WASHINGTON, DC . . . Last night, Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04) voted in favor of H.R. 2845,the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, which passed the House by voice vote. Below is Rep. Hall's statement submitted for the record regarding the bill:

"This legislation, which enjoys broad bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, seeks to improve the safety of our nation’s pipeline infrastructure, an issue that is important to all Americans.

"I want to call attention to the pipeline safety research and development portions of this bill—specifically a small but important interagency program that I worked on in my capacity as a long standing Member of and current Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. 

"Focused R&D aimed at accident prevention and protecting the integrity of our pipeline infrastructure is critical to ensuring that our nation’s energy supplies are transported safely.

"As an original co-sponsor of the 2002 pipeline safety legislation, I led efforts to establish the existing R&D program.   This program has been productive and efficient in carrying out pipeline safety R&D.  In particular, the public-private partnership model that the Department of Transportation uses to administer the program has served to leverage both Federal agency and private sector resources and expertise.

"I want to thank my colleagues for working with me on this legislation to make modest—but important—changes to the current program.

"In particular, I want to thank Chairman Mica for working with me to ensure that the program maintains its historical public-private cost-sharing structure, and recognizes the important contributions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in pipeline safety research, development, and standards.

"With respect to cost-sharing, I was particularly concerned with a recent decision by the Secretary of Transportation that sought to eliminate non-Federal sources of funding toward pipeline safety R&D.

"This decision threatened to undermine the program’s ability to leverage taxpayer dollars to advance new pipeline safety technologies, and in doing so would have also prevented the government from taking advantage of the highly specialized pipeline expertise that is found only in industry.

"I am pleased that H.R. 2845 requires a thirty percent, program-wide, cost share from non-Federal sources, which will help ensure that this program continues to achieve its purpose without placing an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.

"I thank my colleagues again for their efforts and urge passage of this valuable legislation and yield back."

 

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