Testimony

In This Section

FAA Oversight of Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL WHITAKER ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
HEARING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

Chair Blumenthal, Ranking Member Johnson, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today to discuss the FAA’s oversight of Boeing’s production and manufacturing system and the agency’s whistleblower programs.

I would like to begin by reiterating that the number one priority for the FAA is the safety of the flying public. As we carry out our regulatory responsibilities and oversight activities, safety will always inform our decision-making, and I am prepared to use the full range of my authority to ensure accountability whether from a manufacturer, an air carrier, or the FAA’s own operations.

FAA Whistleblower Program

I want to start off by stressing the importance of our Whistleblower and Safety Hotline programs. The safety and integrity of our air transportation system relies heavily on having a culture where people come forward with their safety concerns without fear of reprisal, and they have confidence in the process to know that their report will be investigated thoroughly. It is a priority for me to have a strong whistleblower program at the FAA. I want to thank the many individuals who have already reached out to our Office of Audit and Evaluation, and I strongly encourage anyone with safety concerns to report them to the FAA’s Hotline at hotline.faa.gov. We thoroughly evaluate every report we receive.

In addition to having our hotline program available to employees, Boeing must maintain its own robust safety reporting programs and promote a safe and proactive reporting culture within its organizations. The FAA will continue to closely monitor Boeing’s implementation of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and the maturity of its Speak-up program as part of our oversight.

FAA Safety Oversight and Boeing Issues

Boeing’s manufacturing and production system is complex and multi-faceted, spanning multiple facilities and thousands of suppliers. Because of the complexity of its operations, Boeing must have a robust safety system comprising of multiple layers that can detect and mitigate identified risks. The FAA will hold Boeing accountable for having an effective system in place with procedures that ensure the production and delivery of safe airplanes.

787 Shimming Issues

Following reports of shimming-related discrepancies, in 2019 the FAA required Boeing to conduct a system-wide assessment of its shimming practices. During this assessment, Boeing stopped production and reinspected airplanes within its production system. FAA regulations required Boeing to evaluate the issue and implement immediate corrective actions within the production system to ensure only conforming products were built after the point of discovery. The FAA oversaw Boeing’s implementation of the corrective actions, which included adding additional shim training requirements for mechanics and quality personnel, improving the workforce skillsets, and incorporating lessons learned and best practices for shimming into its production planning. The FAA also increased its surveillance of Boeing’s shimming and gap management activities and retained our authority to issue airworthiness certificates for new 787 airplanes.

Extensive evaluations of the non-conforming joins showed that their strength significantly exceeded the load limits requirements and that there were no immediate safety of flight concerns.

In 2021 and 2022, the FAA also issued two airworthiness directives to require repetitive inspections to ensure any damage accumulated over time does not create a safety issue. The FAA will continue to monitor the long-term safety of the in-service fleet by requiring inspections to be performed over the life of the aircraft.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282

On January 5, shortly after departure, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced rapid depressurization after the left mid-exit door plug blew out of a Boeing 737-9 MAX. Immediately following the accident, on January 6, the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all 737-9 MAX airplanes with that particular door plug configuration.

We mandated and oversaw a thorough inspection and maintenance process on each of the grounded airplanes before allowing them to return to service. Our findings during those inspections revealed that the quality system issues at Boeing were unacceptable and required further scrutiny. We increased oversight activities including:

Capping production of new Boeing 737 MAX airplanes to achieve system stability and compliance with required quality control procedures.
Launching an investigation scrutinizing Boeing’s compliance with manufacturing requirements.
Increasing oversight of the production of new airplanes with more FAA safety inspectors on-site at all Boeing manufacturing facilities.
Increasing data monitoring to identify significant safety issues.
Commissioning an independent analysis of potential safety-focused reforms around quality control and delegation.

Boeing Comprehensive Plan

This past February, I directed Boeing to develop a comprehensive action plan within 90 days to address its systemic quality control and production issues. During the subsequent months, the FAA worked closely with Boeing as it developed its roadmap and plan for the path forward. I required this plan to address the findings from the FAA’s special audit as well as the recommendations from the expert review panel report required by Section 103 of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act of 2020 (ACSAA). Boeing provided its plan to the FAA on May 30, 2024, marking the beginning of the next chapter of ensuring implementation and a renewed focus on safety at Boeing.

However, this plan does not mark the end of the FAA’s increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers. There must be a shift in the company’s safety culture to holistically address its systemic quality assurance and production issues. Our goal is to make sure Boeing implements the necessary changes and has the right tools in place to sustain those changes in the long term.

In April of this year, we issued regulations that require Boeing to have a Safety Management System, which will ensure a structured, repeatable, systematic approach to identifying hazards and managing risk.

As part of its comprehensive plan, Boeing has committed to the following:

Increasing and enhancing employee training, engagement, and communication;
Encouraging their employees to speak up without fear of reprisal;
Boosting supplier oversight;
Increasing quality oversight at every step of the production process, and ensuring things happen in the right sequence and are approved before moving forward;
Getting more input from users of the system;
Simplifying production processes and procedures; and
Bringing state-of-the-art technology to Boeing tool and parts management.

To monitor the health of Boeing’s production and quality system, we also directed Boeing to identify key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs directly correspond to the targets outlined in its comprehensive action plan to improve its safety and quality systems and will help assess the effectiveness of its proposed initiatives. The KPIs provide real-time visibility into the production system with specific control limits that will trigger corrective action if needed.

FAA’s Oversight Activities

As a result of systemic production quality issues, Boeing must make significant changes to transform its quality system and ensure the right layers of safety are in place. I am directly engaged to ensure Boeing executes the necessary changes to transform its safety culture and address its production quality issues. I met with their new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, last month and reemphasized to him our expectations that these changes must be sustained in the long term. We will also remain engaged with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to expeditiously provide notice, in real-time, of any activities that may be criminal so that DOJ can take any action they deem appropriate.

We have added more safety inspectors in the Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems facilities, and we will maintain our increased on-site presence for the foreseeable future. Our surveillance activities include:

More engagement with company employees to hear directly from them and gauge the effectiveness of changes outlined in Boeing’s plan;
Added inspections at critical points of the production process; and
Increased auditing of quality systems, build processes, and changes outlined in Boeing’s plan.

Our safety inspectors are also monitoring each of Boeing’s sub-teams tasked with implementing the key areas of the plan. Our safety inspectors are providing direct feedback on Boeing’s proposed changes and monitoring the KPIs to identify potential system risks. The FAA is closely reviewing the KPIs to monitor Boeing’s production system health and will independently assess any early indicators of risks within the system.

In addition to the work the safety inspectors are doing, we also have hundreds of other personnel who are focused on our oversight of Boeing. These employees are monitoring the in-service fleet through our continued operational safety processes, overseeing Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization, and conducting certification activities.

Addressing these safety issues also requires that the FAA continually examine the effectiveness of its own oversight processes and make the necessary improvements. We must continue to be increasingly proactive and establish more dynamic oversight protocols that allow us to anticipate and identify risks before they manifest themselves as events. As our first step, we are reevaluating our current safety management programs and other internal safety oversight initiatives.

As the FAA enhances our oversight models agency-wide, we are also examining opportunities to leverage the vast internal and external data resources to become more predictive in identifying risks across the aviation system. To this end, the agency is taking a fresh look at our current capabilities to provide more real time insight into any emerging safety trends and to share relevant data across the various components of our safety ecosystem.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. I look forward to your questions.

Ensuring Safety and Reliability: Examining the Reauthorization Needs of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF TRISTAN BROWN DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROADS, PIPELINES, AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS HEARING ON ENSURING SAFETY AND RELIABILITY: EXAMINING THE REAUTHORIZATION NEEDS OF THE PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

May 7, 2024

Introduction

Good morning, Chairman Nehls, and members of the Subcommittee. Let me begin by expressing my sincere condolences to the Payne family, to those of you who were friends and colleagues of Ranking Member Payne, and to his office and staff members, who I know are all as saddened as I was to learn of his passing. It is a testament to his legacy that he worked across the aisle this past year to help advance legislation to improve pipeline safety and to keep his constituents and all Americans safe from hazardous materials transportation.

Thank you for inviting me to testify today on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) pipeline safety program As I testified last year before this Subcommittee—Safety is, and remains, the top priority for DOT and PHMSA. Specifically, PHMSA is responsible for overseeing the safe transport of hazardous materials—through pipelines and also via other modes of transportation—aviation, rail, motor carrier, and marine. PHMSA oversees the safe design, operation, and maintenance of the Nation’s nearly 3.3 million miles of oil, gas, and other hazardous materials pipeline and storage facilities, including for hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and other emerging fuels. Additionally, PHMSA’s oversight of hazardous materials transport via other modes includes nearly 1 in 10 goods that are transported commercially in the U.S., everything from nuclear waste to lithium-ion batteries, to spacecraft being transported to spaceports around the world.

Nearly two-thirds of the energy we consume in the U.S. is transported via pipeline. Over the past few decades—and especially over the last few years in conjunction with America’s red-hot economic growth—energy production in the United States has continued to increase to record levels. Concurrently, U.S. transportation of these products has necessarily increased, and exports of energy products have—according to the Energy Information Administration—also reached record levels. This means heightened demands on our pipeline and refined products storage infrastructure, as well as export facilities, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, the safety and environmental risks over which PHMSA also oversees.

Put simply: the volume of work before PHMSA, and the challenges in carrying out our safety and environmental mission established by Congress, have never been greater. Aging infrastructure requires more maintenance, and, greater safety scrutiny. A significant portion of the cross-country pipeline infrastructure was built shortly after World War II—meaning many pipelines are over 80 years old. Furthermore, there are even a few gas distribution segments that were installed during the Civil War era, more than 150 years ago—which, thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are finally modernizing through our first-of-its kind community natural gas modernization grant program.

