Pipeline Safety Act of 1995

Pipeline Safety Act of 1995 - Amends Federal natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline safety transportation law to prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from promulgating any significant gas or hazardous liquid transportation safety standard or regulatory requirement unless he or she: (1) certifies that an analysis of risk reduction benefits and costs has been conducted based on objective and unbiased scientific and economic evaluations; (2) certifies that the incremental risk reduction or other benefits of any option chosen will be likely to justify, and be reasonably related to, the incremental costs incurred by Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and other public and private citizens; and (3) explains why other options identified were found either to be less cost-effective at achieving a substantially equivalent reduction in risk, or to provide less flexibility to State, local, or tribal governments or regulated entities in achieving the otherwise applicable objectives of such standard or requirement.

(Sec. 3) Requires the Secretary, with respect to any significant standard or regulatory requirement, to submit any risk assessment documents and cost-benefit analyses for review by the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee or the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, or both, and make them available to the public. Requires the Secretary to review the Committees' reports and recommendations with respect to their review and take appropriate action.

Authorizes the Secretary to suspend the application of this section in cases of emergency. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the application of the principles of the analyses of risk reduction benefits and costs and risk assessment to this Act and their effect on pipeline safety.

(Sec. 4) Excludes from the meaning of the term "transporting gas" the gathering of gas (other than gathering through regulated gathering lines) in rural locations which are outside the limits of any incorporated or unincorporated city, town, or village, or any other designated residential or commercial area.

(Sec. 5) Requires Federal minimum safety standards for pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities to include a requirement that all individuals who operate pipeline facilities be qualified to recognize and react to abnormal operating conditions that may indicate a dangerous situation or condition exceeding design limits.

Requires the Secretary when prescribing such minimum safety standards to consider, among other things, the comments and recommendations of the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards and the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committees.

Revises the prescriptions for minimum safety standards in new or replacement gas pipeline transmission facilities or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities or related equipment with respect to the accommodation of instrumented internal inspection devices ("smart pigs"). Directs the Secretary, to the extent practicable, to update incorporated industry standards that have been adopted as part of the Federal pipeline safety regulatory program.

(Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary to carry out a voluntary project under which owners and operators of pipeline facilities demonstrate applications of risk management. Authorizes the Secretary, during the demonstration period, to exempt owners and operators participating in the project from compliance with some or all of the safety standards that would otherwise apply under this Act.

(Sec. 7) Eliminates the application of certain inspection and maintenance requirements to persons who transport gas or hazardous liquids. Repeals the requirement for pipeline facility inspections at least once every two years.

Requires the Secretary to establish a mandatory, systematic, and, where appropriate, periodic inspection program of any pipeline facility crossing under, over, or through waters where a substantial likelihood of commercial navigation exists. (Currently this requirement applies to all navigable waters regardless of such likelihood.)

(Sec. 8) Requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations that establish criteria by which operators of hazardous liquid pipeline facilities and gathering lines shall identify each hazardous liquid pipeline facility that crosses waters where a substantial likelihood of commercial navigation exits. (Currently this requirement applies to all navigable waters regardless of such likelihood.)

Requires the Secretary, when identifying an area as unusually sensitive to environmental damage if there is a hazardous liquid pipeline accident, to consider areas where a pipeline rupture would likely cause permanent or long-term environmental damage, including locations near pipeline rights-of-way: (1) that are critical to drinking water, including intake locations of community water systems and critical sole source aquifer protection areas; and (2) which have been identified as critical wetlands, riverine or estuarine systems, National Parks, wilderness areas, wildlife preservation areas and refuges, wild and scenic rivers, or critical habitat areas for threatened and endangered species. Repeals the requirement to consider earthquake, landslide, and other substantial ground movement zones as unusually sensitive to environmental damage if there is a hazardous liquid pipeline accident.

(Sec. 9) Authorizes the Secretary to adopt industry accepted performance and manufacturing standards when developing standards for the performance of excess flow valves used to protect lines in a natural gas distribution system.

(Sec. 11) Repeals the requirement for criminal penalties in regulations establishing a one-call notification system with respect to the safety of pipeline facilities.

(Sec. 12) Requires the Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee and the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee to serve as peer review committees. Deems such service to be in compliance with the requirements of other applicable Federal statutes. Requires committee members to be experienced in risk management. Revises the composition of the committees. Requires at least one of the individuals selected for each committee from the natural gas or hazardous liquid industry and from the general public to have education, background, or experience in risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis.

Requires the Secretary, when giving each committee each standard proposed for transporting gas and hazardous liquid, and for gas and hazardous liquid pipeline facilities, to include a risk assessment document, cost-benefit, and other analyses supporting such standard. Requires each committee to meet with the Secretary at least four times (currently, twice) annually.

(Sec. 13) Requires each owner or operator of a natural gas pipeline facility to provide a program for educating the public on, among other things, the use of damage prevention ("one-call") systems prior to excavation. Repeals the requirement for persons transporting gas to conduct public education programs.

(Sec. 14) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions with any U.S. person, agency, or instrumentality, any State or local government, any educational institution, and any other entity to carry out pipeline safety programs, including the development, improvement, and promotion of "one-call" damage prevention programs, research, risk assessment, and mapping.

(Sec. 15) Declares owners and operators of natural gas or hazardous liquid pipelines who have voluntarily participated in the risk management demonstration project to be in compliance with safety standards or regulatory requirements prescribed under such project.

(Sec. 16) Subjects to civil and criminal penalties any person who knowingly and willfully excavates and subsequently damages a pipeline facility and does not report such damage promptly to the operator of the pipeline facility and other appropriate authorities.

(Sec. 18) Requires the Secretary to make available to an appropriate official of each State the land use recommendations of the Transportation Research Board's Special Report 219 (entitled "Pipelines and Public Safety"). Requires the Secretary to: (1) evaluate such recommendations; (2) determine to what extent they are being implemented; (3) consider ways to improve their implementation; and (4) consider other initiatives to further improve awareness of local planning and zoning entities regarding issues involved with population encroachment in proximity to the rights-of-ways of any interstate gas pipeline facility or interstate hazardous liquid pipeline facility.

(Sec. 19) Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress an analysis of whether the assessment of pipeline safety user fees solely on the basis of mileage is the most appropriate measure of the resources used by the Department of Transportation in the regulation of pipeline transportation, or whether another basis of assessment might be more appropriate.

(Sec. 20) Prohibits a person from excavating for the purpose of unauthorized disposal of solid waste within the right-of-way of an interstate gas or hazardous liquid pipeline.

(Sec. 21) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct promotional activities relating to prevention of damage to gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.

(Sec. 23) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 through 1999.