I look forward to engaging the witnesses and also the members of the minority and working with all of you to enhance this legislation.

I urge you to hit reset. Let's open this process up and work together across the aisle.

I believe this is a commonsense measure that would help to inform and protect communities surrounding these gathering lines.

I am afraid the discussion draft before us today falls short in several critical areas.

I want to thank you all for attending today's important hearing entitled 'Legislative Solutions to Make Our Nation's Pipelines Safer.'

This morning we will be examining the Safer Pipelines Act of 2019, as well as H.R. 2139, the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act.

I also don't think the draft goes far enough to prevent cyber attacks and discourage bad actors from damaging pipeline facilities.

The draft would also prohibit direct assessment of pipelines, which is a valuable method for evaluating and managing corrosion threats.

I want to be crystal clear.

We owe it to our constituents to have a more open and transparent process, where all the relevant stakeholders have an opportunity to present their views and reform proposals.

The bill would eliminate the duplicative cost-benefit requirements, which is currently only imposed on PHMSA.