STATEMENT OF

POLLY TROTTENBERG
UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLICY
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

 BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Agency Progress Implementing
Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review and
Executive Order 13610, Identifying and Reducing Regulatory Burdens

MAY 8, 2013

Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Velázquez, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on the subject of agency progress implementing President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, and EO 13610, Identifying and Reducing Regulatory Burdens. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to present the work of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), under the leadership of Secretary Ray LaHood, in the area of regulatory reform and what our Agency is doing to reduce the burdens and costs of compliance for small businesses.

Through our ongoing review and revision of DOT’s rules and regulations under those two executive orders, we have been able to save American businesses significant time and money over the last two years, while continuing to improve safety throughout our Nation’s transportation system, reduce the environmental impacts of transportation, and provide important consumer protections for the traveling public. 

We are proud of the work we have done on behalf of the American people, and that the U.S. has one of the safest transportation systems in the world, but we know that we can always do better in the regulatory arena, and I thank the Committee for their interest.  We hope to work with you to address the ongoing challenges we face.

DOT has, by some measures, one of the largest rulemaking responsibilities in the Federal Government.  Some of its modes, like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) combine regulatory duties with other programs such as infrastructure development; others, like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), focus primarily on safety regulations and enforcement. 

The rulemaking and enforcement environment is extremely important – done right, it helps to prevent crashes and save lives, mitigate environmental damage, reduce carbon emissions, and provide consumer protection in a cost-beneficial way.  The regulatory process has produced some of DOT’s and the Obama Administration’s most important accomplishments, including raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, overhauling pilot rest requirements, improving pipeline, auto, bus and truck safety enforcement, and strengthening aviation consumer protections. 

And we have done so with robust public and private sector participation, the best science and economic modeling available, a commitment to using plain, understandable English, and seeking non-regulatory and pragmatic solutions that minimize burdens and costs for American businesses wherever we can.

The regulatory process is incredibly detailed—building upon decades of legislative history –contentious, and often litigious, since it affects the operations and costs of the regulated industries, such as airlines and aircraft manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, commercial truck and bus operators, railroads, pipelines, and transit systems. 

And we know this Committee has a special charge to evaluate how our rules and regulations affect America’s small businesses.  At DOT, we too are continuously mindful of the burdens small businesses we regulate can face.  We constantly seek opportunities to reduce these burdens—as discussed later in my testimony—while advancing our statutory safety, environmental, and consumer protection missions.

Congress itself plays a very large role in the regulatory area.  While all of DOT’s regulatory agenda is authorized by statute, a large portion of it is not self-generated but is either specifically statutorily-mandated by Congress or in direct response to recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or the Inspector General (IG).   The vast majority of statutorily mandated regulations originate from regular authorizing legislation for our operating administrations.  

For example, last summer Congress reauthorized our Nation’s highway and transit programs in the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act” or MAP-21.  The bill, which passed with strong bipartisan support, contained approximately 100 statutory mandates for DOT, which we estimate will result in 50-60 separate rulemakings in a two-year period of which over half are assigned to FMCSA.    

MAP-21’s statutorily mandated rulemakings cover areas that all of us would likely agree are important priorities – new safety responsibilities, especially in transit, pipelines and motor carriers, environmental streamlining to save project sponsors time and money, and moving to a more performance-based transportation system.  But some of these rulemakings will add further complexity to our existing regulatory scheme and possibly burdens to small entities, while some we believe will streamline it.

And we know that one of the most active areas of regulation has been under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which does have a large impact on the bus and trucking industry, particularly small and independent carriers, which are essential partners with DOT in moving people and goods throughout the country.

To that end, we have been extremely proactive in our regulatory review efforts since the President’s signing of EOs 13563 and 13610, with FMCSA leading the charge.  One such effort is a proposal[1] under development to rescind the requirement that truck drivers submit, and trucking companies retain, burdensome paper driver-vehicle inspection reports when there are no actual vehicle defects found. 

FMCSA estimates that rescinding this requirement will save the trucking industry about $1.5 billion per year, without adversely affecting safety.  The savings from each report is modest, but when you consider it provides almost daily savings for millions of drivers it has a large impact.

Additionally, the Agency developed this proposal in response to a request from industry to rescind the requirement on a much smaller population of carriers.  The Agency decided it was appropriate to seek public comment on a rulemaking proposal to apply this regulatory relief to a much larger segment of the motor carrier industry.  Since many motor carrier operations are small businesses, this is precisely the type of regulatory review that provides a direct improvement to the bottom line of many small businesses.  This rule is currently under internal review at DOT. 

FMCSA has also implemented key provisions in MAP-21 that reduce the regulatory burden on small farmers, by expanding an hours-of-service (HOS) exemption for farm-related operations during the planting and harvesting seasons as well as exemptions from other operating regulations for certain farmers.  They published guidance on October 1 to ensure our State partners were aware of the regulatory relief provisions in MAP-21 so that farmers could take full advantage of the statutory exemptions.[2]  The guidance was followed up by a final rule published in March of 2013.

Also, as directed by the Regulatory Flexibility Act, DOT routinely seeks out ways to reduce the effects of its regulations on small businesses.  Two examples of this are (1) indexed hazardous materials carrier registration fees, which allow small businesses to pay a lower rate than their larger counterparts, that saved small businesses $54 million dollars last year and (2) allowances for small railroads to use abbreviated safety procedures, in recognition of the lower level of risk inherent in their operations.

The President’s signing of EO 13563 and EO 13610 successfully institutionalized many of the regulatory practices that the Department has long embraced.   In addition to our efforts under EO 13563 and EO 13610, DOT has long recognized the importance of regularly reviewing its existing regulations to determine whether they need to be revised or revoked and has had a system in place to do so for almost 35 years.  In order to carry out President Obama’s executive orders, the Department took swift action and developed an aggressive implementation plan seeking broad input from all our key stakeholder groups and the American public on our plan for identifying and reviewing existing rules that might be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.

Our results were encouraging.  We held a Department-wide public meeting that had about 200 participants, and we received roughly 150 comments as a result of our outreach, all of which were placed into a public docket for review.  Commenters ranged from large industry and labor groups to State Departments of Transportation, to small businesses such as owner-operator motor carriers.  The comments received from these groups were just as varied as the sources—ranging from detailed critiques of our prior regulatory analyses, to suggestions to improve the grant management process.

In addition to the Department-wide public outreach, FMCSA recently tasked its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide FMCSA with ideas and concepts to make its reviews under the Regulatory Flexibility Act more effective for both the Agency and the private sector.  MCSAC provided its recommendations in April, and they suggest ways of increasing the level of public engagement to ensure we fully address the concerns of small businesses.   

We are also committed to using plain English so that small business owners and the general public can understand what we are proposing, understand our methods for estimating the costs, and understand how to respond to us in a way that allows us to consider other alternatives for addressing the safety challenge, at a lower cost. All of our proposed rules and communications with the public incorporate a robust effort to make sure they are understandable.  Our guidance on this can be viewed at our plain language website.[3]

To make certain our rules are reviewed in accordance with these requirements, DOT publishes a plan listing all of our regulations and assigns each to a particular year for review over a 10-year period[4].  We then update the plan each Fall, including brief reports on the progress made on the reviews.

In addition to the motor carrier rules mentioned earlier, I would like to outline for you some specific rules that we identified in our most recent Retrospective Regulatory Review Report that may have implications for small businesses.[5]  That report lists 89 rulemaking actions that are underway in response to EO 13563, including at least 20 that will have a positive effect on small business.  These include, among others, the following:

• FMCSA will propose a rulemaking[6] concerning e-signatures that would amend various sections of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to enable the use of e-signatures in support of electronic recordkeeping.  This would save the industry millions of dollars each year by explicitly allowing electronic records and electronic signatures in place of the more burdensome paper records.
• PHMSA is evaluating comments and developing a final rule[7] that would allow for the certification of fireworks by government-approved laboratories, similar to the process that the Consumer Product Safety Commission uses.  It is intended to maintain the current level of safety in certification, but would greatly speed the process, freeing PHMSA’s resources from the certification process and saving money for the private sector through quicker certification decisions, potentially saving the industry up to $19 million per year.    
• FAA has proposed a rulemaking[8] to update, simplify and streamline rules of practice and procedure for filing and adjudicating complaints against airports, including small business complaints.  It would improve efficiency by enabling parties to file submissions with the FAA electronically, and by incorporating modern business practices into how the FAA handles complaints.  Small businesses, including general aviation operators and aviation service businesses who are often involved in complaints, would benefit from this rule because it would decrease time spent and volume of paper documents needed to process complaints by allowing parties to file electronically.
• FRA is also developing a proposed rule[9] to take advantage of advancements in technology, which would allow small and commuter railroads to use electronic recordkeeping to maintain the records for review, without submitting them to FRA, which would reduce recordkeeping burdens by approximately 200,000 hours annually for the regulated railroads.

These are only a few of the regulations that we have reviewed in order to carry out our duties under the relevant EOs and the statutory requirements that mandate agency retrospective regulatory review.  We invite the Committee to view the entire report, which will give you a much better sense of the breadth of our continuing efforts in this regard, and we stand ready to provide more information or a face-to-face briefing as needed.  The January 2013 report can be found on DOT’s website:

http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.dev/files/docs/january-2013-dot-rrr-report-final_0.pdf[10]

In conclusion, let me once again thank the Committee for its interest in the Administration’s and DOT’s work in reviewing and reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses.  We share your desire to continuously improve the safety, environmental quality, and consumer protection of our transportation system in a sensible, scientific, and cost-beneficial way while ensuring that American businesses – large and small – are treated fairly so that they can grow and thrive.

I am happy to take your questions.

Statement of

Polly Trottenberg
Under Secretary for Policy
U.S. Department of Transportation

before the

 Committee on the Budget
U.S. Senate

February 26, 2013

The Impact of Federal Investments on People,
Communities, and Long-term Economic Growth

Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Sessions, Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me here today to speak on behalf of the Obama Administration about the importance of transportation investments and their impacts on our Nation’s economy, our States and local communities, and the traveling public.

The U.S. boasts a transportation system that is among the strongest and safest in the world and has benefitted from the investments of previous generations of Americans. 

From waterways to railroads, highways, airways and transit, our transportation system has been critical to our Nation’s economic success, providing remarkable mobility and opportunity to our citizens and their families, and fueling the prosperity of our businesses, factories and farms. 

But our transportation system is aging.  Much of it was built more than 50 years ago and in some cases more than 100 years ago, and is in need of investment, innovation, and new technologies.

Transportation is one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, with transportation-related goods and services including vehicles, fuel, auto insurance, structures, and equipment representing nearly 10 percent of the Nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) -- $1.5 trillion out of $15.6 trillion in 2011.

The transportation sector is one of the largest generators of high-paying jobs, accounting for 11.4 million jobs in 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including 2.3 million truck drivers, 144,000 highway maintenance workers, and 87,000 flight attendants.

Beginning with the State of the Union address two weeks ago, and continuing with his proposal released last week, President Obama called for $50 billion in increased infrastructure investment to spur economic growth.  The President proposed a “Fix-It-First” Program that would direct $40 billion towards reducing the backlog of deferred maintenance on highways, bridges, transit systems, and airports nationwide and put U.S. workers on the job, along with $10 billion for innovative transportation investments.

President Obama also proposed a Partnership to Rebuild America to attract private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: efficient roads, rails, mass transit systems, waterways, and ports to move people and goods, and safe, modern energy, and telecommunications systems.

The President’s proposals build on the Administration’s work over the past four years to strengthen the Nation’s transportation infrastructure.  The Administration worked with Congress to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, the most significant transportation public works program since the New Deal. 

The Recovery Act funded major projects all across the country, including the CREATE freight rail project in Chicago, the I-244 Bridge in Tulsa, and rebuilding  the Presidio Parkway connecting San Francisco to the Golden Gate bridge. Through the Recovery Act and core infrastructure funds, U.S. workers have improved over 350,000 miles of U.S. roads, and repaired or replaced over 20,000 bridges, including the Milton-Madison Bridge connecting Kentucky and Indiana, and the South Park Bridge in Seattle. 

Since the President took office, the Department’s investments are helping communities build or improve more than 6,000 miles of intercity rail corridors and 40 train stations, such as Union Station in St. Paul and Moynihan Station in New York, and purchase approximately 260 passenger rail cars and 105 locomotives, and make significant investments in 25 ports across the U.S.

In addition, the Obama Administration has made an unprecedented commitment to strengthen public transportation across the United States, investing in more than 350 miles of new light and heavy rail, streetcars, and bus rapid transit, in cities from Los Angeles to Cleveland to Atlanta, and helping to revitalize the American manufacturing industry by investing in 45,621 buses and 5,545 rail cars.

We are grateful that Congress passed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) in June 2012, and provided two years of predictable surface transportation funding for States and localities. Since enactment, MAP-21 has been a major priority for the Department, and I am proud of how quickly we have been able to implement its key provisions and get guidance out to the States, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, local communities and transit agencies.

MAP-21 makes great progress in improving safety, especially in transit, expanding the TIFIA credit program, focusing on freight policy, better planning, and moving us towards a more performance-driven system.

In fact, we consider MAP-21’s focus on performance one of the most exciting parts of the legislation.  We are working with our stakeholders to develop performance measures in key areas such as safety, pavement and bridge condition, system performance, congestion and freight.  Setting these performance measures is an important step in creating a more efficient outcome-based transportation system.

Part of ensuring our nation has the world’s best infrastructure, which is essential to our continued economic success, is improving how we deliver transportation projects. The Department is working with states and localities to produce better economic analysis to ensure that every public dollar is well spent.

We are working with our sister agencies to reduce the Federal permitting review process timeline by 50 percent for project sponsors, giving them tremendous savings of time and money.  We are also encouraging cost-effective innovation and creative new approaches to construction, operations and project delivery. 

MAP-21 also provided DOT with unprecedented opportunities to improve freight movement throughout our nation. This is an area where we have already made great progress. 

Last summer, Secretary LaHood announced the creation of our Freight Policy Council.  The Council, which is chaired by Deputy Secretary Porcari, brings together senior leadership, modal administrators, as well as policy, budget, economic and research experts -- to oversee the implementation of MAP-21’s freight provisions, including development of the National Freight Strategic Plan.

And last week, the Department announced the establishment of the National Freight Advisory Committee to engage a variety of public and private sector stakeholders in the implementation of the MAP-21 freight provisions.  As the Federal Register notice outlines, the Department is accepting nominations for committee members until March 21.

On the aviation side, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is moving forward aggressively with the NextGen satellite navigation program, which will provide tremendous economic returns by improving the safety, efficiency, and capacity of air travel.  NextGen will ultimately save hundreds of dollars per flight for our Nation’s airlines, and millions f hours of travel time for the public.

