The PIPELINE Safety Act of 2025 would change federal pipeline safety law across many areas. It authorizes funding for pipeline safety programs and grants for fiscal years 2026–2030. It directs the Department of Transportation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to update or write new rules, carry out studies, and report to Congress on topics including inspection rules for breakout tanks, risk-assessment peer review, incorporation of industry standards, mapping accuracy, leak detection, composite materials, geological hazards, idled pipelines, and effects of weather. The bill would create a confidential Voluntary Information-Sharing system (VIS) for pipeline safety data with a governing board and protections for nonpublic information. It requires studies and possible rulemakings on hydrogen blending and carbon dioxide pipelines, and a study on fire shutoff valves for distribution systems. The bill adds or changes inspection, reporting, and public-engagement requirements, updates state program elements, and includes new whistleblower protections. It raises some civil penalty limits, updates enforcement hearing procedures, and prohibits PHMSA from operating or contracting for certain covered foreign unmanned aircraft systems unless waived. The bill also includes new grant programs for municipal natural gas distribution system modernization and other administrative and technical changes.
For the public: the bill would aim to make more pipeline information available, require better mapping accuracy, encourage use of public alert systems during pipeline emergencies, and create an Office of Public Engagement to help communities get information. It would require operators to report some blended products, notify PHMSA if the operator files for bankruptcy, and make certain emergency plans and documents available to States and affected Tribes.
For pipeline operators: the bill would direct PHMSA to update inspection and integrity requirements, may allow risk-based inspections for some tanks when equivalent safety is maintained, require assessments of historic plastic piping like Aldyl-A, and could lead to new rules for composite materials, hydrogen blending, and carbon dioxide pipelines. Operators could be invited to participate in the voluntary VIS, subject to confidentiality rules and limits on use of VIS information in litigation. Civil penalty maximums in law would increase, and operators would see changes to enforcement hearing procedures and whistleblower remedies.
For State, Tribal, and local agencies: the bill updates certification and coordination duties, expands consultation and information sharing with Tribal officials, allows States (with federal approval) to run risk-based integrated inspection programs, and requires inspector general and GAO reviews of some programs and inspections.
The bill text lists specific authorizations and funding amounts including (selected items from the bill):
No publicly available information beyond the amounts and funding authorities stated in the bill text is provided about total program costs or estimates of long-term fiscal impact.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.