With increasing challenges and broader demands on our agency, clear direction and resources from Congress are important, particularly as we close out the final few congressional mandates from the 2020 PIPES Act. PHMSA is grateful for the work that this Subcommittee has done in advancing bipartisan legislation—particularly increased authorization levels— and I look forward to providing additional feedback on the reauthorization needs of the agency during this hearing.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Grant Program

After enactment of the PIPES Act of 2020, Congress also enacted the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So as PHMSA has worked to implement the 2020 PIPES Act, PHMSA has also awarded three rounds of funding for our first-ever infrastructure grant program—a substantial undertaking for our agency. Congress created the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) Grant Program, providing $1 billion over five years to improve the safety of high-risk, leak-prone, legacy natural gas distribution infrastructure with a specific emphasis on benefiting disadvantaged rural and urban communities. Municipality- or community-owned utilities are eligible, and funds are available to these entities seeking assistance in repairing, rehabilitating, or replacing high-risk, leak-prone natural gas distribution infrastructure, or acquiring equipment to assist in identifying and reducing natural gas incidents and fatalities. This grant funding is helping communities of all sizes make their infrastructure safer, creating good jobs, reducing heat-trapping methane from the atmosphere, and saving residents and businesses money on their energy bills. As previously mentioned, there is plenty of aging infrastructure across the country that can benefit from this program. For example, PHMSA awarded funding to multiple projects—in both Massachusetts and Nebraska— where the pipeline systems date back to the 1890s. Additionally, for the past two funding rounds, Congressman Burlison’s district was awarded a total of over $30 million for the City Utilities of Springfield to acquire methane leak detection equipment, as well as to replace over 38 miles of legacy plastic natural gas lines and around 3,400 legacy plastic gas services and meter sets. Communities neighboring Congressman Burchett’s district also received funds this year totaling over $4 million for pipe replacement and equipment needs. Congressman Troy Carter joined Senator Cassidy and me in his district to announce more than $27 million for community owned systems throughout Louisiana last year. We have been delighted to see the interest and excitement from grant applicants and recipients and are happy to say that the NGDISM program is working. During our first year of project solicitations, the program attracted nearly $1.8 billion worth of applications for $200 million in funding. We had similar interest when we announced the FY23 and FY24 round of funding. This year we were able to issue grants to Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, and New York (among others) for the first time. Last year we issued first-time grants to Kansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Florida (among many others). And this week, we are issuing another Notice of Funding Opportunity for the FY25 round of funding, which I know applicants are eager to apply for.

Although the program is funded through 2026, PHMSA anticipates the work in carrying out and overseeing the infrastructure projects from the NGDISM program won’t be completed until 2033. In anticipation of this, and to address burdens on underserved community applicants, PHMSA has streamlined its National Environmental Policy Act review process—establishing a first-of-its-kind, tiered approach to conduct environmental assessments of these important projects. Utilizing the administrative funding granted to us by Congress in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, PHMSA took on the financial and administrative burden of conducting a tier 1 programmatic review of potential environmental impacts from this new grant program— instead of placing that burden on grant recipients. PHMSA, along with our partners at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Massachusetts, as well as the White House Council on Environmental Quality, created a tier 2 template that community grant recipients can use to identify project-specific impacts for these pipe repair/replacement projects and streamline the project-specific environmental review process—saving months of time, as well as saving communities and taxpayer money that would otherwise need to be spent on these potentially lengthy reviews. PHMSA was honored to be asked by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to present our work last year as an example for other agencies to replicate to help get projects completed faster and more efficiently, without sacrificing important environmental values.

Rulemaking

As I noted in my March 2023 testimony before this Subcommittee, our regulatory agenda over the past several years has been extraordinarily full. In addition to closing out a record number of long-awaited rules related to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations, and older congressional mandates, we’ve also published two important new proposed rulemakings from the 2020 PIPES Act and issued a final rule for Periodic Updates of Regulatory References to Technical Standards and Miscellaneous Amendments.

The 2020 PIPES Act directed us to address the methane leak detection and repair rule, which covers both gas and hazardous liquid pipelines, in an effort to improve public safety and protect our environment. The broad bipartisan support in Congress for this new directive, as signed into law by President Trump, demonstrated that America is serious about addressing methane emissions. The private sector has shown, too, that America is the leading innovator when it comes to methane mitigation and we have a workforce of pipeline workers and skilled tradesmen who are the most skilled and efficient in the world at finding and fixing methane leaks—keeping Americans safe, reducing harmful and costly pollution, and ultimately saving consumers money when a valuable commodity is not leaked into the atmosphere.

The consequences of failing to address methane leaks can be tragic. Just a few weeks ago, I joined Congressman Bennie Thompson and NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy for a community meeting in Jackson, MS, where the community is still recovering from a tragic pipeline leak on Atmos Energy Corporation’s gas distribution system that led to the death of a beloved community member, Ms. Clara Barbour. PHMSA is a party to and supporting the NTSB’s investigation into this matter. The NTSB’s preliminary report indicated that “Before these explosions, Atmos identified and classified leaks on their distribution system near locations 1 and 2. The leak nearest to location 1 was discovered on November 11, 2023, and classified as a grade-2 leak, meaning that it was nonhazardous but would require repair in the future. The leak nearest to location 2 was discovered on December 1, 2023, and was classified as a grade-3 leak and therefore nonhazardous. Neither leak was repaired before the explosions.” In addition to PHMSA being a party to the NTSB investigation, Atmos Energy recently, and voluntarily, agreed to an independent safety review by PHMSA of their processes and operations—which NTSB and our state partners are also participating in. We anticipate sharing the results of this review with the public.

Last May, PHMSA proposed the Gas Pipeline Leak Detection and Repair Rule (LDAR Rule), which seeks to enhance public safety and lower methane emissions and other air pollution by significantly improving the requirements for the detection and repair of leaks from natural gas distribution, gas transmission, and gas gathering pipelines. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) updates decades-old, Federal leak detection and repair standards in favor of new requirements that add an additional layer of safety by deploying commercially available, advanced technologies to find and fix gas leaks that previously may have gone unrepaired in perpetuity. This rule would ensure that leaks—each of which involves a loss of pipeline integrity—are discovered and repaired before they can degrade into more serious ruptures or explosions and to limit the atmosphere’s exposure to methane. This rule also encourages innovation in technologies that help keep natural gas in our pipes instead of leaking into the atmosphere, which can be unsafe, costly for consumers, and harm our environment.

PHMSA held a Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) meeting on the proposed LDAR Rule in November of 2023, and held a second public advisory committee meeting on the proposed rule in March 2024—after the initial meeting extended beyond the full scheduled week of day-long discussions. PHMSA is in the process of considering and addressing all GPAC recommendations, and will address comments received within the comment period, prior to finalizing this rule. In addition to discussing the LDAR NPRM at the November meeting, PHMSA also planned to address the proposed Class Location Change rule—of interest to many members of this Subcommittee. Due to the extended proceedings on the LDAR rule, the Class Location Rule was taken up at the March 2024 GPAC meeting and recommendations were completed and received from the GPAC. At the request of many stakeholders representing entities directly affected by the Class Location Rule, PHMSA has granted an extension of comments for that rule, which we will review upon submission to inform our final rulemaking.

The PIPES Act of 2020 also directed PHMSA to promptly complete the “Safety of Gas Distribution Pipelines and Other Pipeline Safety Initiatives” Rulemaking. This NPRM was published in September 2023, and received comments from over 200 commenters. The NPRM proposes to require operators of gas distribution pipelines to update their distribution integrity management programs, emergency response plans, operations and maintenance manuals, and other safety practices as envisioned in the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, and which is informed by NTSB recommendations aimed at preventing catastrophic incidents resulting from overpressurization of low-pressure gas distribution systems similar to that which occurred on a gas distribution pipeline system in Merrimack Valley on September 13, 2018—tragically taking the life of young Leonel Rondon. In this rule, PHMSA has also proposed codifying use of its State Inspection Calculation Tool, which is used to help our state pipeline inspection partners determine the base-level amount of time needed for inspections to maintain an adequate pipeline safety program. Further, PHMSA proposes other pipeline safety initiatives for all part 192regulated pipelines in this NPRM, including gas transmission and gathering pipelines, such as updating emergency response plans and inspection requirements. We are currently preparing for a future GPAC meeting on that NPRM.

In addition to Congressionally mandated rules, many of PHMSA’s rulemakings underway address important recommendations from NTSB, resulting from safety issues identified during investigations in the aftermath of some tragic accidents. PHMSA’s rules also address recommendations from the GAO, the DOT Inspector General, and the agency’s own safety findings. As a result, PHMSA continues to work on updates to the LNG facilities regulations, and we also recognize the need to address emerging issues, like the design and operation of pipelines transporting carbon dioxide in different physical states. We understand that these priorities are in line with this Committee’s expectations, based on the Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) 2023 bill that was introduced and moved through Committee on a bipartisan basis by Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Chairman Nehls, and the late-Ranking Member Payne.

Enforcement and Compliance

While the number of PHMSA’s administrative enforcement cases has remained relatively steady, continued diligence of PHMSA staff to hold responsible parties accountable has resulted in the agency setting records for our civil penalties in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In 2023, PHMSA issued over $12.5 million in proposed civil penalties against operators who violated safety regulations. Additionally, recognizing that timely enforcement is important to increase deterrence and shorten the time unsafe conditions are allowed to persist, PHMSA has substantially expedited its enforcement processes. From 2019 to 2023, for administrative enforcement cases involving civil penalties or proposed compliance actions, PHMSA reduced its average time to initiate and fully close an enforcement case by approximately 40 percent.

Additionally, as a mandate of the PIPES Act of 2020, PHMSA inspected implementation of the Act’s self-executing mandate requiring operators to update their inspection and maintenance plans to address the elimination of hazardous leaks and minimizing releases of natural gas (including intentional venting during normal operations) from their pipeline facilities. In 2022, PHMSA conducted 380 inspections of operators’ plans, covering 803 PHMSA-identified pipeline inspection systems, 39 Federally inspected gas distribution systems, 37 Federally inspected LNG units, and 178 Federally inspected underground natural gas storage facilities, to ensure they addressed the congressional directive to assess the need to replace or remediate pipeline facilities that are known to leak based on their material, design, or past operating and maintenance history. In addition to the number of PHMSA-performed inspections, PHMSA’s state partners conducted an additional 4,724 inspections. This is the first time PHMSA completed inspections of each operator that it regulates within a calendar year—and was a tremendous undertaking by our dedicated field personnel across the country and the dedicated field personnel of our state partners.

Additionally, sections 205(a) and (b) of the PIPES Act of 2020 directed PHMSA to assess the implementation of Pipeline Safety Management Systems (PSMS) by gas distribution operators and provide guidance and recommendations to encourage voluntary implementation of PSMS by gas distribution pipeline operators. PHMSA conducted a voluntary information collection among gas distribution operators on the current state of PSMS implementation. To collect this data efficiently, PHMSA designed a new information collection form and online reporting portal. PHMSA and our state partners encouraged operators to submit their PSMS data and, though it took longer than anticipated, we received a statistically adequate number of responses to allow for reasonable inference to the entire gas distribution operator community. The accompanying report to Congress is expected to be completed and transmitted to you and shared publicly on our website in the coming months. In the meantime, PHMSA continues to work with regulated entities in promoting the use of PSMS, as also directed by section 205(c), and notes that further evaluation of PSMS frameworks will commence following issuance of the report. It’s also worth noting that PSMS was included in a recent NTSB recommendation, so we look forward to working with NTSB to address the relevant aspects of their recommendation as well.

Research, Development, and Inter-Agency Efforts

While PHMSA continues to advance pipeline safety by strengthening its regulations and enhancing its inspector training, inspections, and enforcement programs, research and technological innovation is essential to aid in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of pipelines and to address the root causes of incidents.

