Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, while on this 4th of July most Americans were partaking in American pastimes like barbecuing and watching ball games, Montanans were immersed in a new American tradition, unfortunately, cleaning up an oil spill. In this case, Montanans were working, and are still working, feverishly to clean up a 40,000 gallon leak from ExxonMobil's Silvertip pipeline, a spill that's having a devastating impact on the residents, economy, and environment in the State of Montana.

As written, this legislation opens the door for more destructive events like the Yellowstone spill. This is why I proposed a simple, zero-cost amendment that will resolve this issue and continue protecting the American people, its environment, our economy, our water system from the harmful effects of pipeline spills.

The investigation into the Yellowstone spill has made it clear that the spill occurred because the pipeline was not buried deep enough below the streambed. Having only been buried 5 feet below the river, years of the Yellowstone River's powerful flow removed much of the sediment covering the pipeline to the point where the pipeline was directly exposed. Once exposed, the pipeline was weakened by the elements rapidly moving down the Yellowstone River.

In order to bury a pipeline beneath a streambed, the company building the pipeline often has to rely upon and apply to the Corps of Engineers for a permit to dredge and fill. While the Corps has the authority to issue the permit, EPA has the ability to exercise oversight and ensure that the pipeline is sited safely and buried appropriately. This oversight authority is an effective, nonburdensome safety feature of the permitting process that serves as a backstop to Federal and State regulators and protects the health and safety of the American people.

All this amendment does is ensure that this bill does not prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from exercising this authority. It does not create a new permitting requirement or process. Historically, the siting of pipelines has not been an issue where the Federal Government has exercised much oversight. And this amendment does not call for enhanced oversight, create a new process, or require anything more from pipeline owners or builders. Rather, it simply preserves the existing right of the Environmental Protection Agency to exercise oversight in egregious cases.

Every piece of oil infrastructure, whether it's a pipeline or a drill rig, has backup safety features that are critical to ensure the safe operation of the infrastructure. Those safety backups, like the dead man switch on a drill rig, only function when the first set of safety features fail. The EPA's oversight of the Corps' dredge and fill permits for pipelines is just like the dead man's switch on an oil rig. It is only there as a backup protection in case the Corps might fail.

And if the oil industry uses layer upon layer of backup safety systems, why should the Federal Government not do the same? We are the ultimate protector of the water of our people. With the demand for oil in the United States increasing, more and more pipelines are being proposed. Many of these pipelines will cross economically critical, environmentally sensitive bodies of water like the Yellowstone River. Significant pipeline spills like the million gallon Enbridge pipeline spill last year in Michigan are serious events that have real implications for real people. Just ask the citizens of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who almost a year later are recovering from that spill.

In order to avoid similar tragedies in the future, the Federal Government needs to retain the existing protections built into the permitting process. This amendment does that by just maintaining EPA's existing authority to protect the American people and ensure their waters are not contaminated.

I urge passage of this important safety amendment, which will ensure that our Nation's pipelines are as consistent and as safe and reliable as Old Faithful, which resides in Yellowstone Park and whose river is being threatened, and I ask for support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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