In 2009, the FAA estimated airline operations alone generated $300 billion in economic output to the GDP and supplied more than two million jobs.  Making air travel more convenient, dependable, safe, and efficient has far-reaching implications for the nation’s economy.

AP-21 and NextGen are important first steps to rebuilding our transportation system, but the demands on our Nation’s transportation infrastructure will only increase.  By 2050, the U.S. population is expected to grow by approximately 100 million people, with many of them projected to live in already congested metropolitan areas.

In 2008, Federal, State, and local governments spent approximately a combined $182 billion in total on highways and bridges, of which $91 billion was spent on capital improvements.  However, the 2010 Conditions and Performance Report, which DOT publishes biennially,  estimated that maintaining the Nation’s highway system, and improving it to meet future demand, requires that all levels of government combined increase capital investments from $91 billion currently spent to $170 billion annually over a 20-year period. 

On the transit side, Federal, State, and local governments spent a total of about $52.5 billion, of which $11 billion was spent on capital improvements.  Yet the same 2010 report estimates that  achieving a state of good repair for the nation’s transit systems, while accommodating future ridership growth over a 20-year period, requires an annual ncrease in capital investments from $11 billion to between $21 billion and $25 billion.  

Both of these investment need estimates do not take into account operations and maintenance costs, and are based on 2008 data.  The Department is currently preparing a new Conditions and Performance report which will contain updated investment need figures.

Moving people will not be the only challenge.  Currently, the U.S. freight system moves 57 tons of freight per person per year.  The addition of approximately 100 million people will result in nearly six billion tons of additional freight that the Nation will need to move through our often congested roadways, rails, airports and ports.  We have to find ways to move those goods more efficiently.

Last year, the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) collected only $40 billion in revenue, but spent close to $50 billion. This is not a new problem.  The HTF has had a funding shortfall every year for the past five years.

By the end of MP-21 in 2014, Congress will have transferred almost $54 billion in General Funds into the HTF to keep the surface transportation program afloat, which is of growing concern as we seek to address our Nation’s fiscal challenges.

As Federal dollars have grown scarcer, many States and localities have attempted to make up the shortfall, often by taking on significant debt.  The Federal Highway Administration reported that, in 2010, States owed a combined $154 billion in road bond debt, nearly triple the $56 billion they owed in 1995.  On the transit side, local transit agencies also amassed tens of billions of dollars in debt, in some cases threatening their ability to fund annual maintenance and capital needs.

Meanwhile, our economic competitors in Europe and Asia continue to nvest significantly more in maintaining, modernizing, and expanding their transportation networks.  In 2012, the World Economic Forum rated the competitiveness of U.S. infrastructure as 14^th in the world, below Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, and Korea.

But we also need political consensus on how to sustainably fund surface transportation in this time of severe budgetary challenges so that States and localities can plan for and build long-term projects.  The President has proposed to pay for our investments in surface transportation through the savings from winding down our contingency operations overseas.  We believe this is the right course because it would allow us to move forward with critical investments in our transportation infrastructure now while working together to consider the fiscal challenges the Highway Trust Fund faces.  Others may have different proposals.  I know that is one of the many important issues that the leaders on this Committee and throughout Congress will be grappling with in the months to come and the Administration looks forward to seeking a shared solution.

We owe it to future generations of Americans to provide them with a transportation system as remarkable, safe, and productive as the one our parents and grandparents built for us.

Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

STATEMENT OF

DR. KARLIN TONER, DIRECTOR,
JOINT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE,
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, ON

OPERATING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT IN THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM:

ADDRESSING R&D EFFORTS TO ENSURE SAFETY,

BEFORE THE

HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS AND OVERSIGHT,

FEBRUARY 15, 2013.

Chairman Broun, Congressman Maffei, Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for inviting me today to discuss the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) ongoing research and development efforts to ensure the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system (NAS).  As Director of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), I will discuss both the role of the JPDO in the coordination and collaboration of research efforts, as well as FAA’s overall research efforts to achieve UAS integration. 

The current NAS was developed to accommodate the capabilities of manned aircraft.  While many procedures and principles used for manned aircraft apply to UAS, there are significant differences between the two types of operations in technological maturity, perception and acceptance, and operational experience.  Joint efforts, including the development of NextGen, must deal with these differences because the demand for UAS operations has increased dramatically over the past few years, and is expected to continue to increase, due to the unique capabilities, and lower operating costs of UAS.

The FAA’s mission is to ensure the safety and efficiency of the NAS.  This means FAA will not integrate UAS unless and until we can be assured the safety of the NAS will not be degraded.  JPDO is tasked with coordinating with public agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the FAA to understand the complexity of the airspace and to safely integrate the wide variety of UAS technology, sizes, and speeds into the NAS.

The JPDO has developed a number of UAS national goals and related objectives in coordination with executive and working level representatives from NextGen partner agencies to provide a framework for interagency coordination and planning.  The FAA is specifically focusing its current research efforts on four areas: sense and avoid technology; control and communication (including possible security risks associated with communication); aircraft certification, maintenance, and repair standards; and human factors associated with UAS integration.    FAA research activities focus on new technology assessments, methodology development, data collection and generation, laboratory testing and field validation.  The role of the JPDO is extremely important to enable leveraging the research being done by different agencies to ensure that no two agencies are conducting the same research, and that all agencies are aware of and can benefit from the work being done by other agencies.  This interaction helps advance the goals and objectives agreed to within the Administration. 

The FAA also recognizes the importance of non-safety related issues, such as privacy and national security which need to be taken into consideration as UAS are integrated into the NAS.  The FAA plans to use the UAS test sites mandated by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to gather information on operational and technical issues, as well as privacy issues and potential of UAS to promote economic growth.  Further, the FAA will continue to work with relevant U.S. government agencies to develop appropriate frameworks to address the privacy and national security questions brought about by the integration of UAS into the NAS.

UAS information systems security is needed to protect against the potential impact that a loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability would have on individuals and organizational operations and assets.  We need to identify potential security features or mechanisms to protect UAS operations against threats, such as IT system threats, radio link threats, and human or physical threats.  For example, FAA is currently collaborating with NASA on a UAS prototype architecture that will be used to develop a high-level security risk assessment.  Our joint work will define a network architecture and potential security mechanisms for protecting air-ground communications for control and communication that are consistent with developed standards.

I want to assure you that UAS integration has the attention of individuals at the highest levels within the Administration.  The President’s budget request for FY 2013 reflects the FAA’s commitment to UAS-related research.  The request proposed a significant increase in FAA funding for this research.  In addition, the interagency structure, such as the NextGen Senior Policy Committee, provides for Cabinet level input and review as required.  All of the agencies involved in UAS integration have mission-related incentives for succeeding, which translate into the interest and support of key policy makers throughout the Administration. 

The NextGen UAS Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap was published last year and is the first report that identifies relevant ongoing and planned NextGen UAS R&D activities.  It is the joint product of more than 60 experts from the JPDO and our NextGen partners.  The work was organized within four broad challenges which encompass research by the FAA and partner agencies and are common ways to think about identified barriers to UAS NAS integration. It is a blueprint for identifying and addressing technical challenges and establishes a set of research areas that must be addressed to permit routine UAS operations in a NextGen environment.  The work brought together researchers, regulators and operators and led to an approach to link the R&D activities of our partner agencies with the research needs of FAA.  As a result of the Roadmap, we now have achieved an ongoing coordinated, multi-agency effort.

The challenges of integrating UAS into the NAS are extremely complex.  It is on those challenges that FAA’s research is focused.  For example, in the area of command and control, we are conducting human factors research to determine the evaluation of criteria and guidelines related to UAS pilot and crew training and certification requirements.   We also have eight ongoing Sense and Avoid activities in this area with the long term goal of replacing a pilot’s see and avoid functions with technology or procedures that will meet the safety standards in our regulations.

In the area of Control and Communication, we are working with NASA on prototype architecture that is described above.  The long term goal in this area is to develop baseline security standards that the prototype can be designed to meet.

Maintenance and Repair focuses on the differences between manned and unmanned aircraft.  The FAA has implemented detailed safety standards for maintaining an aircraft in compliance with our regulations.  Unmanned aircraft are a new and emerging technology.  The FAA is working to identify whether unmanned aircraft require new and innovative safety approaches to address the differences in the operation and maintenance of these vehicles.  Should different maintenance and repair requirements be identified, standards and requirements would be developed to ensure the same level of operational safety as manned aircraft.

Finally, there is the area of human factors.  FAA has just initiated a study in this area that is intended to evaluate criteria for UAS control stations, pilot and crew training and certification requirements.  In manned aircraft, a pilot can see, feel and even smell if something is not functioning properly.  An aircraft being flown by a pilot not collocated with the aircraft does not provide the same sensory access that a pilot in the aircraft has.  We hope to use the information provided by the study to determine how best to mitigate this inequity.

Each of these safety research initiatives cannot be looked at in a vacuum, but rather as part of our overall strategy of transitioning to the NextGen capabilities necessary to meet the airspace demands of the future.  It is abundantly clear that there are untold uses for the myriad of UAS and that their eventual integration into the NAS is both necessary and complicated.  The FAA and its partners throughout the Administration will continue to work to make this happen seamlessly and, most importantly, safely.  There is commitment to achieving the identified goals and objectives for integration at the highest levels of the Administration.  The United States is the world leader for safety and technological innovation in aviation.  The integration of UAS into the NAS is the latest of many challenges the FAA has faced, and like those we have seen in the past, we are confidently we will successfully and safely meet it.

The FAA looks forward to continuing working with Congress on this and other important aviation issues, and we thank you for the support Congress has provided thus far in assisting our work.

This concludes my prepared statement.  I will be happy to answer any questions you have at this time.

STATEMENT OF

THE HONORABLE PETER M. ROGOFF,
ADMINISTRATOR
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION

ON

THE CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS (NEW STARTS) PROGRAM

BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 11, 2013

Chairman Petri, Ranking Member Holmes Norton, and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to highlight the success of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Fixed-Guideway Capital Investment Grants Program (commonly referred to as New Starts). I also want to thank this Committee for supporting authorizing legislation that has helped to strengthen and enhance the efficiency, integrity, and impact of this program over the years, including, most recently, through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21).

Since its inception nearly four decades ago, the New Starts program has grown into one of the Federal government’s most transformational investment partnerships, typically funding roughly half the cost of competitively selected new and extended light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, and bus rapid transit (BRT) systems built in the United States. Working closely with state and local partners—in response to community-based demand for new and expanded transportation choices—FTA has signed 120 Full Funding Grant Agreements for New Starts projects over the course of the program’s history and 20 grant agreements for Small Starts projects since the separate inception of that program (for projects seeking $75 million or less) in 2005. Taken together, these investments support the construction of much needed capital transit systems that improve mobility and access to jobs for millions, while expanding the capacity of our transportation networks and contributing to cleaner, greener neighborhoods, and improving the quality of life for residents and local businesses.

The Administration strongly supports the New Starts program as an important ally in the effort to ensure that Americans willing to work hard in this country are offered a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy; to provide a safe and secure transportation safety net for senior citizens as they age in place; and to help revitalize cities and towns all across the nation that were hit hard by the deepest economic recession since the Great Depression. To achieve these objectives we must build efficient, modern, and connected transportation systems that offer citizens more and better ways to travel between work, home, school, medical care, and recreational activities that are the lifeblood of any community.

Looking toward the future, our nation will require more, not fewer, transportation choices to ensure we can grow and compete in the 21^st century and accommodate the nation’s changing demographics and preferences. The U.S. Census projects that the country will add roughly 120 million people between now and 2060—expanding the nation’s population by about a third. The number of people 65 and older will more than double over the next 50 years, and these aging citizens want to remain mobile and independent for as long as possible. Meanwhile, our nation’s most populous cities are continually choking on congestion.  The only way we will generate an economy that can create jobs for these additional citizens is by addressing this congestion to better move people and freight.  And the FTA New Starts program is part of that solution.

The Administration has sought to increase funding for the New Starts program in its budget proposals each of the last six fiscal years because the President recognizes that in the face of social changes like these, we cannot simply build our way out of our infrastructure crisis with roads alone. We need a balanced approach—an approach that is inclusive, where investments in roadways, bridges, and airports are complemented by flexible public transit options linking suburbs with cities, and rural counties with employment centers. FTA is also approached by communities that not only want to improve public transit options within their jurisdiction, but also to promote transit investments that connect one city with another city via regional public transit services, thereby linking major job centers. For example, the Central Corridor light rail system now under construction links downtown Minneapolis with St. Paul; and the initial Sun Rail line will link downtown Orlando with Seminole and Volusia counties in Florida, among others.

The New Starts program also has broad-based support among governors, mayors, local council leaders and their constituents across party lines in every region of the country because they have experienced first-hand what this program delivers. Indeed, New Starts is responsible for introducing major transit systems in cities where high-quality transit was virtually nonexistent a generation ago. In Dallas, for example, residents agreed to a small tax increase to fund alternatives to severe congestion. Today, Dallas operates more miles of light rail transit service than any city in North America—helping to transform one of the most auto-centric cities in the nation and unleash tremendous economic development.  The Dallas-based Green Line, funded in part with a $700 million New Starts construction grant agreement, has generated $5.6 billion in economic impact and 48,000 long-term jobs.

In fast-growing Charlotte, North Carolina, construction is under way to extend the LYNX Blue Line light rail service from downtown Charlotte to the city’s University of North Carolina campus—effectively doubling the length of the current line, which takes 16,000 riders a day to many of the Fortune 500 employers based in Charlotte, while providing an alternative to sitting in traffic on I-85.

Across the Wasatch Front in Utah, New Starts investments have contributed to the state’s ambitious and recently completed plan to build 70 miles of transit rail in seven years, resulting in four new light rail lines and a commuter rail service that have more than doubled the state’s transit capacity at a time when the population is growing more than twice as fast as most other states.

And in Arizona, the New Starts program contributes to the Valley Metro light rail system that connects two of Arizona’s fastest-growing metro regions, central Phoenix and the suburbs of Tempe and Mesa, spurring new residential and commercial development along the corridor while providing convenient, reliable access to Arizona State University and Sky Harbor International Airport.

FTA’s partners in the New Starts program—state transportation leaders and local transit providers— estimate that transit-related construction on capital projects funded over the last two years alone will generate more than 165,000 good local jobs, while opening the door to many more new permanent jobs generated by new housing, commercial, and retail development that occurs alongside transit corridors.

At the same time, in cities where demand for existing rail transit service has grown significantly in recent years, such as Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., New Starts investments have been critical to extending service and augmenting capacity. Maintaining a Federal commitment to the nation’s oldest rail transit systems in the most densely populated regions of the country is vitally important to keeping these major urban economies moving forward, in a sustainable way, in the 21^st century—which is why FTA has continually proposed boosting funding not just for the expansion of these systems but for critical investments to keep these essential systems in a state of good repair. 

