. We thank Senators Udall and Cantwell on their strong leadership on this issue."

While Congress, PHMSA, and the oil and gas pipeline industries have made progress on safety in recent years, major gaps in safety standards remain, especially in areas with booming oil and gas production. In addition, the threat of climate change means that leaks of methane -- a greenhouse gas super pollutant -- need urgent attention from all federal regulators. Oil and gas production and distribution releases 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually through intentional venting and unintentional leaks. Gathering, transmission, and distribution pipeline account for about 100 million meter tons of methane emissions annually through intentional venting and unintentional leaks. Methane leaks from pipelines create dangerous conditions for the public, and they also contribute to and accelerate climate change.

The Udall amendment in the PIPES Act requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) to limit the release of methane gas into the environment in three ways:

1. Require companies to use advanced leak detection technologies to better identify and repair environmentally hazardous leaks, in order to limit methane releases.

2. Require operators to create a plan to minimize methane leaks as a part of their inspection and maintenance plans.

3. PHMSA must consider regulations that would require operators to take steps to reduce intentional natural gas releases that occur when pipes are vented or repaired.

A one-page summary of the Udall amendment can be found here.

Udall has been a consistent advocate of greater action to stop methane pollution, advocating for both EPA and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rules during the Obama Administration and leading the Senate floor fight to stop a measure that would have prevented any BLM action on methane.

Udall and U.S. Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) previously led a group of 51 lawmakers in filing an amicus brief last year to challenge the Trump administration's rollback of a methane prevention rule. The U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California recently overturned the Trump administration's rollback of methane leak prevention requirements on federal and Tribal lands. In 2018, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rollback of rules requiring natural gas operators to reduce methane emissions and prevent unnecessary flaring and venting of the potent greenhouse gas.

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