PHMSA’s Pipeline Safety Research Program works with academia, the regulated community, private research consortiums and Federal partners to sponsor research and development (R&D) projects focused on providing near-term solutions for pipeline transportation infrastructure issues that will improve safety, reduce environmental impact, and enhance reliability. PHMSA periodically holds public R&D forums to help generate a national research agenda that identifies technical challenges and fosters solutions to improve pipeline safety and protect the environment. PHMSA’s most recent forum was held in the fall of 2023, and included five working groups focusing on carbon dioxide, hydrogen, leak detection/monitoring, threat prevention, and anomaly detection and repair. The forum discussions regarding both carbon dioxide and hydrogen drew extended interest as more projects are being proposed for CCUS and hydrogen blending of natural gas pipelines. Both of these research areas are necessary and timely as we look towards transportation of gaseous carbon dioxide and varying hydrogen blending of natural gas pipelines, both of which may involve additional rulemaking efforts at PHMSA.

PHMSA issued its solicitations for its Cooperative Academic Agreement Program (CAAP) on March 18, 2024, and it Core Program on April 15, 2024. PHMSA’s solicitation topics included Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Safety, Leak Detection, Liquefied Natural Gas, Threat Prevention, Anomaly Detection and Characterization, and Hazardous Liquids Tanks. Based on PHMSA’s review of data and trends, there is a continued need to fund research activities intended to evaluate and mitigate threats to prevent damage to our Nation’s infrastructure. The most present risks center around geohazard monitoring, data integration, and corrosion control, all of which are included in the research solicitations for 2024. Of note for the Subcommittee— PHMSA’s 2023 appropriations bill directed PHMSA to utilize a significant portion of its existing research funding as part of the creation of a National Center of Excellence for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). PHMSA has been working to partner with other Federal agencies in the creation of this National Center of Excellence—to leverage broader Federal resources to advance LNG safety.

Hydrogen/Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

In FY 2023, PHMSA awarded approximately $4 million in research investments on hydrogen projects. Specifically, under the Core Program, PHMSA awarded two projects: 1) to Investigate Damage Mechanisms for Hydrogen and Hydrogen/Natural Gas Blends to Determine Inspection Intervals for In-Line Inspection Tools, and 2) to Investigate the Integrity Impacts of Hydrogen Gas on Composite/Multi-Layered Pipe. In addition, PHMSA entered into an Interagency Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) to “Establish the Technical Basis for Enabling Safe and Reliable Underground Hydrogen Storage Operations.” PHMSA currently has twelve active hydrogen projects from FYs 2021, 2022, and 2023 awards, totaling approximately $11 million in research investments. These projects will research how to safely transport and store hydrogen and hydrogen blends by repurposing existing infrastructure used for natural gas transport and underground storage, improving hydrogen leak detection, and characterizing hydrogen specific pipeline integrity threats.

PHMSA also collaborates with the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management to establish partnerships on R&D and safety associated with the transport of carbon dioxide via pipelines. Currently, PHMSA has four active projects involving the potential impact radius for carbon dioxide, innovative leak detection methods, and material testing and qualification for repurposing pipelines and underground storage facilities for carbon dioxide transport and storage. The results of these may help inform a current rulemaking related to carbon dioxide pipelines.

PHMSA’s limited funding for its Pipeline Safety-related R&D program is divided between pipeline and LNG research. For 2023 and 2024, PHMSA was provided $12.5 million for research, and the 2025 President’s Budget requests a total of $14 million for these important research activities.

In terms of PHMSA’s efforts on carbon dioxide (CO2) infrastructure, while PHMSA does not have siting authority, it is PHMSA’s responsibility to help make sure that newly approved pipeline facilities are designed, constructed, operated, and maintained with a high level of safety. In an effort to further a one-Federal-government approach to the oversight of decarbonization infrastructure, PHMSA continues to seek ways to enhance its coordination with other Federal agencies in the overall carbon capture, utilization, and storage space to help track projects, anticipate safety and environmental risks, and provide more public-facing information. PHMSA is in the process of developing a specific CO2-focused website that will provide cross-references to other agencies in an effort to help clarify the roles the various agencies play in oversight of CO2 transportation and storage. While most proposed CO2 pipeline projects are dense phase pipelines, some proposals are considering converting existing natural gas transmission pipelines to transport gaseous CO2. As noted in my response to your letter on the subject last year, Mr. Chairman, PHMSA is working to issue a proposed rule on CO2 pipeline safety as soon as possible, as updated on a monthly basis in our public rulemaking chart.

Liquefied Natural Gas

Global fluctuations in natural gas supplies and its availability continue to spark investments in LNG. Currently, there are eight LNG export terminals with a total LNG production capacity of approximately 14 billion standard cubic feet per day (bcf/d) in the United States. There are also 17 new facilities expected to be built within the next five years and seven more currently seeking Federal approval, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the agency which oversees approval and siting of these facilities)¹. As the demand is expected to continue to increase, PHMSA continues to fund LNG safety-related research projects; with eleven completed/closed and five currently active projects, all totaling $5.7 million.

As I noted, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 provided up to $8.4 million to PHMSA for the creation of a National Center of Excellence for LNG Safety (the Center), as authorized in Section 111 of the PIPES Act of 2020. The Center aims to ensure United States remains the leader and foremost expert in LNG operations, globally—including safety and environmental performance, and to improve collaboration across Federal agencies and with relevant

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¹ See https://www.ferc.gov/media/us-lng-export-terminals-existing-approved-not-yet-built-and-proposed.

stakeholders. For the last few months, PHMSA has been working to engage other relevant Federal agencies with the goal of establishing a center that leverages agencies’ expertise to address the most pressing issues and ensure we continue to raise the bar for the global LNG sector when it comes to safety and environmental performance. We have thus far received broad interest from other relevant agencies.

Increased Engagement with the Public

PHMSA is committed to enhancing all stakeholder engagement and has increased the number of public meetings and information briefings it hosts—holding three major public meetings and information briefings in 2023, as well as the week-long November GPAC meeting that was open to public participation. As mentioned before, in March 2024, PHMSA held another week-long GPAC meeting that was open to public participation. Personally, I have visited community members and victims, on-site, where pipeline facilities have failed (e.g., Marshall, MI; Bellingham, WA; Satartia, MS; Freeport, TX, and Jackson, MS). In March 2024, I met with stakeholders in Bent Mountain, Virginia, near Roanoke, to listen to concerns about the impact that the Mountain Valley Pipeline construction project has had on their community.

PHMSA has also increased its engagement with public interest groups, in addition to the Pipeline Safety Trust, to include pipeline worker labor unions, and environmental groups, as well as relevant trade associations actively participating in conferences and meetings to hold a two-way dialogue on important pipeline safety issues, emphasizing that pipeline safety is a shared responsibility.

In 2023, PHMSA’s Community Liaisons participated in nearly 195 public meetings, events, and conferences to educate our stakeholders on pipeline safety and damage prevention initiatives and to address questions about the Federal pipeline safety regulations or concerns about pipeline-related matters. Of the 195 events, 56 events were held in transportation disadvantaged and underserved communities which included Tribal Nations, and 16 were engagements with individual landowners and local community representatives. In addition to engaging with Tribal Nations to exchange information and address questions, PHMSA continues to perform advanced communications with Tribes prior to performing inspection activities that may take inspectors
through Tribal lands. PHMSA continues to promote the Call 811 Program through participation in events as well as through social media and digital campaigns encouraging safe digging practices.
With increased production and transportation of energy products, we have also seen an increase in engagement from the public in both the work our agency performs as well as the operations of the facilities that we oversee. Currently, there are no requirements in PHMSA’s governing statutes for operators to engage the public with information after a major incident occurs. This has often meant that PHMSA personnel have had to fill the gap by explaining what our agency is doing to address safety risks but leaving the public eager to better understand what operators are doing to mitigate risk in the wake of an incident. PHMSA has worked with representatives from the regulated community, public interest organizations like the Pipeline Safety Trust, and industry representatives from the American Petroleum Institute to advance a recommended practice for pipeline public engagement (RP 1185)—which was recently adopted. But more work is necessary to ensure the public receives information about safety and environmental risks— especially in the aftermath of a major incident.

Efficiencies in Oversight, Taxpayer Stewardship, and Focus on Employees
From 2020 to 2022, the number of PHMSA safety regulated miles for gas distribution, gas transmission, hazardous liquids, and carbon dioxide pipeline systems increased by 36,000 miles, and an estimated 400,000 miles of gas gathering lines are newly regulated. PHMSA also has increasing responsibility for LNG facilities, as new facilities are proposed and come online, and underground natural gas storage. Consequently, PHMSA continues to strive to operate effectively and efficiently to our expanded universe of regulated facilities. We are grateful for the congressional authorities given in the PIPES Act of 2020 to improve efforts to attract and retain a talented pool of professionals. PHMSA has undertaken new recruitment and retention efforts—in coordination with the Office of Personnel Management—including, developing new tuition reimbursement efforts and utilizing new online recruitment methods, expanding the pool of colleges and universities from which we recruit, engaging alma maters of our existing team members, and broadening the public outreach of our agency. New special pay rates for pipeline inspectors were approved in 2023 and PHMSA continues to implement programs to take advantage of all available hiring flexibilities, to continue to try to meet Congress’ hiring directives.

Although PHMSA faces fierce hiring competition from the private sector and other Federal agencies who are also competing with the same limited talent pools, PHMSA is focused on increasing the number of vacancies filled in inspection and enforcement roles. PHMSA continues to explore ways to continue to improve the agency’s hiring and recruitment to make it both more efficient and effective in recruiting and retaining talented applicants, including obtaining approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in April 2023 of a new Special Rate Table covering PHMSA 0801 Engineering series employees in various locations; using Direct-Hire Authority to quickly employ qualified candidates; and promoting the use of student loan repayment benefits, as appropriate. Just last year, PHMSA onboarded a new Human Resources director who has implemented several changes to attract the best qualified candidates. PHMSA has actively used recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives for the most qualified employees. PHMSA’s Student Loan Repayment Plan has been created and will be ready for implementation in the next 60-days and employees have also taken advantage of the generous student loan forgiveness program. PHMSA employees has sent over 200 letters to their alma maters inviting their engineering students and alumni to apply for open positions. In the last several months, our team has engaged with the Department of Veterans Affairs and OPM to continue to staff our positions with veterans and their spouses. Moreover, the team has implemented a multi-channel marketing plan that includes LinkedIn, Handshake, X (Twitter), and email to engage with schools of engineering and college career centers. Additionally, in the past few months, the team has visited approximately 25 schools designated as Minority Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and participated in the Federal government’s Workforce Recruitment Program, and other Federal events dedicated to hiring staff with disabilities—all to expand our pool of potential hires beyond where we’ve recruited historically.