In addition to the many successful rail transit projects funded through New Starts, communities increasingly turn to the program for help building BRT systems that, done right, provide expedited service to major employment centers, while helping to take more cars off local highways and provide a comfortable, convenient ride for commuters. The New Starts program has funded a growing number of BRT projects in cities such as El Paso; Grand Rapids; Cleveland; Seattle; Eugene, OR; Kansas City; Austin; and between Hartford and New Britain, Connecticut. In FY2010, FTA made history by committing Federal funds (through the companion Small Starts program) to the first rural BRT service in the nation, enabling thousands of workers from rural Colorado, near Roaring Fork, to save hundreds of dollars on gas each month and reduce wear-and-tear on commuters driving to jobs in Aspen—roughly 70 miles round-trip. The newly opened service attracted 64,000 riders in September 2013 alone, and has cut commuting times in half.

To preserve the integrity of the New Starts program as its impact grows around the nation, FTA has worked diligently to improve its capacity to oversee and manage the billions of dollars traditionally awarded annually to state and local transportation providers, and ensure that taxpayers’ transportation dollars are wisely spent.  The Administration has been committed to streamlining and consolidating core programs to improve efficiency and become even more responsive to local transportation priorities—while saving money along the way. Specifically, we recognize it is vitally important to strike the right balance between good stewardship and the need to advance capital transportation projects in a reasonable timeframe. We have never lost sight of the fact that the New Starts program brings taxpayer dollars back to communities to improve the quality of life in neighborhood after neighborhood, and all along Main Street. We must be responsible stewards of those dollars.

That is why, in recent years, FTA has taken additional steps to improve the New Starts program’s accountability, to streamline its administration, and to allocate resources to projects that truly make a difference. These efforts are greatly enhanced by provisions in MAP-21 that acknowledge the reality of operating in a highly resource-constrained environment. MAP-21 places new emphasis on improving the efficiency of grant program opera­tions through consolidation of some programs; streamlines some grant processes; and renews focus on improved public transportation access, operating condi­tions, and safety.

For example, managing project costs is a key area where FTA has made strides, both under the prior authorization, SAFETEA-LU, and under MAP-21. New Starts project sponsors are required to produce an annual Before and After Study that assesses the impact of their New Starts projects, compares predicted versus actual construction costs, service levels, project scope and ridership after projects have opened, and provides other performance-based metrics to FTA. These studies are enormously useful in generating “lessons learned” and informing FTA’s decisions on future proposed projects under MAP-21.  FTA is grateful to the Committee for supporting requirements like these studies, which contribute to the likelihood that New Starts projects will be started on time and finished on budget—without waste, fraud, or abuse of taxpayer dollars. In an effort to provide transparency, previous studies are posted on the FTA’s public website.

In a recent analysis of six New Starts projects, all but one generated higher than predicted ridership and completed construction on par with the estimates. These studies have been instrumental in helping FTA refine and implement a valuable new risk assessment approach that builds in unallocated contingency. The information in past and future studies will greatly aid FTA’s ability to determine appropriate levels of contingency funding for project budgets; whether predicted operations and maintenance costs fall within a reasonable range; and when, in the Capital Investment Grant lifecycle, it is most advantageous for FTA to conduct detailed reviews, including risk and financial capacity assessments.

The New Starts process has also been significantly improved as a result of streamlining efforts and a change in the way project benefits are evaluated. In January 2010, for instance, then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sought to change how major transit projects were selected to receive Federal financial assistance from FTA. As part of this initiative, FTA rescinded restrictions issued in March of 2005, in order to place more emphasis on the full range of factors that would be considered when evaluating transit projects seeking Federal matching dollars. By giving greater emphasis to evaluation criteria concerning environmental benefits and local economic impact, we made it possible for FTA to consider a variety of projects that might better meet a community's needs, including streetcars and rapid bus services.

Congress has also called on FTA to reduce the time required to get capital transit projects constructed and reduce the administrative burden on project sponsors. We’ve taken numerous steps over the last five years to achieve these goals, laying a solid foundation for additional improvements under MAP-21. In January 2012, about nine months prior to the enactment of MAP-21, President Obama called on Federal agencies to cut red tape in construction projects. Accepting that challenge, then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed to streamline the process and make funding decisions more responsive to local needs. FTA fully recognized that its process for selecting big capital projects, while historically successful, was generally more complicated than might be necessary. We therefore pursued a number of common-sense changes that will help local project sponsors potentially shave six months or more off the time that is now required to move major projects through the New Starts pipeline.

This streamlining effort marked the culmination of more than two years of public outreach to identify ways to cut red tape, reduce regulations for communities seeking Federal funds, and help get critical transit projects under construction more quickly without compromising a stringent project review process. The changes are estimated to save project sponsors almost $500,000 annually by requiring less time-consuming paperwork, eliminating the need for the sponsor to compare their project to a hypothetical baseline alternative that the community does not want, and allowing certain projects to pre-qualify for automatic ratings. Such changes will make a big difference to communities throughout the United States that need more mobility, and better access to jobs, sooner rather than later. And we anticipate additional efficiencies and the benefits of accelerated project delivery will be realized as a final rule implemented in January 2013 triggers additional improvements.

Since MAP-21 went into effect, FTA has continued to improve processes related to New Starts planning. For example, FTA recently rolled out a new tool to help project sponsors estimate transit trips on proposed projects. The new method, known as Transit STOPS, is expected to reduce the length of time needed to develop ridership forecasts from as much as two years to as little as two weeks—and save project sponsors as much as $1 million on consulting and administrative costs normally incurred during this process.

Another significant change in MAP-21 that will impact the New Starts program’s effectiveness is the greater emphasis placed on performance based planning. In brief, this effort to impose greater levels of accountability and discipline on the metropolitan planning process will require communities to prioritize and justify their commitments to projects competing for increasingly limited resources. Additionally, under MAP-21, states are expected to significantly strengthen the performance and financial rigor of their transportation plans and programs, and increase their collaboration with small urban areas (fewer than 200,000 in population), and non-metropolitan areas, whose transportation needs and priorities are incorporated as part of the statewide transportation planning process.

These areas of continuous improvement are coupled with a consistently rigorous application of oversight activities that include risk assessments, triennial reviews and financial management reviews of New Starts projects and project sponsors.  As a result, FTA has compiled an outstanding record as a responsible steward of Federal dollars.  Over the past 10 years, four of every five New Starts and Small Starts projects were completed well within their cost estimates and baseline schedules or are well on the way.  And a recent independent review of the FTA Capital Investment Grants Program by Deloitte Consulting found that FTA had zero improper payments in the billions of dollars of Federal grant funds awarded in the two years that were sampled, 2010 and 2012, meaning that virtually every Federal dollar committed to a New Starts project during that period was used in a responsible manner, for eligible purposes.

FTA’s ongoing efforts to scrutinize New Starts investments to ensure they are fiscally sound, and entail acceptable levels of risk, are especially important as local demand for these projects rises. In FY2011 and FY2012 combined, FTA signed more capital construction grant agreements for transit projects than in any two-year period in the agency’s history. And in FY2012 alone, FTA’s New Starts/Small Starts program provided more than $2 billion for capital projects to help build light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, and BRT projects—a level of investment in keeping with prior years.

Unfortunately, recent budget cuts and spending reductions imposed by sequestration take a real toll on infrastructure construction—reducing construction-related job starts and imposing additional financial and social burdens on low-income families, seniors, and other transit-dependent populations that genuinely rely on transit as a life line to reach jobs, medical care, and other vital services.

In FY2013, FTA had more than 30 New Starts projects in the pipeline—backed by local project sponsors hoping to receive construction funding to support projected ridership levels exceeding half a million people daily. These proposed projects would collectively add more than 320 new miles of transit service to communities that need more robust transportation choices to address congestion, mobility, and the need for new economic growth. In Boston, for example, the proposed MBTA Green Line extension to the nearby city of Somerville would put 80 percent of Somerville residents within walking distance of a transit station—connecting thousands of residents to academia, jobs, and healthcare services.

But FTA was unable to make new funding commitments for any of these 30 projects—and for any new transit rail or BRT projects anywhere—for the first time in roughly 20 years. The final FY2013 appropriation for New Starts was $380 million below the President’s request. The reductions were partially attributed to the automatic spending reductions under sequestration. As a result, FTA reduced the FY2013 payout level of all existing construction grant agreements for major capital projects. Sequestration also adversely impacts local jurisdictions’ budgets as unanticipated finance charges accrue on major capital projects for which local governments must continue to build and pay invoices, while the Federal payments that local project sponsors had anticipated receiving are slowed down by late appropriations, and then reduced by sequestration. These delays in Federal payments often increase financing costs for state and local governments.

Current and future program cuts could also jeopardize Core Capacity projects. This new category of eligible projects—part of the Capital Investment Grants Program under MAP-21—must expand capacity by at least 10 percent in existing fixed-guideway transit corridors (such as subways and commuter rail) that are already at or above capacity today, or are expected to be at or above capacity within five years. There is tremendous pent-up demand for these targeted capacity expansions, but currently no additional funds have been provided for the program to help advance these projects. The need for these core capacity investments is demonstrated by the fact that four billion trips are made each year on transit systems in just six regions with rail service: New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Boston; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.  These are not only the highest-demand transit systems; they are also among the oldest and most congested in the country. Improving these existing corridors to increase capacity to allow even a small increase of only three percent in transit trips would equate to more than 120 million trips annually. That gain in ridership would be equivalent to nearly half the ridership gains expected from New Starts projects in FTA’s pipeline today.

The Administration seeks to restore momentum to the Capital Investment Grants Program, and provide sufficient funding for the new Core Capacity eligibility under the program, in the proposed FY2014 budget. The President requests $19.91 billion in this budget to strengthen transit safety oversight, bring bus and rail transit infrastructure into a state of good repair, and provide new and expanded transit systems in communities nationwide. The President’s request highlights $9 billion for immediate transportation investments, including $500 million to fund the Core Capacity Program; $6 billion to address transit state-of-good-repair needs; and $2.5 billion for urban and rural transit programs. This budget request represents a strong commitment to effective implementation of MAP-21. In this proposed budget, FTA recommends funding 19 ongoing New Starts/Small Starts projects under construction in 10 states, completing the FTA funding commitment on five of these—some of which should have been completed in FY2013 but could not be because of the reduced appropriation.  The budget also recommends funding for eight new projects not yet under a construction grant agreement that were proposed for funding in prior years, but which did not receive funds under the reduced FY2013 appropriation. 

But these plans to restore progress on New Starts projects are far from certain in the current fiscally austere climate and in the face of additional, and potentially deeper, sequestration cuts. Therefore, the New Starts program is now at a crossroads. While the Administration remains committed to supporting the program, demand for these resources, coupled with reduced appropriations, continues to far exceed FTA’s ability to contribute on a predictable path. We have been proactive in allocating resources as judiciously as possible. We have reduced the Federal share of projects from 60 percent to 50 percent, on average, over the last 20 years. A Government Accountability Office report published  late last year found that for 25 New Starts projects examined between 2004 and 2012, state and local funding exceeded total Federal funding contributions, with the local share accounting for $18.6 billion, or more than half, of $33.8 billion in total project funding.

For the very largest projects (with total costs of $1 billion or more), the Federal share has fallen even further, to an average of about 33 percent per project. As a result, the Federal government is now leveraging nearly $3 billion annually in state and local funds for new fixed guideway projects and extensions—far more than the $300 million shouldered by local sponsors two decades ago. These investments reflect a willingness on the part of localities to fund important priorities. But it also raises questions about the ability of states with many competing financial priorities to continue doing so without additional Federal support.

In conclusion, our economy cannot continue to grow and compete without programs like New Starts. It has proven to be an effective catalyst for bringing taxpayer dollars back into communities for the infrastructure they need to attract new job-creating businesses, improve access to existing jobs, revitalize an aging downtown core, shorten commuting times for hard-working families, and give future generations a reason to settle down and build productive lives.

We look forward to working with Congress to obtain the funding levels needed to fully realize the potential of MAP-21, continue funding important major capital projects through our Capital Investment Grants Program, and ensure that millions of Americans have access to good transportation choices that create ladders of opportunity for our nation today and for generations to come.

STATEMENT OF

THE HONORABLE PETER ROGOFF
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATOR

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
BANKING SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
U.S. SENATE

HEARING ON

HURRICANE SANDY

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Moran, and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to highlight the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) role in assisting communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy nearly one year ago. This historic storm triggered the worst public transit disaster in the history of the United States, disrupting more than half of our nation’s transit service at the height of the event, and impacting more than one-third of the nation’s ridership in the days following the storm.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and FTA were highly proactive in addressing the challenges posed by the superstorm—and that posture made a tremendous difference in our ability to respond swiftly and responsibly, with the express goal of helping the region restore access to vital transit service to millions of riders who depend on it daily.

In the days preceding and immediately following the storm, FTA worked closely as part of the larger DOT effort to develop a rapid-response strategy to assist transit providers in the short-run, while laying the foundation for the responsible administration of federal-aid funds in the months ahead. DOT issued $59 million in quick-release emergency relief funds within weeks of the storm to get roads, bridges, and tunnels on the path toward recovery.  Working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), FTA executed two mission assignments to oversee and engage FTA staff and its project management oversight contractors to conduct continuing damage assessments and cost-validation work for both operating and capital costs associated with restoring and rebuilding transit capacity. Those mission assignments allowed FTA and FEMA to work side-by-side almost immediately after the storm to evaluate the situation on the ground and conduct preliminary damage assessments.

And we drew upon our regional staff to stand up a Regional Emergency Response Coordinator for the New England Region to support the DOT’s Emergency Support Function 1 under the National Response Framework. This provided daily on-the-ground monitoring and contact with the affected agencies to obtain a real-time view of challenges, needs, and progress. We also repositioned FTA staff to Joint Field Offices in New York and New Jersey to assist state and local governments and other infrastructure owners in the effort to restore transportation service. This level of response was accomplished even as FTA’s own New York-based regional office was taken completely off-line for two weeks as a direct result of the storm. 

These early joint efforts with FEMA and our experts on the ground allowed us to set responsible financial-aid goals, while also factoring in future insurance reimbursements the transit agencies would receive from their providers. Confident that help was on the way, the affected transit agencies did not hesitate to incur immediate expenses via in-house force accounts and third-party contracts so they could take necessary measures in the immediate aftermath of the storm to get the recovery effort started.

For example, within days of the storm, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey began pumping over 65 million gallons of water from the New York City subway system and more than 125 million gallons of water from the World Trade Center site. By November 3, two of the East River tunnels on rail transit lines between Manhattan and Brooklyn, and Manhattan and Queens, were operational—contributing to the MTA’s ability to restore 80 percent of subway service very quickly.

