Trent Lott: “One of the more glaring disappointments of the 106th Congress has been the recent rejection by the House of…”

“One of the more glaring disappointments of the 106th Congress has been the recent rejection by the House of Representatives of comprehensive pipeline safety legislation. This legislation, S. 2438, the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000, passed the Senate unanimously on September 7, 2000. It is the result of months of an extraordinary bipartisan effort by Senators John McCain, Patty Murray, Slade Gorton, Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici. Significant contributions to the legislation were also made by Senators John Breaux, Fritz Hollings, Sam Brownback, Ron Wyden, John Kerry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Byron Dorgan. I also feel some ownership of this effort. I serve on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which prepared the bill for the Senate's consideration, and my home state of Mississippi hosts many, many miles of pipelines. These issues are important to me. Mr. President, S. 2438 is an excellent bill. It is probably the most significant rewrite of our pipeline safety laws in more than a decade. It is a tough bill. It comes on the heels of horrific accidents in Bellingham, Washington, Carlsbad, New Mexico, and in locations in Texas, that resulted in the deaths of a total of 17 people. The authors of this bill were determined to put the necessary specific requirements into the pipeline safety statutes that would prevent these kinds of accidents from happening in the future. They were successful.”