HR 6509 Introduced
Pipeline Info Sharing
Last month, Rep Molinaro (R,NY) introduced HR 6509, the Voluntary Information-Sharing System Act. The bill would require DOT to “establish a confidential voluntary information-sharing system (referred to in this section as ‘VIS’) to encourage the sharing of pipeline safety data and information in a non-punitive context in order to improve the safety of gas, carbon dioxide, and hazardous liquid gathering, transmission, and distribution pipelines and facilities, including storage facilities. The legislation would authorize $10 million per year to operate this program.
The bill would add a new §60144, Voluntary information-sharing system, to 49 USC. It would require DOT to establish the VIS program. PHMSA would be required to appoint a Governing Board while providing a Program Manager to oversee the day-to-day operation of the Program. A Third-Party Data Manager shall provide data management and data oversight services for the VIS. Issue Analysis Teams would perform the actual work of aggregating, analyzing and reporting on de-identified pipeline safety data and information accepted by the VIS.
Background
In §10 of the PIPES Act of 2016 (PL 114-183, 130 Stat 520), Congress required DOT to establish “a working group to consider the development of a voluntary information-sharing system to encourage collaborative efforts to improve inspection information feedback and information sharing with the purpose of improving gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipeline facility integrity risk analysis.”
In 2019, that Working Group completed their work and published their report: “Voluntary Information-Sharing System Recommendation Report”. The transmittal letter included in the Report notes (pg 6):
“The Report provides three primary recommendations for consideration, accompanied by a set of supporting recommendations. Importantly, the VIS WG determined that, since information sharing is an essential element of an effective pipeline safety program, it is imperative to develop a VIS, and the Report provides a framework for establishing a viable and sustainable pipeline VIS. The VIS WG concluded that a VIS framework aligns well with Pipeline Safety Management System principles and, if established, would be a ground-breaking initiative to advance safety in the pipeline industry.”
Governing Board
Paragraph (b)(2) of the new section would require PHMSA to act as one of the three co-chairs for the Board, as well as appointing eight additional Board Members. Two additional Board members would represent government organizations, three would represent the pipeline industry, and three would represent public safety advocate organizations. The three co-chairs would represent each group.
The Board would have the authority to:
Govern and provide strategic oversight to the VIS,
Develop governance documents, including a Governing Board charter that is made available to the public, and that describes the scope of the authority and objectives of the Board,
Select a Third-Party Data Manager described in paragraph (4) with expertise in data protection, aggregation, and analytics and geographic information systems,
Approve the criteria and procedures governing how the Third-Party Data Manager will receive and accept pipeline safety data and information and who will have the authority to view VIS data,
Establish and appoint members to Issue Analysis Teams that consist of technical and subject matter experts,
Collaborate with Issue Analysis Teams to identify the issues and topics to be analyzed,
Collaborate with Issue Analysis Teams described to specify the type of de-identified pipeline safety data and information that Issue Analysis Teams need in order to analyze the issues identified,
Determine the information to be disseminated,
Determine the reports to be disseminated, and
At least once per year, issue a report to the public on VIS processes, membership of the Governing Board, issues or topics being investigated and analyzed, pipeline safety data and information that the VIS has requested for submission to the VIS, and safety trends identified.
Information Sharing with VIS
Subsection (c) outlines the types of information that could be shared with the VIS:
Pipeline integrity risk analysis information,
Lessons learned from accidents and near misses,
Process improvements,
Technology deployment practices,
Information obtained through VIS pipeline safety surveys of pipeline operator employees, and
Pipeline safety data and information which may lead to the identification of pipeline safety risks.
Non-public pipeline safety data and information in the VIS, non-public information accepted by the VIS and which may be analyzed, stored, or managed by the VIS shall be kept confidential by the VIS. This specifically includes being exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 USC 552). The Board is, however, authorized to disclose “de-identified, non-public information by the VIS or by the Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration based on analysis of the de-identified information and any safety findings or recommendations that the Governing Board in the sole discretion of the Board determines to publish or authorizes the Administrator to publish to improve pipeline safety.”
Subsection (f) provides the details about how the information shared with or developed by VIS would be exempted from disclosure in any Federal, State, local, Tribal, or private litigation, or to be used to initiate any enforcement action or civil litigation. It also includes specific limitations on that exemption.
Funding
Subsection (k) provides authorization for funding for the VIS. It would provide $1 million in the first year to set-up the Program. Then, over the next three years the legislation would authorize $10 per year for the operation of the program.
Moving Forward
Molinaro and one of his cosponsors {Rep Cohen (D,TN)} are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee.
Language essentially identical to bill was included as §24 in the HR 6494, the PIPES Act of 2023. The Transportation Committee. The record for that hearing is not yet complete (it has outdated supporting document links), but the Committee did adopt the substitute language which also contained essentially the same language. It is not yet clear if other changes were made. Actions will not be taken on this bill unless substantial changes are made to the similar language in HR 6494.
Once the Committee report is published, the revised bill will be available for action by the full House. Without seeing the Committee’s final vote, it is hard to predict how the bill will fare in future consideration.
Commentary
There is no language in either bill that deals with the special intricacies of information sharing dealing with cyber issues. Not surprising since the PHMSA report that provides the background information for this legislation was published two years before the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack and the resulting TSA cybersecurity regulations. Unfortunately, if cyber information sharing language had been added, a third committee (the House Homeland Security Committee) would have been added to the list of committees that would be required to sign off on the bill. This is part of the continuing congressional oversight problem.