FTA also assisted the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey in securing hard-to-find but essential equipment, like power circuit breakers, which were essential to reconnecting Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail service between New Jersey and mid-town Manhattan, as well as the World Trade Center station in lower Manhattan, and the rest of the Northeast corridor. We worked directly with CTA in Chicago to obtain these parts and have them driven across the country to get those trains moving again.

And by May 30, 2013, the MTA had completed an extraordinary feat, restoring rail service for 35,000 riders who take the A Train from Long Island to Manhattan every weekday, thus reunifying Rockaway Peninsula with the rest of Queens. MTA was able to rebuild, test, and re-open several miles of rail in just seven months—an extraordinary feat, considering the complexity of the task.

On behalf of New Jersey Transit (NJT), FTA worked with FEMA through the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition service to procure 350 buses to temporarily replace lost rail service in New Jersey. This emergency service enabled commuters to access jobs in Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City, and Manhattan. Seventy of those buses were ready for service the first week of November 2012, just days after the storm hit.

We also supported efforts by NJT to restore service on major commuter rail lines, including the North Jersey Coast Line, the Gladstone Line, and the Morris Essex Line. And we encouraged NJT to contract extra ferry service to provide additional transportation service between New Jersey and New York. Special ferry service was put into place from the Hoboken Inter-Modal Transit terminal, which was severely damaged in the storm, to Pier 79 in midtown Manhattan; from Liberty State Park to World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan; and from Weehawken Terminal also to Pier 79.

FTA’s Emergency Response Program Strengthens Response Capabilities

None of these rapid, early accomplishments to restore service would have been possible if FTA did not have the proper mechanism in place to facilitate action. The Emergency Relief Program is that mechanism, and I commend the Committee for granting our request in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) to establish this essential program. When we proposed this program in the President’s FY2012 budget, we envisioned it as an important mechanism for strengthening FTA’s authority, on par with the Federal Highway Administration, to provide timely disaster assistance to transit agencies whose assets are damaged or destroyed. The program has more than proved its purpose in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and with your support, the FTA’s response stands as a model for federal disaster assistance and a powerful reminder of what our nation can accomplish when we all work together.

An important caution is in order, however. Hurricane season is once again upon us.  And, at present, the FTA has only those emergency relief funds that were made available exclusively for Hurricane Sandy.  The President’s FY 2013 and 2014 budget requests each sought $25 million to capitalize the Emergency Relief program for disasters throughout the country.  To date, Congress has not appropriated those funds.  I strongly encourage the Congress to appropriate those funds so, when the next disaster strikes and takes public transportation systems offline, FTA will be in a position to respond immediately.

For Hurricane Sandy, the Emergency Response Program, along with proactive efforts by DOT, FTA, FEMA and other partners, enabled us to work swiftly to put a responsible, streamlined relief effort in place. To date, FTA has succeeded in allocating to the region’s transit agencies a total of $5.7 billion for critical Sandy recovery and resiliency work in the span of approximately 16 weeks, beginning one week after President Obama signed the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 113-2) on January 29, 2013. That means FTA has already committed more than half—approximately 55 percent—of the available funds appropriated through the Disaster Relief Act (taking into account a $545 million sequestration cut to the original $10.9 billion amount) for relief and recovery to the hardest-hit transit agencies in New York and New Jersey, and several others also affected. We are grateful to this Committee for its support. Nearly one-third of the total funds allocated have been set aside by FTA to help the transit agencies begin investing in resiliency projects to help ensure that their assets – from trains and buses to stations and subway tunnels – are better able to withstand future disasters, such as major floods.

At this juncture, $577 million of the funds committed have been obligated, primarily to the MTA, PATH, NJT, and the New York City Department of Transportation. FTA also provided recovery funds to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 

FTA has made an extraordinary effort to make emergency relief and recovery funding available as expeditiously as possible, to ensure that millions of riders have access to the transit services they depend on. We continue to work very closely with the affected transit agencies as they draw down available funds from FTA to implement these important recovery projects.

Funding for Recovery and Resiliency Projects

FTA’s first and highest priority for fostering resiliency among transit systems is to better protect existing transit facilities and equipment from the impact of the next disaster. Taxpayers should not be asked to pay for the restoration and recovery of public transportation assets a second or third time. And the transit riders of New York and New Jersey, in particular, should not have to put up with the stress, the cost, and the inconvenience of having the same transit facilities destroyed by one storm after another.

FTA is confident that the funds set aside for recovery, along with local matching funds and insurance proceeds, will be sufficient to meet all of the recovery and restoration needs of the region. We consider it prudent, however, to reserve $1.1 billion of the approximately $4.5 billion remaining to recovery projects, to ensure the impacted agencies will have all of their recovery needs met. This decision reflects concerns that latent damage not yet identified, as well as increased project costs, could impact the transit agencies’ ability to meet all of their recovery needs with the funds available.

The Disaster Relief Act appropriates up to $5.383 billion (less the sequester amount of $545 million) for projects related to reducing the risk of damage from future disasters in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy. FTA has already allocated $1.3 billion for locally prioritized resiliency projects for transit agencies in the hard-hit New York-New Jersey metropolitan region.  Approximately $3 billion remains available for resiliency projects, which are projects designed and built to address future vulnerabilities to a public transportation facility or system due to future emergencies or major disasters that are likely to occur in the same geographic area or where there are projected changes in development patterns, demographics, or extreme weather or other climate patterns.

FTA will soon issue a notice of funding availability (NOFA) directed at capital projects that will reinforce critical infrastructure necessary to support public transportation systems in the region impacted by Hurricane Sandy. This funding will be available on a competitive basis. 

The cost of making all public transportation assets in the New York-New Jersey region even more immune to future disasters would be quite substantial and these costs are not fully known.  The remaining Disaster Relief Act funds that have yet to be allocated will not come close to meeting the contemplated resiliency needs of the public transportation systems  in the region affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Awarding funds for resiliency projects on a competitive basis allows project sponsors across the impacted region—any of whom could be affected by a future storm of unknown magnitude or location—to advance their best and most important projects to protect the region’s transit infrastructure. 

Coordination with Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force

As a result of the extreme devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, President Obama convened the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, composed of the leaders of Federal agencies responsible for various aspects of the recovery.  Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who is testifying today, chaired the task force. The task force issued the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Strategy report in August 2013, laying out key principles for recovery, as well as related recommendations to guide the implementation of federally supported recovery efforts.  Those recommendations will certainly inform our direction as we develop our Notice of Funding Availability.  Specifically, the task force has recommended that Sandy-rebuilding infrastructure projects be designed to increase the resilience of the region and be regionally coordinated.  We will seek to incorporate the need for a comprehensive, science-based analysis; transparency in the decision making process; fiscal and environmental sustainability; performance standards; and targeted financial incentives.

Both scientific evidence and recent history indicate that weather and climate-related disasters are a continuing threat. According to the Hurricane Sandy Task Force, in the last year alone, there were 11 different weather and climate disaster events across the United States with estimated losses exceeding $1 billion each. Taken together, these 11 events resulted in more than $110 billion in estimated damages.

In recognition of this threat, we at FTA issued our own prescient report just before Hurricane Irene and more than a year before Hurricane Sandy, “Flooded Bus Barns and Buckled Rails: Public transportation and Climate Change adaptation,” that provides professionals with information and analysis relevant to making U.S. public transportation assets and services more resilient to climate change impacts.  The report provides examples of adaptation strategies and discusses how transit agencies might incorporate climate change adaptation into their organizational structures and existing activities such as asset management systems, planning, and emergency response.

Federal investment in the improved resilience of public transportation systems is intended to reduce the economic and social consequences of future disasters, including both the potential cost of rebuilding after the next storm and the social and economic consequences of suspended or inoperable transit service on the riding public.  In the New York-New Jersey region, it is particularly important to focus on regional investments that protect the larger transit network—a network that serves far more transit passengers than any other region of the country. Absent adequate regional coordination and planning, investments to protect one rail yard against rising waters might only serve to flood a neighboring rail yard that supports services to an even greater number of passengers.  As such, FTA will be particularly supportive of regional solutions that address the protection of the tri-state transit network on the whole.

Conclusion

FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program and the funding appropriated through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act have made a tremendous difference to millions of residents and especially commuters living and working in the regions impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  FTA will continue to work closely with the transit agencies hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy to ensure they can recover from this major disaster and emerge stronger than before. The millions of riders in New York and New Jersey deserve a robust public transportation network that can deliver the service they depend on every day. Investing in the protection of the region’s transit infrastructure now will help reduce the impact of travel delays, disruptions, and economic losses when the next big storm hits.

We look forward to continued efforts to make meaningful progress with our transit agency partners in New York and New Jersey as they propose essential public transportation projects to further expedite recovery from Hurricane Sandy and lay the foundation for a more resilient future. We stand ready to provide the funds appropriated for this purpose as expeditiously as possible, while maintaining stringent oversight of taxpayer dollars. And we call on Congress to continue funding FTA’s Emergency Relief Program, to ensure that communities around the country have a Federal partner willing and able to help restore public transportation service damaged by a catastrophic emergency.

Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

STATEMENT OF

PETER M. ROGOFF
ADMINISTRATOR
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION
UNITED STATED DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

BEFORE THE

 COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE

SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

March 28, 2013

Thank you, Chairman Johnson, for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss how we can work together to improve access to good transportation choices in rural areas, tribal lands, and urbanized centers, including Sioux Falls and communities across South Dakota. 

The Administration recognizes that public transportation in rural areas functions not as a luxury but as a lifeline for low-income working families, seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities, tribal residents, and others.   Many people living in rural and tribal communities can ill-afford to travel considerable distances to work and other destinations.  It is not surprising that, given these constraints, demand for public transportation in these areas has been rising over the last four years.   Between 2008 and 2012, the number of rural transit operators in the United States grew by nearly 6 percent, and 10 percent more trips are being provided, totaling 142 million trips last year.

The Department’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) anticipates that demand for rural service will continue to rise, and we need legislative and policy solutions to deliver the transportation solutions that rural America needs.  On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) into law, reauthorizing public transportation and other surface transportation programs through fiscal year (FY) 2014.  MAP-21 enables us to implement many bold new policies to strengthen and streamline public transportation, including, importantly, bringing an additional $1.2 billion to rural communities and Indian reservations over the next two years.

I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for supporting the passage of MAP-21.  You, together with other members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, worked toward bipartisan and bicameral agreement on this very important transportation bill because you understood that its enactment would improve access to public transportation and create and support jobs at a time when we need them most.

MAP-21

Enactment of MAP-21 signals an opportunity for us to work collectively to strengthen our transit systems and better serve the American public.  MAP-21, which took effect on October 1, 2012, authorizes $10.6 billion in FY 2013 and $10.7 billion in FY 2014 for public transportation.  The law furthers several important goals in the crucial areas of safety, state of good repair, emergency relief, program streamlining, and program efficiency.  

FTA has made a significant start toward implementation of MAP-21 within the law’s first six months by applying key provisions and providing guidance to states, metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies, including rural providers, and Indian tribes. We have an active and engaged legislative implementation team and an aggressive timetable in place.

More specifically, FTA has published considerable information on its website that, among other things, address MAP-21 programs relevant to public transportation providers in small urbanized areas, rural areas and tribal lands.  On October 16, 2012 we published in the Federal Register, a “Notice of FTA Transit Program Changes, Authorized Funding Levels and Implementation of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) and FTA Fiscal Year Apportionments, Allocations, Program Information and Interim Guidance.”  On November 9, 2012, we published a Federal Register Notice regarding the FY 2013 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program and we are currently considering comments received from interested parties. FTA is also working to implement MAP-21 through regulation where necessary and by updating guidance through its circulars.  FTA anticipates that it will have updated the circular for the enhanced mobility of seniors and individuals with disabilities as well as the rural area formula grants circular during this fiscal year.

I would like to highlight the MAP-21 changes that will benefit the rural areas and tribal lands like those in South Dakota, as well as urban centers such as Sioux Falls and Rapid City.

Formula Grants for Rural Areas (Section 5311)

MAP-21 increases rural area formula funds by 29 percent, from $465 million to $600 million.  (By comparison, under MAP-21, urbanized area formula funds increased by 6 percent.)  Funding increased for rural areas because we recognize that public transportation in these areas is urgently needed, especially for residents who do not have access to personal vehicles.  Public transportation is important for providing links between workers and rural area employers, and encouraging rural economic development.  Further, public transportation in rural areas can provide links to urban areas and provide access to opportunities found in those areas. 

As in prior authorizations, such as Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the Formula Grants for Rural Areas program continues to provide capital and operating assistance to support public transportation in rural areas, defined as areas with fewer than 50,000 residents, and on tribal lands.  In addition, MAP-21 now allows these program funds to be used for planning activities, as well as for Job Access and Reverse Commute program activities (JARC) for low-income individuals.  Consolidating JARC activities into the Rural Areas Formula program provides more funding flexibility at the local level.  Funding for the rural program is based on a formula that uses land area, population, including the number of low-income individuals residing in rural areas, and the provision of transit service.  MAP-21 provides total funding of $600 million in FY 2013 and $608 million in FY 2014.  Subject to appropriations, in FY 2013, the State of South Dakota can expect to receive an apportionment of $5.9 million for transit service provided in rural areas and on tribal lands.  This is 17 percent higher than the amount apportioned to the State under this program in the last fiscal year. 

A State may use up to 10 percent of the amount apportioned to it for purposes of administering the Rural Area Formula program and to provide technical assistance to rural and tribal grantees. Technical assistance includes project planning, program and management development, coordination of public transportation programs, and research the State considers appropriate to promote public transportation service.

In addition, the Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP) provides funds for technical assistance, training, and related support services tailored to meet the needs of transit operators in rural areas and on tribal lands. The program is funded with a 2 percent takedown from the amount available to carry out the Rural Areas Formula program.  From the amounts made available for RTAP, FTA may use up to 15 percent to carry out competitively-selected projects of a national scope with the remaining balance allocated to the States.  In addition to the eligible activities identified above, a State may use RTAP funds for special projects that support its planning program for rural areas and tribal lands.  Similarly, a State may use its statewide planning funds to support or supplement the technical assistance program it provides through RTAP. 

South Dakota will have $149,934 available for RTAP purposes in FY 2013, which is 37percent more than was available to the State for this program in FY 2012.

Tribal Program

The Administration understands that access to reliable, affordable transportation is a high priority for Indian Country.  We want to ensure that every American Indian or Alaskan native who needs a ride to earn a paycheck, attend school, see the doctor, visit sacred places, or buy groceries has that opportunity.  To that end, in December 2012, Secretary LaHood announced the American Indian and Alaska Native tribe projects that were competitively selected to receive $15.5 million in FTA’s Tribal Transit Program funds.  The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, one of 72 tribes selected to receive funds, was awarded $350,000 to continue to provide public transit service to the growing number of tribal members and the general public who use it to travel to employment, education, medical care and other services in Eagle Butte and surrounding rural areas.

