A Santa Barbara congresswoman has joined five other legislators in co-authoring a bill intended to make a federal agency responsible for lapses in pipeline safety oversight.
HR 5443 would set the stage for communities to sue the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration if the agency fails to do its job properly. The new bill comes on top of another package of legislation intended to improve PHMSA in the wake of last year’s pipeline rupture, and 140,000 gallon oil spill in Santa Barbara County.
Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps of Santa Barbara has pushed both legislative efforts to try to improve oil and gas pipeline oversight.
