Legislation that that enhances pipeline safety and reliability in transporting our nation’s utility resources had previously passed two committees in the House. Now, newly agreed upon language to amend the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (H.R. 2845), will reauthorize federal pipeline safety programs through fiscal year 2015. Pipeline safety and the prevention of underground facility damages has been a top priority for AGC and this legislation is a significant step forward in the process to provide greater regulatory certainty and predictability for construction contractors.
The bill does a few things of interest to excavators. First, for violations, it increases the penalty ceiling from $100K to $250K and removes the ability to pay from penalty considerations. 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.