MAP-21 doubles the funds available for the Tribal Transit program from $15 million in FY 2012 to $30 million in FY 2013 and FY 2014.  Under MAP-21, $25 million of the $30 million available for the program is distributed by formula.  The remaining $5 million is provided for a discretionary grant program, and we encourage Indian tribes to apply for this funding as well.  This resource will improve tribal public transportation in South Dakota and many other tribal areas throughout the United States.  Tribal Transit program funds may be awarded for capital, operating, planning, job access and reverse commute projects, and administrative assistance for rural and tribal public transit services and rural intercity bus service.

MAP-21 states that Indian tribes providing public transportation shall be apportioned funds consistent with formula factors that include vehicle revenue miles and the number of low-income individuals residing on tribal lands.  Funds apportioned pursuant to the formula will provide Indian tribes operating public transportation with a steady and predictable stream of funding.  FTA has actively reached out to tribal and rural stakeholders to discuss the impact of proposed program changes and funding priorities and is currently considering comments before finalizing a formula allocation methodology.  However, based on an illustrative formula, South Dakota tribes are to receive approximately $1.9 million in formula funds for FY 2013 compared to

FY 2012 when only $1.3 million in discretionary funds were available for allocation.  This represents a 29 percent increase in funds to the South Dakota tribes in FY 2013.  MAP-21 also provided FTA with the authority to determine the terms and conditions of grant awards under Tribal Transit programs.  As a result, FTA is also considering comments received from interested tribal officials and other stakeholders regarding grant requirements and building the technical capacity of tribal grantees.   A Federal Register notice will be issued soon to provide program structure and guidance, final formula allocations, and terms and conditions for the formula and discretionary programs.

In addition to the funds available to South Dakota residents and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe for public transportation under MAP-21, the Department of Transportation (DOT) also awarded $1 million in National Infrastructure Investment funds to the Yankton Sioux Tribe in rural Marty to construct a new transit facility.  The award was made through the fourth round of DOT’s highly competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. The facility will expand transportation options in this underserved and economically distressed Native American community.  FTA will continue to work with Yankton tribal representative to ensure the successful completion of this project.

Formula Grants for the Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities (Section 5310)

The Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program provides formula funding to increase the mobility of seniors and persons with disabilities.  MAP-21 merges the former New Freedom program, which provided grants for services for individuals with disabilities that went above and beyond the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with this program.  Enhanced Mobility program funds are apportioned based on each State’s share of the respective target populations and are now apportioned to both States (for all areas under 200,000 in population) and large urbanized areas (with 200,000 or more in population).   Projects selected for funding must be included in a locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation plan; and the competitive selection process, which was required under the former New Freedom program, is now optional.  At least 55 percent of program funds must be spent on capital public transportation projects planned, designed, and carried out to meet the access and functional needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities when public transportation is insufficient, inappropriate, or unavailable. The remaining funds may be used for public transportation projects that exceed the requirements of the ADA; public transportation projects that improve access to fixed-route service and decrease reliance by individuals with disabilities on complementary paratransit (a comparable service to public transportation required by the ADA for individuals with disabilities who are unable to use fixed route transportation systems); or, alternatives to public transportation that assist seniors and individuals with disabilities. 

The State of South Dakota can expect to receive $624,500 in FY 2013 to carry out this program.  This is 5.8 percent decrease in the amount of funds South Dakota received under the former Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities (E&D) program and New Freedom programs in FY 2012.  Under the former E&D program, each state was guaranteed a minimum of $125,000.  This is not the case under the MAP-21 formula, which distributes 60 percent of the program funds to large urbanized areas (over 200,000 in population), 20 percent to small urbanized areas, and 20 percent to rural areas.  South Dakota does not have any large urbanized areas.

Coordinated Transportation

The South Eastern Council of Governments and City of Sioux Falls prepared the “Sioux Falls MPO Area Coordinated Public Transit –Human Services Transportation Plan” that was published on September 25, 2008.  The plan, which is to be updated every five years, acknowledges that the transportation stakeholders in the Sioux Falls MPO region “have recognized the benefits of transportation coordination.”  Ten to 15 years prior to the development of the plan, several agencies met to develop strategies for making transportation services more efficient.  FTA applauds transportation entities that have long strived to serve seniors, individuals with disabilities and low-income individuals in the Sioux Falls area.  The plan also notes that transportation for these targeted populations is provided primarily within the city limits of Sioux Falls and, with minor exceptions, little transportation is available to the residents of the MPO region’s less populated areas.

Senior and medical transportation is vitally important to the nation’s growing senior population and citizens suffering debilitating illnesses and chronic diseases.  In South Dakota, 14.6 percent of the population is 65 or older and this segment of the population is projected to grow to 23.1 percent by 2030.  We need to support seniors who want to continue living in communities they call home.   This requires human services policies and programs that work for the traveling public, including seniors, individuals with disabilities, and all those seeking medical care.  Moreover, transportation services focused on these populations are often fragmented, underutilized, or difficult to navigate, and can be costly because of inconsistent, duplicative, and often restrictive Federal and state program rules and regulations. And, in some cases, narrowly focused programs leave service gaps and the available transportation services are simply not able to meet certain needs.  We are working to determine how best to integrate the full range of mobility needs, which include ADA paratransit, transportation for seniors, and medical transport programs, with public transportation operations and plans.  This means focusing on the customer and coordinating the best solutions with public and private operators and volunteer programs in the mix, was well as coordinating with other Federal agencies that fund transportation for these targeted populations. 

MAP-21 continues the requirement that, to the maximum extent feasible, FTA should coordinate activities funded under the Enhanced Mobility program with similar transportation activities provided by other Federal agencies.  In addition, and as recommended by United States Government Accountability Office last summer,  the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM), chaired by the Secretary of Transportation and including representatives from 11 Federal agencies, has developed a Strategic Action Plan to promote human services programs.  The CCAM Strategic Plan builds on our progress to cooperatively improve mobility and community accessibility for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low income persons and families.  The Plan encourages the creation and growth of coordinated transportation networks that provide simplified access to health and wellness, jobs, and community services.  One of the objectives of the Plan is to improve the health outcomes of Americans by enhancing transportation service coordination to improve access to health and wellness resources and reduce risks of institutionalization.  Another objective is to stimulate local business, economic and transportation organizational partnerships to help dislocated workers and others seeking to rejoin the workforce get the transportation options they need to reach job opportunities and training.  The CCAM centerpiece is the Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative, which complements the Obama Administration’s Joining Forces initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. It addresses the Administration’s challenge to all Federal agencies to harness program resources and expertise to improve the quality of military family life and to help communities more effectively support military families.  The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative is an innovative, federally coordinated partnership that will make it easier for U.S. veterans, active service members, military families, and others with disabilities to learn about and arrange for locally available transportation services that connect them with work, education, health care, and other vital services in their communities.  Through this initiative, FTA has made $63.6 million in discretionary funds available to local governmental agencies to finance the capital costs of implementing, expanding, or increasing access to, and coordination of, local transportation resources.  Of this amount, South Dakota received approximately $1.2 million over the last three years.

Meeting these objectives will help to ensure that the needs of disadvantaged individuals are addressed in current and future Federal programs.  In furtherance of this goal, the Department  and its partners at the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Education support a range of technical assistance initiatives for coordinating human service transportation.  Programs and centers are charged with providing training, resources, and direct assistance to communities and states interested in enhancing the mobility and transportation options for all citizens, including older adults, individuals with disabilities, and people with lower incomes.  

FTA will continue to work through interagency partnerships to coordinate transportation needs to help increase the quality of life for older citizens, individuals with disabilities and people with low-incomes.

Grantee Safety Plans (Section 5329)

Secretary LaHood has stated that “safety is our highest priority and we are committed to keeping transit one of the safest modes of transportation in the nation.” FTA is pleased that MAP-21 includes important safety provisions for rail and bus-only operators, and requires all recipients of FTA funding to develop agency safety plans. FTA will work to adapt its comprehensive safety approach to all modes of public transportation within its safety authority. Specifically, we will work to ensure that the bus segment of public transportation, upon which millions of riders depend every day, receives the resources, tools and technical assistance it too will need to ensure the safety of the riding public.  Also, because we recognize that one size does not fit for all transit operators, the safety plan for rural recipients and small public transportation providers or systems may be drafted or certified by the State.

FTA looks forward to implementing the new safety law in consultation with the transit industry and our Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS), which has been working to help guide this effort since September 2010.

State of Good Repair Grants (Section 5337)

The Administration supports a groundbreaking commitment not only to expand transit options for Americans, but just as importantly, to maintain the Nation’s transit systems in a state of good repair.  For example, last September, Secretary LaHood and I, together with State and local officials, toured a significantly modernized and expanded River Cities Transit Facility, constructed in part with a $5 million grant from FTA.  River Cities Transit ridership grew more than six-fold between 2008 and 2012, making the upgrades to the system more important than ever before. This system has a service radius of 100 miles, and that means a service area of bus and transit vans covering more than 31,000 square miles, serving people living in 11 counties in central South Dakota, including seniors, people with disabilities, veterans and the Cheyenne River Sioux and Lower Brule Sioux tribes.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, South Dakota received approximately $11.5 million in formula funds of which 70 percent were for rural areas in the state and were used for critical infrastructure replacement and expansion needs.  Recipients in South Dakota also received over $6 million from FTA’s FY 2011 and FY 2012 State of Good Repair Initiative.  River Cities Public Transit also received a total of $319,200 in FY 2011 and $369,200 in FY 2012 and Prairie Hills Transit received $213,680 through FTA’s Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative to improve transit scheduling and outreach to transit-dependent veterans. 

Consistent with the President’s request, MAP-21 establishes a new grant program to maintain public transportation fixed guideway and high intensity bus systems in a state of good repair.  According to the statute, once a final rule implementing the State of Good Repair program is issued, projects must be included in a transit asset management plan to receive funding allocations.  MAP-21 authorized $2.1 billion in FY 2013 and $2.2 billion in FY 2014 for this program.  Funds will be apportioned consistent with a new statutory formula program, which includes a new tier for high-intensity bus. 

Asset Management Provisions (Section 5326)

Asset management was a priority for FTA long before MAP-21.  The $78 billion repair and maintenance backlog that FTA’s research identified in 2008 has likely increased by as much as 10 percent in recent years. FTA recognizes that, while a sustained Federal contribution to our state of good repair needs is in the interest of our nation’s public transportation systems, this problem cannot be solved by Federal action alone. Tackling this problem requires a concerted effort by Federal, state, and local resources in a coordinated, strategic manner.   That is why FTA is establishing a national Transit Asset Management System. The new section 5326 Transit Asset Management program established under MAP-21 is vitally important to carrying out these infrastructure investments effectively and responsibly.  MAP-21 requires FTA to define the term “state of good repair” and create objective standards for measuring the condition of capital assets, including equipment, rolling stock, infrastructure, and facilities. Based on that definition, FTA must then develop performance measures under which all FTA grantees will be required to set targets. This innovative program requires all FTA funding recipients to adopt a structured approach for managing their capital assets and be accountable for leveraging all available resources to bring their systems into a state of good repair.  FTA will support this effort through technical assistance, including the development of an analytical process or decision support tool that allows recipients to estimate their capital investment needs.

FTA has reached out to stakeholders to determine ways in which transit asset management systems can be tailored to small operators that typically provide service in small urbanized and rural areas as well as on tribal lands, and we will continue to do so.  Most recently, FTA organized a focus group conference call with small operators in conjunction with the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA).  We also hosted an online dialogue in which more than 700 stakeholders participated, contributing more than 200 ideas and comments, and providing nearly 1,500 feedback votes on the ideas and comments that were submitted.   The next step in our outreach efforts will be a rulemaking on Transit Asset Management.  FTA strongly encourages small transit operators to provide comments on the rule once it becomes available. 

Emergency Relief Program (Section 5324)

Nowhere has FTA made more aggressive progress in implementing the provisions of MAP-21 than in the area of emergency relief.  The President’s Budget first proposed in FY 2012 a new emergency relief program for the FTA to parallel a similar capability in the Federal Highway Administration. The Budget proposed this program to strengthen the agency’s authority to provide disaster assistance to transit agencies in the wake of major natural disasters and other emergencies, and the program was authorized by Congress in MAP-21. The authorization of this new program arrived just in time for Hurricane Sandy, which was the worst public transit disaster in the history of the United States.  Hurricane Sandy devastated transportation systems in the hardest-hit parts of New York and New Jersey—which together represent more than one-third of our nation’s transit ridership—and triggered a very rapid implementation path for the program.  More generally, however, this program helps states and public transportation systems pay for protecting, repairing, and/or replacing equipment and facilities that may suffer or have suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency, including natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  It will be available to the Sioux Falls transit community should the need arise.

Urbanized Area Formula Grants (Section 5307)

The largest of FTA’s grant programs, this program provides grants to urbanized areas to support public transportation.  Funding is distributed by formula based on the level of transit service provision, population, and other factors.  MAP-21 provides total funding of $4.9 billion in FY2013 and $5 billion in FY 2014. The program remains largely unchanged with a few exceptions.  Job access and reverse commute activities providing services to low-income individuals to access jobs have been consolidated into this program and are now an eligible expense.  MAP-21 expanded eligibility for operating expenses for systems with 100 or fewer buses in urbanized areas with populations of 200,000 or more.  Operating assistance remains an eligible activity for small urbanized areas, such as Sioux Falls and Rapid City.  Based on the apportionment formula, South Dakota will receive approximately $3.6 million in urbanized area formula funds for allocation to its small urbanized areas in FY 2013.  This is a 16 percent increase over the amount apportioned to the State for those areas last fiscal year.

Bus and Bus Facilities Program (Section 5339)

MAP-21 followed the Administration’s request to fold the discretionary bus program into a formula program.  This capital program provides funding to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment, and to construct bus-related facilities. MAP-21 authorized $422 million in FY 2013 and $428 million in FY 2014.   Each fiscal year, each state will be allocated $1.25 million and each territory (including D.C. and Puerto Rico) will receive $500,000.  The remaining funds will be distributed by formula.  Funds are available to eligible recipients that operate or allocate funding to fixed-route bus operators.  Eligible subrecipients include public agencies or private nonprofit organizations engaged in public transportation, including those providing services open to a segment of the general public, as defined by age, disability, or low income.

In FY 2013, South Dakota is projected to receive a statewide allocation of $1.25 million under this program. These funds can be used anywhere in the state, including for projects in rural areas and on tribal lands.  South Dakota’s urbanized areas are projected to receive $385,882 in bus funds. These funds are allocated to the State and the State can distribute them among the urbanized areas based on a locally determined process.

