Lawmakers press Obama nominee on pipeline safety

President Obama’s nominee to head the federal agency overseeing the safety of pipelines and hazardous materials faced tough questions from lawmakers on Wednesday.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee pressed Marie Therese Dominguez on the record of the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHSMA) after a number of high-profile safety incidents.

Senators said the administration had failed to make safety a top priority and highlighted a number of local issues in their states.

{mosads}Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) recalled a 2011 leak in the Trans-Alaskan pipeline system, which was successfully contained, but raised questions over which agency has jurisdiction over safety issues.

While EPA claimed the Trans-Alaskan pipeline was under their oversight, PHMSA actually controls the system.

Sullivan urged Dominguez to clarify PHSMA’s jurisdiction moving forward.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) cited the monumental 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill which marks its fifth-anniversary next week. One million gallons of heavy crude oil contaminated the river in the spill, which went unnoticed for 17 hours.

Peters said that PHSMA had been slow to enact safety reforms passed by Congress.

“This committee played a major role in the 2011 Pipeline Safety Bill, which included really important safety provisions in the legislation,” Peters explained. “Unfortunately, many of those regulations have yet to be finalized by PHSMA and Department of Transportation.”

He called it “Simply unacceptable.”

Dominguez promised to make safety and effective management top priorities.

“Our mission is really to protect people and the environment, to manage this hazardous material and transportation, and we take that very seriously,” Dominguez told lawmakers.

“With the increase in energy production in this country, we need to not only make sure that we use the money Congress have invested in us wisely, but also see how we can efficiently structure the organization so we can address current and future needs.”

Generally, lawmakers appeared receptive to Dominguez’s responses and plans for the agency.

President Obama nominated Dominguez for the position in late May, and she received strong praise at the hearing from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) expressed concerns about Dominguez’s lack of prior experience with hazardous materials, but praised her work as a leader at the Army Civil Works and Postal Service and time with the National Transportation Safety Board.

During the hearing, Dominguez spoke personally about her father, who served as a Secret Service agent for over four decades and helped protect President Reagan during an assassination attempt.

“From him, I learned how quickly a life can change—and how rewarding it can be to keep other’s safe. Safety is deeply personal for me, and it is at the heart of everything that PHMSA’s employees do each day,” said Dominguez with her father sitting in the front row of the hearing.