Looking Forward: Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety Act of 2023

PHMSA has followed with interest the efforts of all of its congressional oversight committees as they craft reauthorization language for our pipeline safety program, and particularly the Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2023. I applaud the work of the Committee and Subcommittee leadership and staff in working to reach a bipartisan consensus on important safety topics that move pipeline safety, accountability, and information sharing efforts forward.

State Oversight

As previously mentioned, our universe of pipelines that are subject to state and Federal jurisdiction continues to expand. To accomplish an ever-expanding mission, PHMSA relies heavily on its extremely important partnership with state pipeline safety programs. New pipeline safety regulations and new—or newly regulated—infrastructure (such as certain gas gathering lines) have required state pipeline safety programs to increase staff to handle the additional infrastructure oversight responsibilities—or in many cases simply expanded the obligations of existing state pipeline inspection teams, which are already lean. These state pipeline safety programs employ approximately 450 inspectors who are responsible for inspecting over 85 percent of the Nation’s pipeline infrastructure through certification with PHMSA. State programs experience nearly all of the same challenges PHMSA has experienced in terms of hiring inspectors—but they usually have fewer resources to deal with such challenges.

Therefore, as reflected in the President’s Budget, we very much appreciate the efforts of this Subcommittee to increase the vital funding that goes to PHMSA to support state pipeline inspection programs. While statute allows PHMSA to reimburse up to 80 percent of the total cost of the personnel, equipment, and activities reasonably required by the state agency for the conduct of its pipeline safety program during a given calendar year, for fiscal years 2021 to 2023 State Base Grant Federal funding covered less than 70 percent of the actual total state program costs. The 2023 Federal funding is estimated to be only 56 percent of the total state program costs—due, in part, to the increasing workload placed on states because of the increase in regulated pipelines and expansion of pipeline safety regulations. The 2024 appropriation, consistent with the 2024 President’s budget, included an additional $21.50 million for State Pipeline Safety Grants to increase the reimbursement rate to states to nearly 80 percent of their pipeline safety program cost, in order to address this need and more robustly support States’ vital role in implementing many of the new regulations previously discussed—representing a bipartisan consensus for this need. The 2025 President’s Budget once again requests a total of $82 million for State Pipeline Safety Grants, which would continue to reimburse state pipeline inspection programs at the authorized level. We are very much supportive of this Subcommittee’s, and the President’s, effort to increase funding to the states commensurate with the increase in their and our oversight responsibilities.

Resource Levels

For this same reason, PHMSA appreciates the action of this Subcommittee in allowing an increase in personnel for the Office of Pipeline Safety to support development and implementation of pipeline safety policies and regulations, and to fulfill existing congressional rulemaking mandates. As I have testified previously, it takes a broad group of personnel to complete our rulemaking efforts, including engineering subject matter experts but also economists, attorneys, and environmental staff to ensure compliance with governing laws. To this point, we have provided technical assistance asking the Subcommittee to consider clarifying this allowance for an increase in personnel to ensure the 30 positions specified can include the variety of experts required to carry out our program who work at PHMSA, although they may not be within the Office of Pipeline Safety. This is to ensure we are authorized to hire the personnel needed to focus on the directive to develop pipeline safety policies and regulations, and to fulfill existing congressional rulemaking mandates.

Emerging fuels and opportunities.

As has been mentioned throughout this testimony, the anticipated expansion of pipeline infrastructure to transport CO2 has made PHMSA’s update of current CO2 pipeline regulations a top priority for the agency. PHMSA’s proposed rule on Carbon Dioxide and Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety will aim to cover operational and maintenance safety issues relevant to different phases (e.g., supercritical, gaseous, etc.) of CO2 transportation via pipeline—and to address each
of the issues identified by PHMSA in its investigation and enforcement activities involving its investigation of the 2020 pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi.

Additionally, PHMSA is appreciative of this Subcommittee’s efforts to understand more about the pipeline industry’s use of hydrogen and natural gas blending and the safety impact to existing gas pipeline infrastructure. As previously noted, PHMSA has been studying this topic, and other hydrogen blending related safety impacts for several years, spending approximately $4 million in research investments on hydrogen projects in 2023. Importantly, PHMSA recently published in the Federal Register a draft information collection to allow PHMSA to collect and identify trends related to the blending of hydrogen gas and natural gas within gas pipelines from operator-reported data.

PHMSA understands the Committee’s interest in the implementation of a voluntary information-sharing system (VIS) comprised of PHMSA, other Federal and state agencies, the regulated industry (i.e., pipeline and facility owners and operators), and general public safety or environmental advocacy organizations. The VIS concept is one that is used successfully in other industries, particularly in the aviation field. PHMSA has worked for years on developing a VIS concept for the pipeline sector since the initial congressional mandate in the PIPES Act of 2016 to study the feasibility of such a system. PHMSA looks forward to Congress’s guidance for implementing a program that seeks to encourage collaborative efforts to improve information sharing with the purpose of improving natural gas, hazardous liquid, and carbon dioxide pipeline facility integrity and safety.

Conclusion: Continued Exceptional American Leadership in Pipeline Safety
In closing, I would like to thank you again for the opportunity to discuss with you the critical issues facing PHMSA, our state partners, and the largest, most sophisticated hazardous materials transportation system in the world. Each of the areas I outlined above are areas in which the rest of the world looks to America for leadership: leadership in the marketplace of products for which we are the most efficient in the world; leadership for establishing safety rules, that countries around the world have told me they often adopt in whole to improve their own pipeline safety and environmental protection and harm mitigation; leadership in the rule of law when it comes to disputes and compliance; leadership in research, innovation, and new technologies to improve safety and environmental performance that are sold domestically and exported around the world; leadership in transparency and engagement with affected communities, which other countries also look to as a new standard; and leadership in efficiencies, for all the work that we do.

This work is the result of our collaboration with the congressional committees that authorize our agency and fund our agency, but the kudos for all of the achievement of our agency go to the nearly 650 full-time Federal employees and nearly 200 contractors that make up what I always say is the most unsung agency in the Federal Government.

Thank you again for your efforts to advance bipartisan reauthorization legislation. I look forward to working with you and your colleagues as Congress considers a pipeline safety reauthorization bill that honors the efforts of your colleague, Mr. Payne.

FAA Oversight of Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture

Implementation of Boeing’s Comprehensive Action Plan

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL WHITAKER ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
HEARING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Subcommittee Chairman Graves, Subcommittee Ranking Member Cohen, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today to provide an update on the FAA’s oversight of Boeing’s production and manufacturing system. I want to thank the committee for your hard work in passing the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The FAA started implementation immediately, and we are committed to keeping you and your staff updated on our progress on a quarterly basis.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282

On January 5, shortly after departure, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced rapid depressurization after the left mid exit door plug blew out of a Boeing 737-9 MAX. Immediately following the accident, on January 6, the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all 737-9 MAX airplanes with that particular door plug configuration.

Capping production of new Boeing 737 MAX airplanes to achieve system stability and compliance with required quality control procedures.
Launching an investigation scrutinizing Boeing’s compliance with manufacturing requirements.
Increasing oversight of the production of new airplanes with more FAA safety inspectors on-site at all Boeing manufacturing facilities.
Increasing data monitoring to identify significant safety issues.
Commissioning an independent analysis of potential safety-focused reforms around quality control and delegation.

Boeing Comprehensive Plan

As part of its comprehensive plan, Boeing has committed to the following:

Increasing and enhancing employee training, engagement, and communication;
Encouraging its employees to speak up without fear of reprisal;
Boosting supplier oversight;
Increasing quality oversight at every step of the production process, and ensuring things happen in the right sequence and are approved before moving forward;
Getting more input from users of the system;
Simplifying production processes and procedures; and
Bringing state-of-the-art technology to Boeing tool and parts management.

To monitor the health of Boeing’s production and quality system, including the impacts of those changes, we also directed Boeing to identify key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs directly correspond to the targets outlined in its comprehensive action plan to improve its safety and quality systems and will help assess the effectiveness of its proposed initiatives. The KPIs provide real-time visibility into the production system with specific control limits that will trigger corrective action if needed.

FAA’s Oversight Activities

Boeing’s manufacturing and production system is complex and multi-faceted, spanning multiple facilities and thousands of suppliers. Because of the complexity of its operations, Boeing must have a robust safety system comprised of multiple layers that can detect and mitigate identified risks. The FAA will hold Boeing accountable for having an effective system in place with procedures that ensure the production and delivery of safe airplanes.

As a result of systemic production quality issues, Boeing must make significant changes to transform its quality system and ensure the right layers of safety are in place. As FAA Administrator, I am directly engaged with Boeing’s senior leadership to ensure they execute the necessary changes to transform Boeing’s safety culture and address its production quality issues. I met with their new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, last month and reemphasized to him our expectations that these changes must be sustained in the long term.

The safety and integrity of our air transportation system rely heavily on having a culture where people come forward with their safety concerns without fear of reprisal, and they have confidence in the process to know that their report will be investigated thoroughly. Boeing must maintain its own robust safety reporting programs and promote a safe and proactive reporting culture within its organizations.

More engagement with company employees to hear directly from them and gauge the effectiveness of changes outlined in Boeing’s plan;
Added inspections at critical points of the production process; and
Increased auditing of quality systems, build processes, and changes outlined in Boeing’s plan.

In addition to the work the safety inspectors are doing on production oversight, we also have hundreds of other FAA personnel who are focused on other aspects of our oversight of Boeing. These employees are monitoring the in-service fleet through our continued operational safety processes, overseeing Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization, and conducting certification activities.

As our first step, we are reevaluating our current safety management initiatives and establishing a strategy to revamp our agency-wide safety management program. As part of this long-term strategy, we are in the process of elevating the role of our Executive Committee which oversees our regulatory oversight and safety management programs. To drive the necessary improvements to our oversight model across the agency, both the Deputy Administrator and I will serve on the Executive Committee. By doing so, this commitment underscores the importance of promoting an effective safety culture at every level of the agency.

As the FAA enhances our oversight models agency-wide, we are also examining opportunities to leverage the vast internal and external data resources to become more predictive in identifying risks across the aviation system. To this end, the agency is undertaking a fresh look at our current capabilities to provide more real-time insight into any emerging safety trends and to share relevant data across the various components of our safety ecosystem.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. I look forward to your questions.

Risks and Rewards: Encouraging Commercial Space Innovation While Maintaining Public Safety

STATEMENT OF KELVIN B. COLEMAN
ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
HEARING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS
RISKS AND REWARDS: ENCOURAGING COMMERCIAL SPACE INNOVATION WHILE MAINTAINING PUBLIC SAFETY
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Chair Lucas, Chair Babin, Ranking Member Lofgren, Ranking Member Sorensen, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the important role the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have in enabling safe commercial space transportation. As the regulator of commercial space transportation, we are committed to ensuring the safety and economic competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space transportation industry. Maintaining our safety record is a key to the uninterrupted growth of this industry that has become an important economic engine for our nation. A safe industry is a successful industry.