We at FTA look forward to working with our stakeholders to address the challenges laid out for us by Congress and the President in MAP-21.   I will be happy to answer questions.

STATEMENT OF

PETER M. ROGOFF
ADMINISTRATOR
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 14, 2013

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member DeFazio, and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to highlight the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) progress toward implementing key provisions in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act, known as MAP-21. This two-year reauthorization codifies some of President Obama’s highest priorities for enhancing the safety of public transportation, strengthening our nation’s transportation infrastructure, and streamlining government to serve taxpayers’ needs more efficiently. I want to thank the Committee for its support in passing MAP-21, which offers an opportunity for us to work together to support transit systems across the country at a time when national ridership has grown by 154 million trips in 2012 to 10.5 billion trips, the second highest level since 1957.  This was the seventh year in a row that ridership has exceeded more than 10 billion trips.  These investments spur new economic development to help build strong communities in cities, suburbs, and rural areas alike.

MAP-21, which took effect on October 1, 2012, authorizes $10.6 billion in FY 2013 and $10.7 billion in FY 2014 for public transportation.  FTA has made a significant start toward implementation within the law’s first six months by implementing key provisions and providing guidance to states, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies. We have an active and engaged legislative implementation team and an aggressive timetable in place.

We recognize, however, that much work and many challenges lie ahead. Our ability to fully implement MAP-21 is significantly hampered by the funding constraints imposed by the current fiscal year continuing resolution as well as the budget cuts imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011.  Nearly $5 million of cuts into our administrative budget will undoubtedly delay some aspects of MAP-21 implementation and reduce our ability to conduct outreach and training with stakeholders.  Every budget request under my stewardship has sought additional funding to allow for additional staffing at the FTA to better address our core responsibilities as well as our new safety responsibilities.  The Congress has yet to provide those resources.  Moreover, reductions in FTA’s capital investment program funding will mean few, if any, additional New Starts construction projects will be fundable in the near term.  Also, sponsors of ongoing major capital projects will experience increased borrowing costs as FTA will be required by sequestration to slow its pay-out schedule on projects to which it has already made financing commitments.  Nevertheless, FTA is committed to moving forward as quickly as possible to implement MAP-21 so that the American people may reap the benefits that come with investing in public transportation that improves transportation equity, provides access to jobs and services, reduces congestion, and stimulates our economic development in cities and communities throughout the nation.

Because MAP-21 closely reflects some key program and policy priorities well under way at FTA prior to its passage, our agency has been able to move ahead quickly in two important areas. First, FTA published in January 2013 a final rule for Major Capital Investment Projects—years in the making—that adopts a more straightforward approach for measuring a proposed transit project’s cost-effectiveness; expands the range of environmental benefits used to evaluate proposed projects; adds new economic development factors to its ratings process; and streamlines the project evaluation process. The revised ratings and evaluation criteria will better capture the full range of benefits that FTA’s transit investments provide through the New Starts/Small Starts program, while continuing an appropriate level of oversight of taxpayer dollars. These revisions align with major purposes of MAP-21, including improving the development and delivery of capital projects and moving us toward a more performance-driven system. We appreciate the Committee’s support for this important achievement.

Second, on February 7, 2013, FTA jointly with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published an important final rule streamlining the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that a proposed transit project seeking Federal funds must undergo. The rule establishes ten new categorical exclusions (CEs) defined specifically for transit projects. CEs significantly expedite FTA’s environmental review of projects that have been shown to have little environmental impact while preserving critical community input on how planned transit projects affect the local environment.These NEPA revisions, like the New Starts changes, are closely aligned with the policy goals of MAP-21.

In addition to these significant rulemakings, FTA is making progress to implement MAP-21 on several fronts. For example, at the outset of FY 2013, FTA published interim guidance on all of our MAP-21 programs as part of our annual funding notice for the first half of the year under the continuing resolution. This guidance allowed FTA’s funding recipients to begin compiling their FY 2013 funding applications without delay, and laid the groundwork for future-year grants. FTA is making good progress on developing more detailed guidance on which we will seek comment in the near future.

Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program

Nowhere has FTA made more aggressive progress in implementing the provisions of MAP-21 than in the area of emergency relief.  The President’s Budget first proposed in FY 2012 a new emergency relief program for the FTA to parallel a similar capability in the Federal Highway Administration. The President proposed this program to strengthen the agency’s authority to provide disaster assistance to transit agencies in the wake of major natural disasters and other emergencies, and the program was authorized by Congress in MAP-21.

The authorization of this new program arrived just in time for Hurricane Sandy, which, based on the extent of storm damage, was the worst public transit disaster in the history of the United States.  Hurricane Sandy devastated transportation systems in the hardest-hit parts of New York and New Jersey—which together represent more than one-third of our nation’s transit ridership—and triggered a very rapid implementation path for the program. The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (Pub. L. 113-2) appropriated $10.9 billion to FTA to help transit agencies repair and replace damaged vehicles and equipment affected by this storm, as well as to undertake work to mitigate the impact of future floods and other disasters on transportation assets and systems both inside and outside of public transit.  Unfortunately, this amount was then reduced by $545 million as part of sequestration.

In accordance with the Disaster Relief Act, FTA announced on February 6, 2013, the availability of the first $2 billion in aid to reimburse FTA recipients for capital costs to repair, reconstruct, or replace equipment and public transportation systems facilities that suffered serious damage in the states impacted by Hurricane Sandy. To date, FTA has allocated more than $390 million to the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH), and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for expenses incurred while preparing for and recovering from Hurricane Sandy. By the end of March, 2013, FTA intends to allocate the remainder of the initial $2 billion to impacted agencies that submit applications for assistance. We continue to accept applications from affected transit agencies on a rolling basis and expect to allocate funds to New Jersey Transit and others shortly.

The release of the remaining funds authorized in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act is contingent on two activities. First, FTA and FEMA have signed a Memorandum of Agreement, which MAP-21 also stipulated, that clarifies coordination of roles and responsibilities of both agencies to ensure that assistance is delivered in a timely, responsible, and transparent manner. Second, FTA must publish an interim final rule for the Emergency Relief Program, laying out eligible activities and the criteria FTA will use to identify projects for future funding.  The interim final rule is under review within the Administration and will become effective immediately, once it is finalized.

Safety Authority

MAP-21 gives FTA long-sought authority to establish safety performance criteria for all modes of public transportation and establish minimum safety performance standards for public transportation. In addition, MAP-21 significantly strengthens FTA’s ability to oversee and enforce common-sense safety standards for rail fixed-guideway transit systems. The Administration first transmitted transit safety legislation to the Congress in December, 2009, and many of the provisions sought in the Administration’s bill were included in MAP-21. At the time the Administration’s bill was transmitted to Congress, Secretary LaHood also formally established the Department of Transportation’s Transit Rail Advisory Committee on Safety (TRACS).

While Congress has yet to appropriate additional administrative funds to carry out this new area of responsibility, FTA has proceeded to stand up a new safety office as expeditiously as possible using already strained existing resources. We are developing a roadmap for a comprehensive MAP-21 safety roll-out plan that is sensitive to stakeholder’s concerns about this new oversight initiative. FTA will build a 21st century regulatory program over a period of several years.

In the short term, FTA has tasked TRACS to provide strategic guidance on the forthcoming rulemaking framework. FTA has also articulated a strategic framework for safety oversight, predicated on a safety management systems approach that takes into account the differing characteristics among rail systems and operators. We will pursue an approach that is scalable— not a one-size-fits-all model. Our initial focus in the first few years is on establishing a safety oversight regime that is expressed through Federal rulemakings, and complemented by development assistance packages for state safety oversight organizations (SSOA) and agencies. We will administer grants to assist agencies in becoming eligible for state certification and devise strong safety training programs.

With respect to strengthening and adequately funding the SSOAs—a key provision of section 5329 under MAP-21—FTA has issued clear instructions to the governors in each of the 28 states that operate a rail fixed-guideway transit system (or where such a system is in engineering or construction) that is not already subject to regulation by the Federal Railroad Administration. Specifically, in August 2012, Secretary LaHood first informed every affected governor by letter that financial arrangements must be made to secure the matching funds necessary for receipt of FTA’s state safety oversight funds. Under MAP-21, a percentage of the section 5307 Urbanized Area formula funds are set aside to assist eligible states with their state safety oversight programs. FTA is currently developing a formula to make those funds available to eligible states. MAP-21 requires a 20 percent state match to help cover reasonable costs of a state safety oversight program. Every eligible state will be expected to use program funds to strengthen their SSOA and to position them to comply with the requirements of MAP-21.

Going forward, FTA will act as the leader, facilitator, and final regulatory authority setting minimum safety standards, and be held fundamentally accountable for the overall safety performance of the nation’s fixed-guideway rail transit systems.  To achieve these goals, FTA will concentrate on strengthening the capacity of SSOs to serve as effective day-to-day safety regulators capable of holding these transit systems accountable for safe operations at the local level and ensuring they comply with minimum safety standards.

Additionally, FTA will work to adapt its comprehensive safety approach to all modes of public transportation within its safety authority. Specifically, we will work to ensure that the bus segment of public transportation, upon which millions of riders depend every day, receives the resources, tools and technical assistance it too will need to ensure the safety of the riding public. 

However, we must sound an important note of caution. Regrettably, the House Continuing Resolution does  not provide FTA with sufficient funds to carry out the safety provisions in MAP-21 that are at the heart of our effort to greatly improve an oversight regime that has been inadequate for half a century. This allows the current inefficient safety oversight mechanisms to remain in place longer than they otherwise would.

State of Good Repair and Transit Asset Management

Since 2008, FTA has staked out a leadership role in highlighting the critical need to bring the nation’s aging transit assets into a state of good repair, especially in large urban areas—and to hold transit agencies accountable for implementing a more strategic approach to managing the lifecycle of their assets. The momentum we have initiated is real, but the gains that will truly benefit the American people require sustained investment. FTA obligated $1.9 billion—about one-fifth of our share of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for this very purpose, along with more than $2.2 billion in discretionary dollars over the last four years. Indeed, the Administration has made increased funding for a new State of Good Repair program the centerpiece of its annual budget requests for the FTA and a focal point of the President’s American Jobs Act proposal. Congress incorporated our proposal on this essential area into MAP-21 by creating a more needs-based state-of-good-repair formula program for rail, ferry, and busway systems, and by folding the discretionary bus program into two formula-based programs. This new program will help further address our state-of-good-repair needs, so both bus and fixed guideway agencies have a predictable two-year stream of Federal funds to help them address an enormous maintenance and repair backlog that exceeds $78 billion nationwide. We have already awarded two grants totaling $8.4 million under the MAP-21 section 5337 State of Good Repair Program. Once FTA receives a full year of FY 2013 funding, we expect to roll out the remaining program funds as quickly as possible.

FTA recognizes that while a sustained Federal contribution to our state-of-good-repair needs is in the interest to our nation’s public transportation system, this problem cannot be solved by Federal action alone. Tackling this problem requires a concerted effort by Federal, state, and local resources in a coordinated, strategic manner. That is why FTA is establishing a national Transit Asset Management System. The new section 5326 Transit Asset Management program established under MAP-21 is vitally important to carrying out these infrastructure investments effectively and responsibly. This innovative program requires all FTA funding recipients to adopt a strategic approach for managing their capital assets and be accountable for leveraging all available resources to bring their systems into a state of good repair. FTA has sponsored a successful public dialogue with over 700 stakeholders to obtain critical input on policy implementation. A rulemaking is expected to be issued soon. And FTA will shortly solicit comments in the Federal Register on ways to improve how asset inventories and asset conditions are reported to the National Transit Database—an important first step toward refining estimates of the nation’s transit-related state-of-good-repair backlog.   This is a very important initiative that will assist the FTA in ensuring that local transit investment financed with Federal dollars are being effectively targeted on each transit agency’s greatest needs.  It will also assist us in ensuring that Federal investments are being well managed and well utilized.

As part of our ongoing broader effort in this area, we are developing interim policy guidance to establish the agency’s first formal definition for “state of good repair,” which is important for setting funding criteria for the future. The new definition will also have a direct bearing on the implementation of two cross-cutting FTA programs under MAP-21, namely, the Core Capacity Improvement Program (which excludes state of good repair projects from eligibility) and the Pilot Program on Expedited Project Delivery (which requires grant applicants to certify that their existing systems are in a state of good repair).

Accelerated Project Delivery

Improving the development and delivery of capital transportation projects is a primary policy goal of the Administration. MAP-21 incorporates this effort to streamline and expedite infrastructure projects of regional and national significance. As cited above, FTA has already issued two significant rulemakings that streamline and in some cases accelerate the New Starts program and the NEPA process.

In addition, FTA and FHWA have jointly issued two other actions in February to improve project delivery. First, the two agencies jointly issued a regulation creating a categorical exclusion (CE) under NEPA for emergency actions pursuant to Section 1315 of MAP-21.  This CE applies to all transit facilities and covers emergency repairs undertaken as part of FTA’s Emergency Relief Program. And second, they jointly issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for CEs for projects within a rail transit system’s operational right-of-way and projects receiving limited Federal assistance. These types of actions effectively cut red tape for funding recipients, reduce the administrative burden on state and local governments, and expedite results for the American public.

Public-Private Partnerships

FTA also recognizes the value of public-private partnerships as a means of augmenting public investments in infrastructure. On March 7, 2013, FTA published a proposed circular on Joint Development that clearly explains how FTA funds and FTA-funded real property may be used for public transportation projects that are related to and often co-located with commercial, residential, or mixed-use development. The circular emphasizes the concept of “value capture,” which encourages FTA grantees to leverage Federal investments to capture revenue (such as the sale of publicly held land near transit facilities) that can in turn be used to offset capital and operating expenses.

Conclusion 

MAP-21 offers an important opportunity to recalibrate the way our government evaluates and invests in our federally funded public transportation infrastructure. From a transit perspective, the law’s major provisions enable FTA to focus limited resources on strategic investments that will result in a better riding experience for millions of Americans, while repairing and modernizing transit systems for generations to come.

Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Written Statement

of

Cynthia L. Quarterman
Administrator
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Before the

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
United States Senate

Field Hearing—Charleston, WV

Pipeline Safety:  An On-the-Ground Look at Safeguarding the Public

January 28, 2013

Chairman Rockefeller and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the progress the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has made to implement the mandates of the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (Pipeline Safety Act).

Thank you for your leadership in helping to secure passage of the Pipeline Safety Act and for your efforts to advance pipeline safety.  The Act has given us important tools and authority that we need to help us achieve our mission.  While pipeline safety is improving, high-profile incidents like the one that occurred at Sissonville underscore how important it is to be ever-vigilant in preventing pipeline failures. 

