The bill to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA), which was introduced in the Senate in February by Sen Lautenberg (D-NJ), currently has 5 cosponsors and passed out of committee in mid/late June. It is awaiting action on the Senate floor, though time for it has yet to be scheduled. The bill does a few things of interest to excavators:
First, it creates a new category of violations called “major consequence” violations. These would be damages that result in a fatality or cause $250K in environmental damages. For these violations, the bill increases the penalty ceiling from $100K to $250K.
Second, the bill creates new criteria that a one-call must meet to be eligible for federal grant money:
- appropriate participation by all underground facility operators, including all government operators;
- appropriate participation by all excavators, including all government and contract excavators;
- flexible and effective enforcement under State law with respect to participation in, and use of, one-call notification systems.