U.S. commercial space capabilities and innovation are vitally important to our Nation.
Space exploration has an impact on our everyday lives in countless ways and many benefits are yet to be realized. The commercial space transportation industry continues to develop new technologies that hold tremendous potential for further advancements that will assure our Nation’s access to space, take us back to the moon and to other interplanetary destinations, connect global communities, better serve the planet, and improve the daily lives of our citizens. Commercial space activity worldwide increases every day, resulting in a half-trillion dollar global space economy that will nearly double in the next decade. The United States contributes roughly half of all commercial space activity, and the U.S. commercial space industry will continue to be an extremely important contributor to the growth of this space economy.

I’m here before you today to discuss how our office drives the mission to enable safe space transportation and our ongoing efforts to streamline and improve our regulatory framework and processes.

Overview of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation and its Responsibilities

The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), in accordance with Title 51 of the United States Code, regulates and oversees U.S. commercial space transportation operations, which include launch and reentry operations worldwide, the operation of launch and reentry sites, and human space flight missions. This authority has been delegated by the Secretary to the FAA, and I have led the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) as the Associate Administrator since September 2022. Our office carries out these authorities to protect public health and safety, the safety of property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. In addition to these important responsibilities, our office is also responsible for encouraging, facilitating, and promoting commercial space launches and reentries by the private sector and facilitating the strengthening and expansion of U.S. space transportation infrastructure. To put it simply, the U.S. relies on our office to ensure public safety while enabling safe commercial space transportation, and we recognize and embrace the central role the DOT and the FAA play in ensuring the U.S. continues to be the global leader in space.

Licensing and Permitting of Commercial Space Transportation Operations

Commercial space transportation operations are increasing in complexity, diversity, and frequency, creating a significant growth in demand for AST’s licensing and permitting services and our resulting safety oversight.

Since 1989, the FAA has licensed or permitted more than 800 commercial space transportation operations, more than any other country in the world by far. To put the growth of the U.S. commercial space transportation sector into perspective, this fiscal year, AST has overseen the safety of 130 launch and reentry operations, which is more than triple the number of licensed operations that occurred in fiscal year 2020—and the year isn’t over yet. Additionally, we made 150% more application determinations in fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2020. The catalyst for this increase is that we have seen steady growth of licensed vehicle operators and now have 26 licensed commercial launch and reentry operators.

The FAA has leveraged its licensing and regulatory capabilities and other various programs and initiatives in a manner that has resulted in an impressive safety record for this rapidly growing industry. No FAA-licensed launch or reentry operation has ever resulted in a fatality or injury to a member of the public, nor has there been any significant public property damage. I’ve encouraged our team to learn from every operation and to identify potential risks so that potential hazards and vulnerabilities become smaller and fewer. Looking forward, we expect the total number of licensed commercial space operations to double by fiscal year 2026. The FAA is committed to meeting this increased demand.

The safety record is the result of our licensing and permitting process, consisting of three phases: pre-application consultation, application evaluation, and operations and compliance monitoring. Prior to submitting an application, license and permit applicants are required to consult with the FAA to discuss the application process and other information relevant to the FAA’s licensing or permitting determination. Pre-application consultation marks the formal beginning of a relationship between AST and an applicant, and this phase of the licensing and permitting process ends when the applicant formally submits an application that is accepted by AST for evaluation. AST is required by statute to make a licensing determination within 180 days from license application acceptance and a permit determination within 120 days from permit application acceptance. During the application evaluation phase, AST reviews an application for compliance with applicable regulations and determines whether to issue an authorization (i.e., license or permit) to the applicant. The following reviews are conducted as part of an evaluation: a policy review, a payload review, a safety review, a financial responsibility determination, and an environmental review. Further, once AST issues a license or permit, it must ensure that the licensee or permittee complies with the governing statute, regulations, representations made in the application, and the terms and conditions of the license or permit. After a license or permit has been issued, operators frequently make changes to the vehicle configuration, launch procedures, or operations that may require the operator to apply for a license or permit modification. AST must evaluate all such changes in making determinations to approve or deny any modification to a license or permit. An applicant may also request a waiver(s) to regulatory provisions, and AST must evaluate and respond to each waiver petition to determine if it can be granted in the public’s interest and will not jeopardize public health and safety, the safety of property, or any national security or foreign policy interest of the United States. In the event there is a launch- or reentry-related mishap, AST or the National Transportation Safety Board oversees the mishap investigation.

We understand the importance of making timely licensing and permitting determinations and continue to make it our priority— over the last 11 years, we have issued 49 license determinations, averaging 151 days to issue a new license. We have taken action to improve our internal efficiency, which includes bolstering our staffing to handle licensing, permitting, and inspections; improved communication with industry that is clear, concise, specific, and actionable; wider availability through office hours and workshops; and investments in the development of new tools that will improve license application and processing efficiency.

We have also highlighted to industry a number of steps they can take to speed up license and permit determinations. We continue to encourage operators to ensure their licensing applications speak directly to our requirements at the outset, with clear narratives that spell out their safety case—exactly how their methodologies support the means of compliance.
Additionally, it is important that operators minimize amendments and go-backs after their application review has started. When operators require significant changes to their applications, it often leads to significant and additional delays, as our experts have to verify and validate the changed data and its effects on other areas of the application. When a quality application is provided by an applicant at the start, a more expeditious approval is possible. The burden of proof of compliance rests with the operator, and with the increased demands placed on our office, we need operators to submit well-reasoned applications that clearly spell out means of compliance to make the most efficient and effective use of our resources.

The FAA’s impressive safety record and ability to meet the needs of this rapidly growing industry are in large part because of the incredible staff that we have in AST. FAA-licensed commercial operations have grown in the last decade by over 900%. Thanks to recent support from Congress, utilizing various hiring and recruiting authorities, we have been able to increase our total staff size to 150 staff members, which allows us to address some of the growing demands that have been placed on our office. The President’s fiscal year 2025 Budget Request continues this support by providing funding for the agency to hire additional staff to conduct authorization evaluations, safety analyses, and safety inspections.

FAA’s Commercial Space Regulatory Framework

AST has embraced a mindset and methods to become better, smarter, more agile, and more efficient—always in ways that won’t compromise safety. In December 2020, the FAA published a final rule to overhaul our launch and reentry regulations and consolidate, update, and streamline all launch and reentry regulations into a single performance-based part, which is found in Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 450 (Part 450). This rule replaced prescriptive public safety requirements with performance-based requirements to provide more flexibility, allow more methods of compliance, and clear the path for innovation. We designed Part 450 to allow a commercial space operator to obtain a license for a portfolio of launch and reentry operations, which allows for different vehicle configurations, mission profiles, and even multiple sites under one license. The rule was developed to reduce the number of times an operator would need to come to the FAA for an approval and reduce the need to process waivers, improve regulatory clarity, and relieve administrative and cost burdens on industry and the FAA. Another benefit of Part 450 is that it enables an operator to streamline and include negotiated timelines for certain reporting requirements, which allows operators to design the reporting component of their program to fit their specific needs within a safe capacity.

Additionally, Part 450 enables coordination between the FAA and our Federal range partners, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense, on ground safety at Federal launch sites to eliminate gaps and duplication in oversight. By March 10, 2026, all launch and reentry licenses issued by the FAA under legacy regulations will no longer be valid, and launch and reentry vehicle operators must be in compliance with Part 450. We are encouraging industry to apply under Part 450 as soon as possible.

Currently, operators with proven launch vehicles and well-established concepts of operations, who could transition the soonest and benefit the most from Part 450, aren’t yet using it for their programs. New operators have begun using Part 450, but not to its fullest extent. As we approach these next 18 months, through various initiatives, AST is working to ensure industry has a full understanding of how to achieve compliance with Part 450 and how to take advantage of its intended benefits. To facilitate industry transition to Part 450, we have provided an assortment of aids, including license application checklists, advisory circulars, as well as virtual tutorials, office hours, and workshops. Part 450 will move us in the right direction toward efficiency and workload reductions for both the government and industry without compromising safety. As we look to the future, we will also continue to consider opportunities to improve the rule to better meet its objectives and identify other aids and resources to facilitate industry transition to Part 450. Additionally, we are also working to utilize advanced tools to adapt to the changing landscape. We are developing a Licensing Electronic Application Portal (LEAP), which will be used to accept, modify, exchange, and approve licensing materials under Part 450. LEAP is expected to enhance our ability to identify, track, and quickly resolve questions and issues both internally and externally with applicants. LEAP will streamline the licensing process for new applicants, provide more transparency into the process, and guide applicants in a step- by-step process.

Conclusion

I once again would like to reiterate the importance of the work we do at the FAA to enable safe space transportation. We have undertaken significant efforts to update our regulations and processes to create more capacity, and we continue to encourage legacy operators to move to the more efficient licensing process established under Part 450, well before they are required to do so. The Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, are here to ensure the U.S. continues to be the global leader in space by leading safely. We know the consequences can be enormous if we get it wrong—consequences for our lives, our planet, industry, and more. That’s why we remain committed to safety as our North Star. We will continue leveraging our licensing and regulatory capabilities, as well as other programs and initiatives, to enable the success of the U.S. commercial space transportation industry and ensure the U.S. remains the preeminent commercial space country of choice. Thank you again for the opportunity to discuss the important role DOT and the FAA play in enabling safe commercial space transportation. This concludes my testimony, and I will be glad to answer any questions from the Committee.

Reviewing and Examining the Francis Scott Key Bridge Federal Response

Testimony of Shailen Bhatt, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation

Before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
May 15, 2024 10:00am

Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26th was a tragic event for Baltimore, Maryland, and the entire Nation. While the collapse of the bridge itself was shocking, we must not lose sight of the devastating impact this tragedy has had on the victims and their families. The six victims were fathers, husbands, and friends in their homes and communities, and they were valued members of the construction workforce. We will always mourn these six individuals who lost their lives while working to strengthen our transportation system. I also want to thank the emergency responders who acted quickly to save lives.

I have had the opportunity to visit the site of the bridge collapse, and while I have been engaged in a number of bridge-related incidents during my career, I have never seen something on this scale. It is a monumental task to clean up the site and rebuild. And yet, as I appear before the Committee today, I have a feeling of great optimism witnessing the ability of industry and government entities to work together in times of calamity as they have done in the weeks since the bridge collapse.