Safety is the top priority for Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and myself, and everyone at PHMSA is working hard to protect the American people and environment from the risks that are inherent in the transportation of hazardous materials by pipeline.  PHMSA works to achieve its safety mission through prevention, rigorous enforcement, strong partnerships, and continuing education.

This testimony will focus on several issues such as to the implementation of the Pipeline Safety Act mandates; our response to the Sissionville, WV pipeline incident and the  Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the ability of transmission pipeline facility operators to respond to a hazardous liquid or gas release. 

First, I will give an overview of PHMSA’s pipeline safety program, including the role that the States take in ensuring the safety of pipelines.  Second, I will provide an overview of the mandates we have completed and the efforts we have taken to improve pipeline safety.  Third, I will discuss how, incidents like the one at Sissonville show us that we have a long way to go to succeed in our mission and that there is still a lot of work to be done in preventing pipeline incidents.  Finally, I will reiterate the importance of a robust pipeline safety program, and the importance of  reviewing the findings of the GAO study especially with regard to the Nation’s changing and growing infrastructure needs.

I. OVERVIEW OF PHMSA PIPELINE SAFETY PROGRAM

There are 2.6 million miles of pipelines that crisscross our Nation; those pipelines offer the safest and most cost-efficient way to transport hazardous materials. To ensure that this vast network is operating safely and reliably and that communities and families are protected, PHMSA works together with a variety of partners, including other Federal agencies, State and local officials, emergency responders, environmental groups, and the public.  

Federal oversight agencies like the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) also have a vested interest in the safe and reliable operation of the Nation’s pipeline infrastructure.  For years, we have worked aggressively to respond to their recommendations.  In addition to the mandates of the Act, we are currently working on 26 open NTSB recommendations, 9 recommendations from the OIG, and 4 recommendations from the GAO.  Some of these recommendations are similar to the requirements of the Pipeline Safety Act, which suggests that there is a shared understanding of some of the challenges for the Nation’s pipeline system. 

We have taken each and every mandate and recommendation that has been issued to us very seriously, and we have many completed and ongoing initiatives to provide protection to the American people and environment.

Overall, the pipeline safety record is good.  PHMSA’s regulatory oversight program has led to many successes.  Despite the fact that the traditional measures of risk—population, energy consumption, pipeline ton-miles—have steadily increased over the past two decades, the risk of pipeline incidents with death or major injury have decreased by about 10 percent every 3 years.  The risks of hazardous liquid pipeline spills that have environmental consequences have decreased by an average of 5 percent per year.  Nonetheless, there is more work to be done.

In 2012, the number of pipeline-related fatalities was at a level not seen since 2008, and the number of pipeline-related injuries was at the lowest level since 2007.  Furthermore, 2012 had the fewest total pipeline incidents in a decade.  However, PHMSA, as an organization, cannot accept death or injury as an inevitable consequence of transporting hazardous materials.  We are working continuously to find new ways to reduce risk to operators and the public, and we aim to sustain and improve upon these long-term trends.

II. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PIPELINE SAFETY ACT

On January 3, 2012, President Obama signed the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011.  The Act is designed to examine and improve the state of pipeline safety regulations and authorizes funding, through fiscal year 2015, for provisions of the pipeline statute in the U.S. Code related to gas and hazardous liquids.  Ultimately, the Act gives enhanced safety authority to PHMSA and will improve pipeline transportation, by strengthening the enforcement capabilities of current laws.

The leadership of Chairman Rockefeller and this committee, as well as the bipartisan effort that led to the creation and passage of the Pipeline Safety Act shows there is a common agreement about the importance of a safe and reliable pipeline system for the welfare of the Nation.  PHMSA takes this responsibility very seriously.  As the committee is aware, we have struggled to hire pipeline inspectors over the last several years, but by the end of FY 2012, we achieved and successfully filled our targeted 135 pipeline inspector billets.  We now look forward to working with this committee to continue to strengthen our pipeline inspector program and further implement PHMSA’s Pipeline Safety Reform effort.  

PHMSA not only completed all of the mandates that were due by January 3, 2013, it also completed additional mandates and performed more work than required. PHMSA has already successfully completed 16 of the 42 requirements in the Pipeline Safety Act.  PHMSA has reported on cover over buried pipelines at river crossings, leak detection, remote controlled and automatic shut-off valve (RCV/ASV) use, increasing civil penalties authority, improved the quantity, quality, and transparency of our data, and inventoried the status of cast iron pipeline infrastructure.  Information gathered from these reports will be used to inform us as we determine how best to move forward with updated requirements to address these topics.

The following is a brief description of PHMSA’s work the Pipeline Safety Act requirements:

Section 2—Civil Penalties:

The Act authorized PHMSA to increase the maximum civil penalty for pipeline safety violations from $100,000 to $200,000 per violation per day.  In addition, the agency will be able to collect a maximum of $2,000,000 for a related series of violations, up from $1,000,000. 

PHMSA is currently addressing this activity through a rulemaking to update Part 190 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Administrative Procedures; Updates and Technical Corrections” was published on August 13, 2012.

Section 3—Pipeline Damage Prevention:

The Act required PHMSA to incorporate new standards for state one-call programs into the State Damage Prevention (SDP) grant program criteria, including no state and local exemptions.

Some state excavation damage prevention laws include exemptions from one-call system participation that detract from the goals of the system.  The following are examples of two typical types of exemption:

Facility Owners—some state laws exempt owners of specific types of underground facilities (e.g., municipalities, State departments of transportation, and small water and sewer companies from participation in the one-call system).  Excavators—some excavators (e.g., homeowners and State departments of transportation) are exempted from calling for underground facilities to be located and marked before they begin digging.  PHMSA has discussed these exemptions with the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) and One Call Systems International (OCSI).  A public meeting regarding these issues is scheduled for March 2013.  These new requirements were included in the SDP grant program criteria.

The Act also requires for PHMSA to conduct a study on the impact of excavation damage on pipeline safety, including exemptions, frequency, severity, and type of damage, and report these results to Congress.

PHMSA met with the United States Infrastructure Corporation (USIC) to discuss performing a data analysis regarding damage prevention.  As mentioned above, PHMSA is planning a public meeting in March 2013 to discuss damage prevention issues with industry stakeholders.  PHMSA is considering using data from the Common Ground Alliance’s (CGA’s) Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) to help with this study it will reach out to states to discuss the use of this data in the analysis.

Section 4—Automatic and Remote-Controlled Shut-Off Valve Use:

The Act requires PHMSA to issue regulations requiring the use of automatic or remote-control shut-off valves on transmission pipelines constructed or entirely replaced after the date of the rule, if appropriate.    

PHMSA began to collect information on the use of automatic shut-off valves (ASVs) and remote-controlled shut-off valves (RCVs) on hazardous liquid and gas transmission pipelines prior to the enactment of the Pipeline Safety Act, through issuance of two Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemakings (ANPRM) entitled “Safety of On-Shore Hazardous Liquid Pipelines” and “Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines”.  For hazardous liquid transmission pipelines, an ANPRM issued on October 18, 2010, requested public comments on the use of RCVs.  For gas transmission pipelines, an ANPRM issued on October 25, 2011, requested public comments on requiring the use of ASV and RCV installation.

To gather sufficient input on ASV/RCV feasibility, PHMSA sponsored a public workshop on March 28, 2012 with the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives, entitled “Understanding the Application of Automatic Control & Remote Control Valves.”  PHMSA then commissioned an independent study on the feasibility and effectiveness of ASVs and RCVs on hazardous liquid and natural gas transmission pipelines.  Public comments and workshop input were used to develop the commissioned study entitled, “Studies for the Requirements of Automatic and Remotely Controlled Shutoff Valves on Hazardous Liquid and Natural Gas Pipelines with Respect to Public and Environmental Safety” (ASV-RCV study), including the original scope of work.

The ASV-RCV study performed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, while not mandated by the Act, will help to determine the effectiveness of block valve closure swiftness in mitigating the consequences of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline releases on the safety of the public and the environment.  Additionally, a related NTSB recommendation, NTSB P-11-11, was incorporated into the parameters of the study.  The recommendation suggested ASVs and RCVs be required in high-consequence areas (HCAs).  A public web-based seminar (webinar) and public comment period was also held for input on the draft study. The ASV-RCV study addressed the submitted comments and incorporated substantive technical recommendations.  The ASV-RCV study, which is 344 pages, was transmitted to Congress on December 27, 2012.

The information from this study will assist in providing additional guidance for potential rulemaking.  PHMSA also anticipates progressing with a rulemaking related to ASV and RCV installation and use on hazardous liquid and gas transmission pipelines in 2013.

In addition, PHMSA is soliciting a research project specific to technology used in ASVs that will provide important insight on their ability to provide reliability and flow assurance to pipelines.  Automatic shut-off valves are often recommended to minimize valve shut-off times after a leak is detected.  However, they may lead to unintended valve closures because of an inaccurate leak determination. The project aims to study and identify technologies and systems to minimize inaccurate leak alarms and unintended valve closures on ASV systems.  .

Section 5—Integrity Management:

The Act required PHMSA to conduct an evaluation on whether integrity management programs (IMPs) should be expanded beyond high-consequence areas (HCAs) and whether gas IMPs should replace the class location system.  This section also asks, PHMSA to consider issuing regulations expanding IMP requirements and/or replacing class locations.

As mentioned above, PHMSA initiated an ANPRM, entitled “Safety of On-Shore Hazardous Liquid Pipelines” and “Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines” for both gas and liquid pipeline safety that addresses these issues. PHMSA is also holding an integrity management program (IMP) 2.0 workshop in 2013.

This section of the statute also suggests that PHMSA may extend a gas pipeline operator’s 7-year reassessment interval by 6 months if the operator submits written notice with sufficient justification of the need for an extension, and that PHMSA should publish guidance on what constitutes sufficient justification.  PHMSA is currently considering this issue in the context of a gas transmission NPRM, which is a follow on from the ANPRM  entitled “Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines” mentioned above.  PHMSA anticipates this NPRM to be published by August 2013.

Section 6—Public Education and Awareness:

There were several mandates in this section of the Act.  One mandate requires that PHMSA maintain a map of all gas HCAs as a part of the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS).  PHMSA has already begun implementing this with the information we have currently available, and we are continuing to work on expanding the information available.  PHMSA was also requested to update the NPMS map biennially. 

In addition, PHMSA was required to implement a program for promoting greater awareness of the NPMS to state and local emergency responders and other parties.  To address this issue, PHMSA hosted a meeting of Public Safety and Emergency Response officials to discuss pipeline emergency preparedness and response on December 9, 2011.   Additionally, PHMSA made contact with various emergency responder groups through its Emergency Responder (ER) Outreach program and the Community Assistance and Technical Services (CATS) program.  PHMSA has also begun publishing articles regarding its public resources, including the NPMS, in ER publications.  A brochure, designed for widespread distribution in the ER community, was also created that described available resources. 

PHMSA was also required to issue guidance to operators to provide system-specific information about their pipelines to emergency responders after consulting with those responders.  This mandate fell closely in line with an NTSB recommendation (P-11-8), which recommended pipe diameter, operating pressure, product transported, and potential impact radius, among other information, is shared.

PHMSA, in partnership with the Pipeline Emergency Response Working Group (PERWG), met with emergency responders at a pipeline emergency response focus group during the HOTZONE conference in Houston on October 19, 2012.  The PERWG had its follow up meeting last week.  On October 11, 2012, PHMSA published (Advisory Bulletin ADB-12-09) about Communication During Emergency Situations that  reminds operators of gas, hazardous liquid, and liquefied natural gas pipeline facilities that operators should immediately and directly notify the Public Safety Access Point that serves the communities and jurisdictions in which those pipelines are located when there are indications of a pipeline facility emergency.  We also met with the Associate of Public Communication Offices to discuss how to increase awareness and develop training for 911 center personnel.

Additionally, PHMSA is funding a Transportation Research Board study that will produce a guide for communication between pipeline operators and emergency responders. 

PHMSA recognizes and agrees that the emergency response to an incident or a leak is critical. In addition to strengthening the capabilities of local emergency responders with increased coordination, targeted planning, and training grants. PHMSA has also worked to increase the visibility of prevention and response efforts to better prepare the public.

The final mandate from this section required PHMSA to maintain the most recent oil facility response plans (FRPs), which are currently collected from operators and provide copies of those FRPs to any requester through the FOIA process.  The copies can exclude sensitive information.  PHMSA has implemented this mandate and continues to improve the FRP program.

Section 7—Cast Iron Gas Pipelines:

The Act required PHMSA to follow-up on the industry’s progress in replacing cast iron gas pipelines.  PHMSA has collected updates and has published the responses on its website which can be found at http://opsweb.phmsa.dot.gov/pipelineforum/.  This inventory was developed and posted before the December 31, 2012 due date.

Section 8—Leak Detection:

The Act requires PHMSA to submit a report to Congress on leak detection systems used by operators of hazardous liquid pipeline facilities and transportation related flow lines.  The Act requires the following be included in the report:

• an analysis of the technical limitations of current leak detection systems, including the ability of the systems to detect ruptures and small leaks that are ongoing or intermittent, and what can be done to foster development of better technologies; and

• an analysis of the practicability of establishing technically, operationally, and economically feasible standards for the capability of such systems to detect leaks, and the safety benefits and adverse consequences of requiring operators to use leak detection systems.  

PHMSA began working on leak detection for a number of years before the Act.  As mentioned above, on October 18, 2010, an ANPRM for the Safety of On-Shore Hazardous Liquid Pipelines was published.   Among the issues discussed in the ANPRM was whether to establish and/or adopt standards and procedures for minimum leak detection requirements for all pipelines.

In addition, PHMSA sponsored a public workshop in March 2012 with the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives entitled “Improving Pipeline Leak Detection System Effectiveness.” It also held a Pipeline Research and Development (R&D) Forum in July 2012 that included a working group discussion focused specifically on leak detection and mitigation.  As a result, PHMSA has issued a research announcement and solicitation for proposals for research and development on a number of topics, including leak detection.  As part of its research and development activities, PHMSA has been active in studying and improving other leak detection technologies, including automated monitoring systems, sensors for small leak detection, aerial surveillance, satellite imaging, and improvements in the cost and effectiveness of current leak detection systems.

As with valves, PHMSA also commissioned an independent study on leak detection.

In conjunction with satisfying the requirements of the Act, PHMSA is also addressing a leak detection related recommendation for natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines from the NTSB (NTSB recommendation P-11-10, which involves Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) enhancements to Identify and Locate Leaks).  PHMSA’s leak detection work included systems used in gas transmission and distribution pipelines as well as hazardous liquid pipelines. While the different types of pipeline systems have various and distinct characteristics and considerations for leak detection, PHMSA brought all pipeline industry stakeholders together to more efficiently communicate the issues affecting the respective sectors and to share lessons learned.  

