Donald Payne Jr.

All safety responsibility must not fall to PHMSA.

Improving safety means preventing incidents.

I would have to say PHMSA's statutory handcuffs on ability to make strong rules.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about their commitment to safety, if PHMSA has the resources necessary to hold bad actors accountable.

I appreciate each of our witnesses being here today.

This has been followed by additional Norfolk Southern derailments in southeast Michigan and Springfield, Ohio.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve on this committee with you, and I am looking forward to your leadership and the bipartisan manner which you have already demonstrated.

I share many of Councilmember Williams' views and as Ranking Member, I will ensure that this Committee's work to reauthorize the PIPES Act of 2020 puts safety at the forefront of every policy decision.

Yes, that is the unfortunate position you are in, irrespective of what you do, people are always going to want more.

We must learn lessons from these incidents as well as the Denbury incident in Satartia, Mississippi, the Beta Offshore incident in San Pedro Bay, California, and the Freeport LNG incident in Quintana Island.

Can you please share with us how PHMSA is using lessons learned from this incident to inform your ongoing carbon dioxide rule development?

Reducing the risk of incidents means applying safety requirements, where appropriate, to existing pipeline infrastructure.

I think we have just got to be very clear-eyed about pipeline safety and fossil fuel pipeline safety, specifically, in this country.

Would you recommend that the committee extend the Technology Pilot Program as mandated by Sec. 104 of the PIPES Act of 2020?

In 2022, there were more than 280 significant or serious incidents and this year we have already had two fatalities as a result of pipeline incidents.

I look forward to working with you this Congress to tackle freight and rail safety.

I call to attention the request from Members on my side of the aisle, led by Ranking Member Payne and Rep. Sykes, that this Committee hold a hearing on the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The safe transmission of carbon dioxide to sequester locations is vital to meeting our carbon reduction goals, and I want to make sure this can be implemented without delay.

If we have to have this spaghetti web of pipelines moving dangerous, toxic, volatile fossil fuel all over this country every day, I want a competent person like you overseeing it, I really do.

the truth, if we are honest about it, is that fossil fuel pipelines are disasters waiting to happen, plain and simple.

The safe operation of pipelines is vital to protect both our energy needs and the communities these pipelines run through.

We are the most compassionate, generous country in the West. Tell that to the young people that are still looking for their parents that were separated under the previous administration.

Just a few weeks ago an armed man broke into the San Francisco home of Speaker Pelosi in what appeared to be an assassination attempt.

I am also introducing today the bipartisan FASTER Act, the Freezing Assets of Suspected Terrorists and Enemy Recruits Act.

We all have a duty to speak up, regardless as to who the perpetrator is.