Immediately following this catastrophic event, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) mobilized internally across multiple offices and externally with local, State, and Federal partners to support the response. President Biden has been clear in this Administration’s commitment to reconstructing the bridge. Under Secretary Buttigieg’s leadership, FHWA is actively coordinating with other operating administrations and offices within the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT); the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), which includes the Maryland Transportation Authority and State Highway Administration; the City of Baltimore; U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and others to mitigate supply chain impacts, manage traffic, reopen the port, and ultimately reconstruct the bridge. FHWA is actively supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the collapse. FHWA has been in direct communication with MDOT regarding all possible options for reconstructing the bridge and is committed to supporting these efforts so that the bridge can be reconstructed as quickly and safely as possible. It is critical that we reconstruct this vital connection for people and goods traveling along the East Coast. Ensuring that the I-695 corridor is open, operational, and safe for the traveling public at the earliest possible moment is a top priority.

On March 28th, within hours of receiving the request for funding assistance from MDOT, FHWA announced the immediate availability of $60 million in “quick release” Emergency Relief funds. These funds serve as a down payment toward initial costs, and additional Emergency Relief program funding will be made available as work continues. The Administration is asking Congress to join it in demonstrating a commitment to aid in recovery efforts by authorizing a 100 percent Federal cost share for rebuilding the bridge, consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses.

FHWA continues to provide wide-ranging technical assistance to MDOT regarding contract procurement for debris removal, procurement for reconstruction operations, and project delivery strategies to reconstruct the bridge quickly and safely. FHWA also is working with MDOT to ensure that the new bridge will be built to current design standards and in accordance with all applicable Federal laws. On March 26, 2024, the day of the collapse, FHWA met with the National Transportation Liaisons from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss each agency’s respective emergency procedures and considerations to expedite the environmental review and permitting processes for the future reconstruction. FHWA continues to meet with Federal resource agencies to discuss permitting for reconstructing the bridge.

Thank you to the State, local, and Federal entities who continue to collaborate with FHWA in response to this tragic event. Whether it is an event of this scale and complexity or the comparatively smaller but still impactful bridge incidents on I-95 in Philadelphia and on I-10 in Los Angeles, I am proud to lead an agency that is playing a part in showing the country what can happen when government and industry come together with a common goal. There are no Democratic roads or Republican bridges—transportation truly unites us.

FHWA will continue to do everything it can to support the response. As the President has said, we will not rest “until the cement has dried on the entirety of a new bridge.”

Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would be happy to answer any questions.

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A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Department of Transportation

Secretary Buttigieg Testimony

Senate Appropriations – THUD Hearing

May 2, 2024

Chair Schatz, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget request for the Department of Transportation.

And thank you for your partnership as we have delivered safer, stronger transportation across every mode, across the country. Roadway fatalities are at last trending downwards, shipping costs are down as supply chains are running more smoothly, and airline cancellations last year were the lowest in a decade.

As you all know, we still have much more to do. We’re rebuilding not just from the pandemic, but from decades of disinvestment and an enforcement environment that for too long privileged corporations instead of protecting people.

The President’s budget request of $146.2 billion builds on the progress we’ve made and enables us to deliver on the important challenges and opportunities that remain.

I’ll start with our primary mission across every mode: safety.

On our roads, we have funded projects in every state to improve safety for all travelers. After years of going in the wrong direction, we have now had 7 consecutive quarters of declining deaths on America’s roadways. But this is still a national crisis, taking over 40,000 lives every year, and we are requesting $72 billion to improve America’s roads and bridges with an emphasis on safety and efficiency.

We are constantly reminded of the importance of transportation safety. The country watched in shock as a cargo ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, taking six lives, and closing a vital port. We are working across the Biden administration and with state, local, and private sector partners to help reopen the port as quickly as possible. We also immediately got to work with the state on the first steps toward rebuilding the bridge.

Turning to aviation, America was rightly alarmed when a door blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight. The FAA acted swiftly by grounding 737 MAX-9 aircraft until each plane was safe to return to the air. And the FAA is significantly increasing oversight of Boeing. The agency is also investing in the physical infrastructure, staffing, and technology of our national airspace and airports. We are requesting $26.8 billion for the FAA, which will support oversight of aircraft production, accelerate the modernization of the National Airspace System, increase the target to hire 2,000 air traffic controllers, and continue improving airports.

On our rails, we are modernizing infrastructure, fixing road-rail crossings, and improving service in places like Chicago, Illinois; Moore, Oklahoma; and between New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, just to name a few. We are requesting $16.4 billion, which, in addition to expanding and improving rail service, will allow us to increase the number of safety inspectors to 400, and add new staff to complete safety audits. We recently finalized the rule for safe train crew sizes, establishing what most Americans assumed was already the case, which was a minimum of two crew members generally applying to large freight trains. Indeed we are taking every step that does not require an Act of Congress—but we are also continuing to call on Congress to pass the bipartisan Railway Safety Act, which would provide much-needed authorities to keep passengers, workers, and communities safe.

Across the country, we’re repairing and replacing what existed, and building and modernizing for the future.

Last week, I was in Las Vegas for the groundbreaking of the new rail line from Southern California to Las Vegas – what will be the first true high-speed rail in the United States. It was a really good day – for the millions of Americans who will ride this train every year; for our truck drivers and supply chains that will benefit from less congested highways; for everyone across the country who will live in a climate with 800 million fewer pounds of carbon pollution annually. But it is more than each of those separate benefits – it is a celebration of the fact that America can still build massive, forward-looking, engineering marvels that make people’s lives better-- with the potential of many more to come.

This one project is creating good union jobs for 1,000 men and women who will maintain and operate the train line, plus another 10,000 good union construction jobs to build it.

Everywhere I go, I meet workers already benefiting from these jobs. I think about workers like the young veteran I met in Washington State who reminded me of so many people I got to know in uniform facing the challenges of building a civilian life. He talked about what it was like coming off active duty as a Marine, how hard it was to get on his feet. Then he said, “I came across this union. The amount of training I got, the amount of work stability, the level that I have to conduct myself at, the purpose that I have... prevented me from becoming a statistic.”

And now Jordan is the first person in his family to own a house. We know what it means to have these kinds of jobs. It means presents under the tree, it means a new car or truck in the driveway, it means a better future.

These benefits are being multiplied across tens of thousands of projects improving American transportation across the country and the millions of jobs they support, including the construction workers building livelihoods as they modernize America’s infrastructure – helping us build stronger supply chains, cleaner air, and safer, more affordable ways for every American to get where they need to go.

We’re making good progress – but there’s more to do, and we look forward to working with this committee to continue delivering for every community in this country.

Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Department of Transportation

Secretary Buttigieg Testimony

House Appropriations – THUD Hearing

April 30, 2024

Chair Womack, congratulations on taking the helm – our Department looks forward to working closely with you.

Chair, Ranking Member Quigley, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget request for the Department of Transportation.

The President’s budget request of $146.2 billion builds on the progress we’ve made and enables us to deliver on the important challenges and opportunities that remain.

I’ll start with our primary mission across every mode: safety.

Across the country, we’re repairing and replacing what existed, and building and modernizing for the future.

This one project is creating good union jobs for 1,000 men and women who will maintain and operate the train line, plus another 10,000 good union construction jobs to build it.

These benefits are being multiplied across tens of thousands of projects improving American transportation across the country and the millions of jobs they support, including the construction workers building livelihoods as they modernize America’s infrastructure – helping us build stronger supply chains, cleaner air, and safer more affordable ways for every American to get where they need to go.

We’re making good progress – but there’s more to do, and we look forward to working with this committee to continue delivering for every community in this country.

Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

Unlocking Department of Transportation Financing for More Transit-Oriented Housing Development

Statement of Morteza Farajian, Ph.D., Executive Director, Build America Bureau,
U.S. Department of Transportation

Before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Financing Programs to Further Transit-Oriented Development for Affordable Housing

June 18, 2024

Thank you, Chair Schatz, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, and Members of the Subcommittee for the opportunity to discuss Build America Bureau (Bureau) financing and transit-oriented development (TOD). In my testimony today, I will highlight the Bureau’s TOD authority, activities, and remaining challenges.

First, I will summarize what we do. The Build America Bureau (also called the National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau) advances investment in America’s infrastructure by lending federal funds at below market rates under favorable terms to qualified borrowers while protecting taxpayers; clearing roadblocks for creditworthy projects; and encouraging use of best practices in project planning, financing, and delivery.

The Bureau currently has 115 Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program loans and loan tranches to 71 distinct borrowers from 23 states and the District of Columbia that are in construction or operations, totaling just over $31 billion in credit extended.
With the FY 2025 budget proposal to repurpose balances in support of the National Infrastructure Investment Grant Program, the Bureau continues to have substantial capacity for new lending: TIFIA will have over a billion in available credit subsidy budget authority, with up to 15 percent of TIFIA’s annual funding available for TOD projects; RRIF has traditionally relied upon borrower-paid credit risk premiums to pay the subsidy cost of its loans, and has $35 billion in overall lending capacity.

The Bureau also administers four grant programs to expand the public sector’s capacity to finance and deliver infrastructure. The Regional Infrastructure Accelerator Program helps public entities develop priorities and financing strategies to accelerate projects eligible for TIFIA credit assistance. The Thriving Communities Program provides technical assistance, planning, and capacity building support to smaller and under-resourced communities through Capacity Builders—technical assistance providers that support groups of communities based on their common needs. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program, which funds pre-construction and pre-development studies for rural and tribal communities, and the Innovative Finance and Asset Concession Program, which provides grants to public entities to facilitate and evaluate public-private partnerships. We also offer customized direct technical assistance, for projects of all sizes and project sponsors with different experience levels. Finally, the Bureau administers private activity bonds allocated by USDOT for qualified highway or surface freight transfer facilities.

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act authorized the Bureau to offer TOD projects. TOD projects include public infrastructure or economic development projects (including affordable and workforce housing and commercial development) located near or physically or functionally related to transit, passenger rail, or multimodal stations. TOD projects can transform underperforming and underutilized assets, increase transit and passenger rail ridership and revenue, facilitate office-to-residential conversions, and support affordable, equitable, multimodal access to opportunities and services. I am proud to say that in April 2024, the Bureau closed USDOT’s first TOD loan—up to $26.8 million for the Mount Vernon (Washington) Library Commons Project, now under construction. Our financing will save the community at least $3 million compared to other financing options.

Building and implementing the TOD authorities Congress gave us has been incremental and steady. We published TOD guidance and a policy statement on our website. We held 5 webinars in the past year for more than 500 participants. We also participated in webinars with the White House and with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and presentations at the U.S. Housing and Community Development Conference, National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, and Urban Land Institute. We hosted in-person technical workshops in Austin, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Jacksonville. To make our financing more accessible and attractive, USDOT announced it would provide transit and TOD projects TIFIA financing for up to 49 percent of project costs, the TIFIA statutory limit since 2012. USDOT typically limits TIFIA loans to 33 percent of project costs by policy.

