Tougher pipeline safety rules gain support in Congress

Tougher natural gas pipeline safety legislation gained support on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in the wake of the deadly San Bruno explosion that claimed its eighth fatality Monday.

Sens. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced their own pipeline safety bill, following one introduced by California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and underscoring the growing national interest in a regulatory overhaul since the Sept. 9 explosion.

The bills, introduced as a Senate panel conducted a hearing on the San Bruno explosion, contain a number of similar provisions. They include a requirement for the installation of remote-controlled and automatic shut-off valves, a measure that proponents say would have limited the damage from the explosion in the community just south of San Francisco. It took utility officials an hour and 46 minutes to manually shut off the pipeline. The bills also would require more inspections and increase penalties for safety violations.

The hearing came as the San Mateo County coroner’s office announced an eighth death from the explosion, of a 58-year-old man. The explosion also destroyed 37 homes and damaged others.

Among those on Capitol Hill, San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane recalled an observer saying after the explosion: “It looked like hell on earth.”

Boxer, who like Feinstein toured the neighborhood, called it a “shocking sight … as if the neighborhood had been hit by a bomb” and displayed pictures of the devastation.

The explosion ripped out a 28- foot section of pipe, hurling it 100 feet from where it had been buried about 4 feet under the street, and left a crater about 72 feet long and 26 feet wide, officials told the committee. The damaged section of pipeline and two 10-foot sections from each side have been sent to a National Transportation Safety Board lab in the Washington, D.C., area for examination.

San Bruno has received offers of support from as far as Japan, Ruane said, but he lamented that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had denied the city disaster assistance. FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said, “FEMA has been in close contact with the state since the fire occurred; and based on the information they provided, it was determined that there was not a need for additional support beyond the federal assistance we provided for response activities.”

Boxer, who sought the hearing, told regulators not to wait for the outcome of the investigation or passage of federal legislation before implementing safety measures, including installing remote-controlled shut-off valves and stepping up inspections.

“I don’t think we can wait,” she said. “We know if there was an automatic shut-off valve, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Boxer urged Cynthia L. Quarterman, administrator of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to act swiftly to ensure the safety of 3,600 miles of pipeline in densely populated areas of California.

“You need to be proactive …. That’s your job,” she said.

The hearing comes as the Obama administration and lawmakers from California and other states have called for tougher oversight of the nation’s vast network of pipelines, not only in response to the San Bruno explosion but incidents in other states.

The House on Wednesday is expected to approve a bill that would require pipeline operators to report an incident within an hour after its discovery and increase fines to $250,000 from $100,000 if a spill is not reported within the time limit. The measure, which also would increase fines for multiple violations to $2.5 million from $1 million, was drawn up in response to a July pipeline spill of about 1 million gallons of oil in Michigan and has gained momentum in the wake of the San Bruno explosion.

But further regulation could face industry resistance because of the increased cost.

Andy Black, president and chief executive of the Assn. of Oil Pipe Lines, urged a House committee last week to “think carefully” about a regulatory overhaul without knowing the causes of the recent pipeline ruptures.

The proposals also could run into trouble from regulatory-wary lawmakers. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), expressing concerns about the Obama administration’s pipeline safety proposals, said, “It seems that the overriding goal of the administration is to regulate any and every type of pipeline.”

“Here we are again,” said Rick Kessler, vice president of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an advocacy group formed after three people were killed by a pipeline explosion in 1999 in Bellingham, Wash. “We hope this time Congress and the administration will pay close attention and provide a strong, comprehensive solution to pipeline safety instead of offering a Band-Aid for a broken bone.”

Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees pipelines, was hopeful, saying that safety has taken on new urgency in the wake of the San Bruno explosion.

Still, with lawmakers preparing to recess for the midterm campaign, broader pipeline safety legislation is likely to be put off until next year.

richard.simon@latimes.com