WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) emphasized the importance of improving pipeline safety at a bipartisan hearing on the implementation of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2020.

“On June 10, 1999, a pipeline explosion in Bellingham, Washington, claimed the lives of two 10-year-old boys and a young man of 18 years. This explosion spurred my commitment, which has been steadfast for over 20 years, to the highest level of pipeline safety,” said Larsen, the lead Democrat on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, during the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials hearing. “For my entire tenure in Congress, I have fought to reduce the risk of pipeline incidents, promote transparency of pipeline safety information for local communities and increase accountability for pipeline operators.”   

During the hearing, Larsen submitted into the record a letter from Bellingham City Councilmember Edward H. “Skip” Williams that shares Williams’s perspective on the need for pipeline safety and how implementation of the PIPES Act of 2020 will protect communities like Bellingham. Williams helped found the Pipeline Safety Trust after his stepson, Stephen Tsiorvas, died in Bellingham’s Olympic Pipe Line explosion in 1999.

“I share many of Councilmember Williams’s views and as Ranking Member, I will ensure that this Committee’s work to reauthorize the PIPES Act of 2020 puts safety at the forefront of every policy decision,” Larsen continued.

How the PIPES Act Improves Pipeline Safety

The PIPES Act of 2020 provides funding for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) through 2023 to fulfill its mission of protecting people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials. The PIPES Act of 2020 was included in the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2021 omnibus spending package, which was signed into law in December 2020. The House will consider reauthorization of the PIPES Act of 2020 in the 118th Congress.

Larsen’s Support for Pipeline Safety

Larsen has prioritized pipeline safety throughout his time in Congress:

• Following the tragic pipeline explosion in Bellingham in 1999, Larsen helped write the 2002 Pipeline Safety Improvement Act, as well as the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011, the PIPES Act of 2016 and the PIPES Act of 2020.
• In August 2021, Larsen toured Whatcom Falls Park with then-PHMSA Acting Administrator Tristan Brown and Pipeline Safety Trust Office staff to discuss the 1999 explosion and how to further improve pipeline safety.
• In 2021, Larsen supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which established the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization grant initiative. The initiative, which is administered by the PHMSA, makes available $200 million per year for five years to a municipality or community owned utility (not including for-profit entities) to repair, rehabilitate or replace its natural gas distribution pipeline systems or to acquire equipment to improve safety.

Additional Information

For more information on the hearing, click here.

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