The review of leak detection systems was not limited to the technology but also extended to pipeline facilities and infrastructure. Effective leak detection relies heavily on how well any technology is implemented through people, procedures, and the environment in which it is installed and operated.

The leak detection study performed was based on input received through the workshops and a public comment period for the original scope of work.  A public web-based seminar (webinar) and public comment period was also held for input on the draft report of the study.  Additionally, some operators were interviewed as part of the work.  The final leak detection study, which is almost 300 pages, has been posted electronically for review and has been transmitted to Congress.

PHMSA will use all of the input gathered from the above initiatives as well as other data when considering any future rulemakings.  A rulemaking is under consideration for this item.

PHMSA is also creating a Leak Detection webpage on the PHMSA website to provide background information about leak detection issues. 

Section 9—Accident and Investigation Notification:

PHMSA was required by the Act to revise regulations to require telephonic reporting of incidents or accidents not later than 1 hour following a “confirmed discovery” and to require revising the initial telephonic report after 48 hours if practicable.  An NPRM entitled “Miscellaneous Rule II” regarding these revisions is expected to be issued in late 2013.

The Act also requires PHMSA to review and revise, as necessary, procedures for operators and the National Response Center (NRC) to notify emergency responders, including local public safety answering points or 911 centers.  PHMSA is continuing to develop a means to address this issue.

Section 10—Transportation-Related Onshore Facility Response Plan Compliance:

Administrative Enforcement and Civil Penalties: 

While there was no specific mandate with this item, the section did suggest that PHMSA should update Part 190 to be consistent with the new authority to enforce Part 194 regulations.    A rulemaking entitled “Administrative Procedures; Updates and Technical Corrections” is under consideration for this item.

Section 11—Pipeline Infrastructure Data Collection:

PHMSA is considering collecting other geospatial and technical data for the NPMS.  Although there was no specific mandate for this action, as mentioned in Section 11 above, a rulemaking is under consideration for this item.

Section 12—Transportation-Related Oil Flow Lines:

There is no mandate related to this section, but PHMSA is considering collecting geospatial and other data on transportation-related oil flow lines, as mentioned in Section 11 above, as defined in the Act. 

Section 13—Cost Recovery for Design Reviews:

PHMSA was required to prescribe a fee structure and procedures for assessment and collection in order to implement authority to recover design review costs for projects that cost over $2.5 billion or that involve “new technologies.”  PHMSA is currently developing guidance on this issue.

This section also mandates that PHMSA issue guidance on the meaning of the term “new technologies.”  This guidance was completed and was posted on the external PHMSA website prior to the January 3, 2013 deadline.

Section 15—Carbon Dioxide Pipelines:

The Act requires that PHMSA issue regulations for transporting carbon dioxide by pipeline in a gaseous state.  PHMSA is currently exploring rulemaking options with this item. 

Section 16—Study of Transportation of Diluted Bitumen:

PHMSA was required to review and report to Congress on whether current regulations are sufficient to regulate pipelines transporting diluted bitumen.  A study has been contracted to perform this analysis to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which is meeting on the issue on January 31 and February 1, 2013, and it is on track for timely completion.  Once the study is completed, a report to Congress will follow.

Section 17—Study of Nonpetroleum Hazardous Liquids Transported by Pipeline:

This section allows PHMSA to analyze the extent to which pipelines transporting non-petroleum hazardous liquids, such as chlorine, are unregulated, and whether being unregulated presents risks to the public.  The results of any analysis must be made available to Congress as directed by the Act.  PHMSA is currently reviewing this issue. 

Section 19—Maintenance of Effort:

PHMSA was required to grant waivers of the maintenance of effort clause in FY12 and FY13 to States that demonstrate an inability to maintain funding to their pipeline safety program due to economic hardship.  This action has been completed for FY12, and we are addressing this issue as it pertains to future years.

Section 20—Administrative Enforcement Process:

This section requires PHMSA to issue regulations for enforcement hearings that require a presiding official, implement a separation of functions, prohibit ex parte communications and provide other due process provisions.  This issue is currently being addressed in the Part 190 Rule referred to in Section 20 above.  The NPRM  entitled “Administrative Procedures; Updates and Technical Corrections” was published on August 13, 2012.

Section 21—Gas and Hazardous Liquid Gathering Lines:

The Act requires PHMSA to review and report to Congress on existing Federal and State regulations for all gathering lines, existing exemptions, and the application of existing regulations to lines not presently regulated.  PHMSA has contracted Oak Ridge National to assist in the research of this issue and a report is under development.

PHMSA must also consider issuing regulations that would subject offshore liquid gathering lines to the same standards as other liquid gathering lines.  PHMSA will determine whether these regulations are necessary based on the results of the research and report.

Section 22—Excess Flow Valves:

The Act requires PHMSA to consider issuing regulations requiring the use of excess flow valves on new or entirely replaced distribution branch services, multi-family facilities, and small commercial facilities.  PHMSA issued an ANPRM  entitled “Expanding the Use of Excess Flow Valves in Gas Distribution Systems to Applications Other Than Single-Family Residences “ on November 25, 2011 and is currently analyzing public comments. 

Section 23—Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP):

PHMSA was required to issue an Advisory Bulletin regarding the existing requirements to verify records confirming MAOP in Classes 3 and 4 and in HCAs.  An Advisory Bulletin on “Verification of Records” was issued for this item on May 7, 2012.

PHMSA was also required to issue regulations requiring operators to report by July 3, 2013, any pipelines without sufficient records to confirm MAOP.  As part of meeting the mandate, PHMSA determined they had the authority under existing regulations to collect this additional data. Therefore, PHMSA revised its gas transmission annual reporting form to collect this information which we will receive for the first time on June 15, 2013.  The information collected will be used to address the mandate in the Act. 

This section also required PHMSA to issue regulations that require operators to report any exceedance of MAOP within 5 days, and to ensure the safety of pipelines without records to confirm MAOP.  PHMSA published an advisory bulletin in the Federal Register on December 21, 2012 on Reporting the Exceedances of Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (ADB-2012-11).  A rulemaking is under consideration for this item.

PHMSA was also required to issue regulations requiring tests to confirm the material strength of previously untested gas transmission pipelines in HCAs.  As part of meeting the mandate, PHMSA determined they had the authority under existing regulations to collect this additional data. PHMSA will use its revised gas transmission annual report to collect this relevant data by June 15, 2013.  This information will be used to meet the mandate in the Act.   

Section 24—Limitation of Incorporation of Documents by Reference:

This section requires PHMSA, starting in one year, to stop incorporating by reference into its regulations or guidance materials any industry standard unless it is publicly available free of charge on the internet.  PHMSA is continuing to work with organizations that develop standards in order to make Incorporation-By-Reference (IBR) material available for free on the Internet.  We are pleased that many standards setting organizations have agreed and are assisting PHMSA in complying with this item. 

Section 28—Cover Over Buried Pipelines:

PHMSA was required to conduct a study and report to Congress on hazardous liquid pipeline accidents at water crossings to determine if depth of cover was a factor.  This study was completed and was transmitted to Congress before the January 3, 2013, deadline.

If the study shows depth of cover was a factor, PHMSA must review the sufficiency of existing depth of cover regulations and consider possible regulatory changes and/or legislative recommendations.  The Administration is still determining whether legislative changes should be recommended.

Section 29—Seismicity:

There was no specific mandate within this section, but it was suggested that PHMSA should issue regulations to be consistent with the requirement in statute that operators consider seismicity in identifying and evaluating all potential threats to each pipeline pursuant to Parts 192 and 195.  PHMSA has conducted research on this issue, which is currently under review. 

Section 30—Tribal Consultation for Pipeline Projects:

The Act requires PHMSA to develop and implement a protocol for consulting with Indian tribes to provide technical assistance for the regulation of pipelines that are under the jurisdiction of Indian tribes.  This protocol was posted on the PHMSA website prior to the January 3, 2013, deadline.

Section 31—Pipeline Inspection and Enforcement Needs:

PHMSA was required to report to Congress on the total number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) for pipeline inspection and enforcement, the number of such FTEs that are not presently filled and the reasons they are not filled, the actions being taken to fill the FTEs, and any additional resources needed.  This action has been completed by PHMSA, and a report was submitted to Congress on December 20, 2012.

Section 32—Authorization of Appropriations:

This section of the act required PHMSA to ensure at least 30 percent of the costs of program-wide Research and Development (R&D) activities are carried out using non-Federal sources.  These efforts are currently ongoing and are on-track.

This section additionally mandates that PHMSA transmit a report to Congress on the status and results-to-date of implementation of the R&D program every 2 years.  The R&D program is designed to identify gaps in needed pipeline technology and map a path forward to assure there is no duplicative research and that resources are leveraged appropriately.  PHMSA is finalizing a draft of this report.

III. SISSONVILLE AND THE CHALLENGES WE FACE

Despite our successes, we continue to face challenges in fulfilling our mission, and this is obvious when taking a look at what happened in Sissonville, WV.  The explosion at Sissonville, as Chairman Rockefeller has said, was terrible, serious, and dangerous.  Although several homes were destroyed or damaged, and portions of a major interstate highway were severely damaged, it is fortunate that no one was killed and there were only minor injuries.  It could have been a much larger tragedy.  We are working closely with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Public Service Commission of West Virginia in the investigation, and we are also undertaking our own compliance investigation.   In addition we are taking immediate action to determine what additional steps need to be taken to prevent accidents like this from occurring in the future.

We have issued a Corrective Action Order (CAO) based on our preliminary findings.  The pipeline will not be placed back into service until we are completely satisfied with the restart plan that Columbia Gas is required to submit.  When the pipeline is eventually placed back into service, it will operate at a 20 percent pressure reduction from the maximum allowable pressure, while our engineers oversee a series of tests and evaluations and review the results.  It is only after PHMSA is fully satisfied that the pipeline is safe for full operation that the pipeline can return to regular operating pressure.

One of the greatest challenges that we as an organization face is assisting our State partners to succeed in the inspection, regulation, and enforcement of the pipelines for which they are responsible.  With the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, State pipeline safety agencies are the first line of defense in protecting the American public, and they have always been a critical component of PHMSA’s success. 

Thanks to provisions in the Act, we are currently able to cover 77 percent, or approximately $43.5 million, of the program costs that States incur.  This funding covers personnel and equipment needs, public outreach programs, and other activities that allow the States to inspect and regulate intrastate pipelines.  Currently, we partner with 52 state pipeline safety programs through certification and agreements for the inspection of the nation’s intrastate gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.  PHMSA also has interstate agent agreements with 10 states to perform interstate pipeline inspections.  We are pleased to report that the State of West Virginia participates as an interstate pipeline agent for gas transmission lines.  This partnership has proven to be a great asset in helping to strengthen the safety of pipelines in West Virginian communities.

The day this incident happened, several of my top staff members and I were visiting the Marcellus Shale area.  We received a call that alerted us to the incident, and we were able to launch our response from the meeting we were conducting in Pennsylvania.  Tim Butters, my Deputy Administrator, was in contact with emergency response officials from Sissonville shortly after the explosion occurred.  It is because of the great relationship PHMSA and our State partners have with the pipeline industry and emergency responder community that we were contacted directly for support.  PHMSA exists for the safety of the public, and we have been involved from the onset of this incident up through this point in time.  We continue to support our fellow partners on the ground at the incident.  As well as work with the emergency response community in order to share best practices and lessons learned.  

In fact, we recently returned to Sissonville to meet with the local emergency responders and emergency management officials of Sissonville and Kanawha County to discuss the response to this incident, and what prior interaction they had with the operator.

We were very encouraged to learn that there was a good working relationship with the utility operator and the local public safety community.  These established relationships, coupled with the fact that the local responders were well-trained, made it possible for the successful and effective management of this incident.  The fact that there were only minor civilian injuries and no injuries to emergency responders is a testament to the capability of the local emergency response system and the importance of cooperation with the pipeline industry, and Federal and state regulators.

However, we also learned there is still much work to do.  Both the pipeline operators and local officials recognize that additional training and exercises are needed.  As the statute now requires, operators will be providing more detailed information about their pipeline systems, including location, size of pipe, and other critical elements.  A rulemaking is under consideration that will allow PHMSA to collect additional information as part of its emergency responder outreach program.    While Columbia Gas had been engaged with the local community, we were informed that cooperation and coordination between the local community and other pipeline operators could be improved.  We will do what is necessary to ensure that this is corrected as quickly as possible.

We always make an aggressive effort to apply the information from specific pipeline incidents to the broader, national context of pipeline safety.  We accelerated the implementation of control room management regulations based upon lessons learned about supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system challenges.  This year we will hold a public workshop to evaluate lessons learned during the last ten years of performance based integrity management regulations. 

Lessons we learn from the Sissonville incident will also be used to help prevent accidents in other communities and will help us continue to fulfill the safety goals and purpose of the Act.  Once our investigations into this incident are complete, we will release our findings and information to the larger emergency responder community and operator network.

IV. CHANGING INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF OVERSIGHT

Much like the members of this Committee, this Administration has recognized the need for an aggressive approach to the safety of the Nation’s pipeline system and the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget includes a funding request to implement an aggressive Pipeline Safety Reform initiative, which seeks to significantly increase both Federal and State resources supporting pipeline safety, as well as furthering research and development, and enhancing information technology capabilities to address the safety of the national pipeline system.   We just recently received the final GAO study on the ability of transmission pipeline facility operators to respond to a hazardous liquid or gas release.  We are currently reviewing the findings and will be happy to discuss with your staff on how we plan to move forward. 

From the discovery of vast energy shale deposits, which will require the creation of additional infrastructure, to the maintenance and rehabilitation of the infrastructure already in place, the Nation’s infrastructure needs are growing and changing.

I have been to the Bakken and Marcellus Shales, and I have seen these changes and the evolution of the energy industry firsthand.  And I can tell you that we must prepare for these new and shifting demands right now.  We must make sure that people and the land are protected at the beginning of the process even before the pipe goes in the ground.  Effective standards and regulations are one of the best ways to keep America’s people and environment safe while providing for the reliable transportation of the Nation’s energy supplies, and the oversight provided by PHMSA and our partners will become even more critically important in the future.

With that being said, I believe that the Pipeline Safety Act, and our outreach and oversight, is working.  We have a long way to go to reach our goal of no deaths, injuries, environmental and property damage, or transportation disruptions, but we have a solid foundation to build on as we continue to advance pipeline safety. 

In closing, we look forward to continuing to work with Congress to address pipeline safety issues and to improve pipeline safety programs.  Together, we will keep America’s people and environment safe while providing for the reliable transportation of the Nation’s energy supplies.  Everyone at PHMSA is dedicated and committed to fulfilling the remaining mandates and accomplishing our pipeline safety mission.  It is an honor to serve the American people and to work with the dedicated public servants at PHMSA.  Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you today.  I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

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