Obama & Biden Promise Action on Natural Gas Safety Regulations

Baltimore, MD – In response to a question posed by Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) at the 2016 Democratic Caucus Issues Conference, President Barack Obama promised to have his staff work with Sherman on natural gas storage safety standards. Sherman’s district includes the Porter Ranch area of California which has been impacted by an ongoing natural gas leak that has displaced over 2,500 households. Sherman’s California home is one of the closest houses to the leak, which has been dubbed the largest in U.S. history.

Earlier in the day, also in response to a question posed by Congressman Sherman, Vice President Biden agreed to personally work with Congressman Brad Sherman to use existing statutory authority to write new national natural gas storage safety standards.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an agency within the Department of Transportation, has the authority to adopt natural gas storage safety standards (49 U.S.C. § 60101 et seq.). The Interstate Natural Gas Association has urged PHMSA to use that authority for years.

To date, PHMSA has yet to assert its federal authority to regulate natural gas storage facilities. Regulations for most storage facilities, including Aliso Canyon, were left under state regulation.

“The Porter Ranch gas leak, the largest in U.S. history, occurred due to negligent operations,” said Congressman Sherman. “But apparently SoCalGas complied with the weak state regulations and nonexistent federal regulatory efforts. We do not want to see another massive gas leak in future – in the Aliso Canyon facility or anywhere in the nation.”

The Vice President’s speech focused on his new role in coordinating efforts to eliminate cancer. The Aliso Canyon gas leak has included benzene, a known carcinogen.

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