Even with this progress, prospective borrowers have communicated encountering challenges in utilizing TIFIA or RRIF for TOD projects, the most significant of which are the following:

TIFIA’s legislation requires investment grade ratings. While this level of rating protects taxpayers from defaults, it can be unattainable for certain TOD projects (e.g., those pledging project revenues as the repayment source). Typically, rating agencies do not rate real estate deals that have both construction and long-term financing elements, as these are not common practice in the market. The Bureau has consulted with rating agencies, several of whom are now developing rating approaches for TOD projects. Some rating agencies have told me they might have a hard time making the economics work to rate smaller projects. Consequently, for some small projects the cost to obtain a rating offsets the benefits TIFIA offers, making TIFIA less attractive for those projects.
A range of federal requirements apply to TIFIA and RRIF borrowers, including compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Buy America, Davis- Bacon wage rates, and others. Some prospective borrowers have told the Bureau they are not familiar with federal requirements and have a learning curve in both understanding how to comply and structuring compliant projects that are financially viable. To address this obstacle, the Bureau has had one-on-one meetings to educate potential borrowers on federal requirements and to assist project sponsors in developing complete and quality applications.
Project sponsors are used to the timeline commercial banks use for short-term construction loans. TIFIA and RRIF loans typically have 40-year or longer maturities, meaning they have both short-term construction risk and long-term revenue risk. This combination complicates—and lengthens—the underwriting process. The Bureau has explored innovative approaches, such as teaming with short-term lenders and other federal agencies, and collaboration with HUD and other federal agencies to develop effective products and to streamline the process. As our program matures and we close a few more TOD loans, we should be able to standardize our process and procedures and develop template documents that could further streamline the process.

In early 2021, we had no TOD projects in the Bureau’s active pipeline, even though the authority had been in place since late 2015. Today, interest in the TOD pipeline is robust, with over 20 TOD projects engaging with the Bureau on utilizing its financing programs. We anticipate our TOD pipeline and portfolio will continue growing quickly and welcome any opportunity to improve our programs and deliver quality customer experiences that achieve the intended program outcomes.

Thank you, Chairman Schatz and Ranking Member Hyde-Smith. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

###

Examining the State of Rail Safety in the Aftermath of the Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF
TRISTAN H. BROWN
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR
PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROADS, PIPELINES, AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HEARING ON ENSURING SAFETY AND RELIABILITY: EXAMINING THE STATE OF RAIL SAFETY IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE DERAILMENT IN EAST PALESTINE, OHIO
July 23, 2024

Introduction

Good afternoon, Chairman Nehls, Ranking Member Wilson, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) hazardous materials safety program as it relates to railroad transportation safety.

As I testified earlier this year before this Subcommittee—safety is, and remains, the top priority for Secretary Buttigieg, DOT, and PHMSA. Specifically, PHMSA is responsible for overseeing the safe transport of hazardous materials—by all modes. This includes nearly one in 10 goods that are transported commercially in the U.S., everything from nuclear waste to bulk petroleum fuels, to lithium-ion batteries, to spacecraft being transported to spaceports around the world. With respect to railroad transport, to help ensure the safest, most competitive, and environmentally responsible hazmat transportation system in the world, PHMSA largely focuses on establishing and updating standards for tank cars and operational requirements for hazardous materials carriage; collaborating with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in enforcing standards; investing in research and development; and establishing requirements for providing information to first responders. Because the railroad sector and the global economy are increasingly dynamic and rapidly changing, our challenges as an Agency are as difficult as ever.

America’s red-hot economy and record amount of domestic energy production have in turn resulted in a record amount of energy being transported around our country. Most of this energy is transported via pipelines, which are regulated by PHMSA. For example, 90 percent of crude oil is transported via pipeline with roughly 10 percent transported by rail. As of this year, chemical and petroleum products are up 4.3 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Generally, an increase in throughput of energy products in our transportation system increases safety and environmental risks. This Committee has acknowledged the heightened burden on our Agency from our expanding responsibilities in oversight, and has advanced bipartisan legislation (H.R. 6494, the PIPES Act of 2023) that includes additional support and directives to our Agency. As we face more challenges and broader demands on our Agency, clear direction and resources from Congress are important. To that end, we appreciate your efforts to advance bipartisan legislation to strengthen safety and hazardous materials related provisions with respect to the railroad sector.

Since joining Team PHMSA in 2021, I have made it a goal to visit with victims of pipeline and hazardous materials related incidents. From Bellingham, Washington, to Satartia, Mississippi, to Marshall, Michigan, and East Palestine, Ohio—I have heard directly from individuals and families impacted by hazardous materials incidents. In the case of the 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio—as in so many incidents throughout the year, across the country—PHMSA personnel were immediately on the ground responding to the incident and supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation. Once much of the initial response was completed, FRA Administrator Bose and I were on scene to support the tank car inspections and meet with and solicit feedback from railroad workers and first responders. Also, for the first time in the Department’s history, a Secretary of Transportation visited the site of a hazmat train derailment to participate in the hazmat car inspections and meet with investigators and first responders. The brave first responders for this incident were critical in helping us develop major changes to our hazardous materials response regulations for railroads, which we recently announced as part of our new Real-Time Train Consist Rulemaking.

Additionally, we have known for more than a decade that the much stronger design of DOT-117 and DOT-105 tank cars reduces safety risks during incidents, such as the 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, and we have consistently advocated for their expanded use in transport. As the NTSB noted in its most recent report on the East Palestine event: “From 2013 through 2023, the NTSB investigated 17 accidents in which damaged DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars released hazardous materials. In 15 of these accidents (88%), the hazardous materials release likely would have been prevented or reduced by the use of a more robust tank car specification, such as the DOT-117, with a thicker tank shell, thermal protection, and consistent use of full-height head shields.” These 17 derailments occurred in communities across the U.S. and Canada, including Casselton, North Dakota; Plaster Rock, New Brunswick; Lynchburg, Virginia; Mount Carbon, West Virginia; Heimdal, North Dakota; Lesterville, South Dakota; Fredericksburg, Virginia; Graettinger, Iowa; Money, Mississippi; Hyndman, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; Sarnia, Ontario; Draffin, Kentucky; Tempe, Arizona; East Palestine, Ohio; Reed Point, Montana; and Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

In the wake of the tragic 2013 crude oil train derailment in Lac-Mégantic that killed nearly 50 people and destroyed dozens of buildings, PHMSA and FRA moved with haste to develop an aggressive and comprehensive rail and hazardous materials safety rule—the High Hazard Flammable Train (HHFT) Rule—to, among other things, phase out legacy DOT-111 tank cars in favor of newer, stronger, and much better performing tank cars. Unfortunately, our agencies’ efforts to phase out these tank cars was met with resistance from industry lobbyists, which ultimately resulted in a 2016 congressional mandate that delayed the phase out of the DOT-111 tank cars. This delayed schedule will remain in place unless Congress acts to change it. In February of 2023, Secretary Buttigieg called on Congress to amend the 2016 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act schedule and return to one aligned with what PHMSA and FRA initially established in the 2015 HHFT Rule—and similar to what Canada has mandated and been working toward for many years.

The latest report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), as required by Section 7308 of the FAST Act (P. L. 114-94; December 4, 2015), published on September 15, 2023, indicates that approximately 60 percent of tank cars used to transport flammable liquids meet the new safety standards. A review of the North American Tank Car Fleet Status Report from the Association of American Railroads issued on May 23, 2024, indicates that the industry is on target to meet existing replacement requirements for the remainder of the fleet, but not until 2029.

Our review indicates the most significant impediment for a more rapid replacement/retrofit of the legacy DOT-111 tank cars is the tradeoff of safety for our communities vs. economic considerations. Despite our safety advisory in March 2024, and the NTSB’s calls for more than a decade to swiftly replace or retrofit the DOT-111 tank cars, the phase out timeline still largely matches what Congress established in the 2016 FAST Act. I will reiterate what Secretary Buttigieg, Administrator Bose and I have stated previously, PHMSA needs congressional action to facilitate the quicker phase-out of DOT-111 tank cars from flammable liquid service. The FAST Act sets a final date of May 31, 2029, and we know that the tank car industrial base can support a quicker phaseout if Congress reinstates PHMSA’s original mandate—which as I noted would be in line with Canada’s phaseout schedule. Chairman Nehls, I know the Secretary was pleased to hear your support for a quicker phase-out, and I echo those sentiments.

Actions Taken Since East Palestine Accident

PHMSA worked closely with FRA and the NTSB in the wake of the Norfolk Southern East Palestine derailment to highlight additional avenues to improve safety and decrease risk when transporting hazardous materials by rail. These efforts included encouraging the use of steel manway covers; emphasizing the importance of railroad emergency planning and preparedness; urging tank car owners and shippers to voluntarily utilize the best available model of tank car—the DOT-117—as soon as possible for flammable liquid transportation; and encouraging 9-1-1 call centers to use real-time train consist information.

Additionally, on August 14, 2023, Administrator Bose and I sent a joint letter to Fusion Center Directors, State Emergency Response Commissions, and Tribal Emergency Response Commissions throughout the United States encouraging these entities to share information with local governments and emergency responders so that they have the necessary information to develop emergency preparedness plans.

PHMSA collaborated with FRA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to encourage 9-1-1 call centers to use all available technologies to improve the dissemination of emergency response information during rail incidents involving hazardous materials. As a result, many public safety access points joined the rail industry’s AskRail program, which provides real-time train consist information on demand. However, currently responders are not necessarily even aware that an accident that they are responding to involves a release of hazmat information and so they often will not even attempt to access the Ask Rail app until after they arrive on scene. As a result, we worked with stakeholders from a wide array of entities to implement a better solution—in line with Congress’ intent to get information to those who need it, promptly.

Real-time Train Consist Rulemaking

On June 24, 2024, PHMSA published a final rule adopting real-time electronic train consist information requirements for all railroads that transport hazardous materials in the United States. Train consists are documents that describe the position and contents of railcars within a train. PHMSA’s final rule requires railroads to update this information when changes are made by train crews; maintain it off the train in an electronic format; and immediately provide it to emergency responders when an incident requires a response from public emergency personnel. Railroads are also required to immediately notify the primary public safety access point–such as a 9-1-1 call center–responsible for the area where an accident or incident involving hazmat transportation has occurred, and transmit train consist information to them in electronic form.
These changes allow train crews to protect themselves while providing immediate information to dispatchers for further dissemination to a wider audience, including firefighters, law enforcement, emergency planning, public works personnel, and community officials. Secretary Buttigieg, FRA Administrator Bose, and I all heard first-hand from firefighters who responded from neighboring communities that they were not aware of what type of fire and hazardous materials they might encounter when responding to the derailment in East Palestine. Ultimately, this rule improves the ability of emergency responders to keep themselves, their communities, and all of us safe during rail emergencies involving hazardous materials.

