Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act of 2015

Pipeline Improvement and Preventing Spills Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum standards to require the owner or operator of a pipeline facility to notify all owners and residents of property located within 2,000 feet of a transmission line of:

• the property's proximity to the line, and
• the line's specific location if it is on private residential property.

DOT shall ensure that industry standards and procedures adopted as part of the federal pipeline safety regulatory program are easily available to the public free of charge.

In identifying high-consequence areas, DOT shall consider specified features of a pipe, including its age, whether it can be inspected using the most modern instrumented internal inspection devices, whether it crosses open waters of the Great Lakes, and the type of commodity it transports.

The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research shall:

• identify measures to respond to spills or leaks of oil in the Great Lakes; and
• assess their effectiveness in preventing significant or substantial harm to the public health or welfare.

DOT shall:

• conduct a comprehensive water crossing survey of all intrastate and interstate hazardous liquid pipeline facilities that cross U.S. waterways in the Great Lakes Basin; and
• enter into a joint agreement with the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences to identify gaps in data and information in the Basin pipeline network, and
• make recommendations to prevent future leaks, ruptures, and failures that could result in damage to Basin waterways and natural resources.

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act is amended to:

• prohibit vessel transportation of crude oil and crude oil derived from oil sands on the Great Lakes; and
• include in the meaning of "worst-case discharge," in the case of an offshore or onshore facility, the largest foreseeable discharge in adverse weather conditions (as in current law) in which waters that may receive a discharge are covered by ice.