The FAST Act had required PHMSA to impose requirements on Class I railroads to do what they are already voluntarily doing: provide hazmat information to pre-approved first responders via the AskRail phone app. However, PHMSA used this rulemaking opportunity to go beyond the original mandate and provide firefighters with what they said they needed. PHMSA used our existing statutory safety authorities to ensure firefighters, police, and other first responders not only have access to hazmat information when responding to an emergency, and to require all railroads to proactively communicate relevant information to the first responders when there’s a hazmat emergency requiring a response. We also considered the feedback we received from railroads—particularly the hundreds of short line railroads, many of which already have existing personal relationships with their first responder communities. When the rule became final, the International Association of Fire Fighters noted that the rule will “save lives” and General President Edward Kelly underscored that “Fire fighters are all-hazard responders, often first to arrive at incidents like train derailments... Getting fire fighters and rescue workers the information they need in an emergency helps us mitigate further risk, protect the community, and stay safe on the job.” In its final hearing on the East Palestine accident investigation, the NTSB confirmed that this rulemaking is fully responsive to NTSB Safety Recommendation R-07-04.

High-Hazard Train Rulemaking

While PHMSA and FRA’s 2015 HHFT Rule made significant safety advancements, the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine was a stark reminder that there is still much more work to do. The HHFT rule addressed the growing energy transportation risk that we were experiencing at the time. The Norfolk Southern derailment underscored the potential safety, economic, and environmental benefits of expanding the HHFT beyond unit trains of flammable liquids. As such, FRA and PHMSA have sought input on proposing regulatory changes to expand the requirements beyond the existing universe of high-hazard flammable trains to include other hazardous tank cars, such as those that were at issue in the Norfolk Southern derailment.

Grants

In the wake of the East Palestine accident, responders highlighted one of PHMSA’s most important programs that provides training and planning resources to communities. In his March 22, 2023, testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Fire Chief David Comstock of the Western Reserve Fire District of Poland, Ohio, lauded the use of PHMSA grants to the response community that ensured front line responders could acquire hazardous materials training at no cost—and he noted the value of increased support for PHMSA’s hazmat grant program. Created in 1993, the Hazardous Materials Grant Program provides funds to states, territories, Tribes, not-for-profit organizations, and national non-profit fire service organizations to improve preparedness and training for responders called to protect their communities from hazardous materials incidents if or when they occur.

This grant program has been funded at approximately $28.3M annually, through our Agency’s hazardous materials registration fees. Shippers and carriers who transport or offer for transportation certain hazmat in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce must register and pay these fees, annually. Between fiscal years 2019-2022, the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants funded training for more than 230,000 emergency responders nationwide and funded more than 600 emergency preparedness activities in hazmat emergency response plans, exercises, commodity flow studies, hazard assessments, and various other planning activities. Over the same period, PHMSA’s hazmat non-profit grants—Supplemental Public Sector Training, Hazardous Materials Instructor Training, Community Safety Grant, and the Assistance for Local Emergency Response Training—trained more than 47,000 emergency responders and hazmat employees nationwide.

We appreciate Congress’ attention to the grants program as evidenced by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that increased the authorization for these critical funds from $28.3 million to $46.8 million. We have heard from our response stakeholders that this funding is vital to expand training and preparedness across the nation. We are currently taking actions to increase hazmat transportation registration fees—commensurate with Congress’ mandate to increase funding for programs that support first responders—that will enable providing these greater grant dollars. We look forward to continued work with Congress to revise the current cap on fees so that we can collect the full amount authorized. The Senate Railway Safety Act of 2023 (H.R. 1674/S. 576) recognized that the current statutory limit of $3,000 for hazmat registration fees for the largest companies—such as Norfolk Southern—is too low to allow for increased support for the hazmat grant programs. In turn, that bill would direct Class I railroads to pay fees that are more commensurate to the potential risk imposed from the transport of large quantities of hazardous materials. The Senate Commerce Committee-passed version of that bill and the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) would increase the cap on registration fees from $3,000 to $5,000. However, there is no differentiation in that legislation between large businesses and extremely large businesses, which can pose a greater risk to the public when moving large quantities of hazmat through our communities. Therefore, to meet Congress’ directive to increase funding for our hazardous materials training programs, without congressional action, large businesses are capped at a registration fee of $3,000 per year—only a few hundred dollars more than their current fee. Smaller businesses in turn would be forced to shoulder additional fees to meet the congressional directive—something neither PHMSA nor Congress wants—unless Congress raises the registration fee cap and/or creates a new class of extremely large businesses with a fee commensurate with market principles that account for the greater risk posed by larger quantities of hazmat transportation, as endorsed by the Secretary in response to the initial rail safety bill.

Emergency Response Guide (ERG) 2024 Rollout

To support first responder training, PHMSA also uses some of the registration fees to develop and distribute the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG). This book is the primary guide used by first responders to quickly identify hazardous materials involved in an incident, and to help first responders identify measures to protect themselves and the public during the first critical minutes of an incident. The ERG is updated and distributed every four years and is available for free via Apple iOS and Android mobile application.

The Department’s goal is to ensure a copy of this manual is in every emergency response vehicle nationwide. Since its inception, and with this Committee’s support, PHMSA has distributed nearly 18.2 million free copies of the ERG to the emergency response community. In April 2024, PHMSA released 1.9 million copies of the updated 2024 ERG. As part of this effort, PHMSA increased our distribution directly to federally recognized Tribes with more than 1,500 ERGs having been shipped to 80 Tribes and Tribal organizations.

Work with First Responders

Ensuring our nation’s heroic responders are prepared when they encounter hazardous materials is a top priority at PHMSA and DOT. The best way to accomplish that goal effectively is to listen carefully to their voices. We use several venues to hear their concerns, calibrate our program, and meet their needs.

The first venue we use is the hazmat roundtable. The Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Roundtable provides a forum to discuss challenges in hazmat preparedness, prevention, and response. Reestablished in 2019, the Roundtable discussions aim to identify critical issues and suggested plans of action to strengthen hazmat response throughout the country, thereby protecting lives, property, and the environment. Roundtable members include representatives from federal, state, and local governments; fire and emergency service agencies; and subject matter experts from the hazmat response community. The Roundtable final reports are available on the PHMSA website and are widely promoted among the response community at national conferences and response forums.

Secondly, after the East Palestine accident, we held a Rail Preparedness and Response Thought Leader Summit in Addison, Texas. This summit brought together more than 80 attendees who represented carriers, responders, academia, trainers, government, communities, emergency managers, and commercial response organizations—as well as PHMSA’s most recent Administrator Skip Elliott—to discuss the current state of rail accident preparedness and response. The event served as a neutral forum for discussing various forms of training, planning, outreach, and best practices available to the emergency preparedness community concerning the transportation of hazardous materials by rail. The summit has already spurred actions by attendees that improve rail and hazmat safety.

Research

PHMSA is making advancements in rail and hazmat safety by conducting research that finds solutions to critical hazmat problems. For instance, we are conducting research to address the problem with placards consumed in fires at rail accidents.

Placards—diamond shaped signs containing identification numbers, symbols, and colors—are mounted on the outside of transport packages, such as railroad tank cars, to provide quick and easy identification of the products inside. These safety markings are an integral part of an internationally harmonized system of communicating the hazards and presence of hazardous materials in transportation. Damaged or lost placards increase the risk of emergency responders not knowing the type and hazards of material(s) they are dealing with. For example, the NTSB noted in its report on the East Palestine accident (Railroad Investigation Report RIR-24-05)
that the placards on the tank cars in the Norfolk Southern derailment melted in the heat from the ensuing fire, preventing first responders from quickly identifying what chemicals they were encountering. Therefore, as the NTSB recently recommended, with which PHMSA agrees, there is a need to develop a solution that enhances the durability and security of placards on bulk packaging such as rail tank cars.

In February 2024, PHMSA issued a research solicitation for the survivability of hazardous materials placards. This project calls for the development of a readily available tool, technology, or material to improve the survivability of placards on rail tank cars or motor vehicles involved in a hazardous material incident. PHMSA has selected a vendor and will evaluate the research as it is carried out over the next year.

Another example of PHMSA’s research efforts includes developing a quantitative risk analysis framework, in response to recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board report on safety issues surrounding transportation of liquefied natural gas in railroad tank cars. While the research focused on an enhanced Quantitative Risk Assessment for LNG transport by rail, the research demonstrated that this analysis can also be used for other chemicals. The effort resulted in a broadly applicable methodology to predict accident scenarios and quantify risk estimates at incremental geographies along representative rail routes.

Challenges and Opportunities

As Secretary Buttigieg has noted, despite the tremendous work by a dedicated team at DOT, there are concrete actions that DOT, Congress, and the railroad industry should take to reduce the risk to the public from hazardous materials transportation by rail. The first is a statutory change to mandate an accelerated phase-out of DOT-111 tank cars from flammable liquid service. The current timeline set by the FAST Act extends until May 31, 2029.

Additionally, a robust and reliable communication network is vital for the efficient management and exchange of information between trains, railroad operators, and emergency responders. Unfortunately, PHMSA has received feedback from railroads and emergency responders about gaps in cellular coverage, creating dead zones that hinder real-time updates and information exchange. The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is deploying nearly $65 billion to help improve high speed connectivity in underserved areas, so we anticipate connectivity will continue to improve in the coming years.

Improving the communication network also helps responders by improving connectivity of the AskRail application in remote areas. That application, as I noted before, informs first responders about the hazardous materials carried and their specific location on a train, and is another redundant, but important layer of protection for communities.

Finally, we appreciate the leadership from Chairman Nehls and Congressman Moulton in drafting and advancing legislation to improve hazardous materials transportation via railroad. In particular, the draft Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) would expedite the phase-out of DOT-111 tanks cars in flammable liquid service by December 31, 2027, which is 18 months faster than currently required by law. Further, the legislation expands the definition of high hazard trains—in line with what PHMSA and FRA have sought input on. To that end, Congress may wish to consider taking the proposed definition further to include all classes of hazardous materials, such as oxidizing materials and corrosive liquids—both of which can pose significant hazards to the public, workers, and first responders during a derailment.

Closing

In closing, PHMSA is eager to work with the subcommittee to advance legislation that improves the safety of hazardous materials transportation by rail.

The success of our hazardous materials safety initiatives depends heavily on the dedicated efforts of PHMSA’s hazardous materials safety team, who work tirelessly to establish and uphold the highest safety standards. Their commitment is the driving force in executing our Agency’s crucial role in overseeing the safe transportation of hazardous materials. However, as members of this subcommittee have pointed out, too often Agency action is delayed until after a major failure or tragedy occurs. Even then, our Agency often faces hardened industry opposition to enhancement of safety measures. PHMSA stands ready to work closely and proactively with Congress to advance precautionary safety measures now.

Thank you for your efforts to advance bipartisan railroad safety legislation. We look forward to working with you to improve hazardous materials safety and protect our communities.

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