Mr. Chairman, I thank you for holding this important hearing today. Our Nation's pipeline system covers some two million miles serving tens of millions of Americans by delivering needed energy to heat our homes, fuel our automobiles, and power our factories. While it is a necessary and beneficial system, it carries with it inherent dangers that can wreak havoc if overlooked or neglected.

Two years ago this Committee led the way to the enactment of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, which was a bipartisan effort supported by industry, safety advocates, environmental organizations, and labor unions. If correctly implemented, this Act will lead to a safer, more reliable pipeline system. We are here today to examine the progress of the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) in implementing the Act and to receive testimony from the GAO and the Department of Transportation's Inspector General on the strengths and weaknesses of OPS.

I am pleased to note that the Department of Transportation's Inspector General finds that OPS has made progress on clearing the backlog of National Transportation Safety Board recommendations and past Congressional mandates - work that had previously been neglected. I also commend the agency for its aggressive implementation of the mandates from the 2002 legislation. There is still, however, much work to be done and I hope that OPS pays serious attention to the recommendations of both the Inspector General and the GAO as it moves forward.

The GAO was charged with studying the methods of OPS for assessing and collecting fines as well as the overall effectiveness of its enforcement strategy. On this point GAO says that it cannot determine overall effectiveness because OPS lacks program goals, a clearly-defined strategy, and performance measurements. This is a disappointing finding given OPS's past record on enforcement and the emphasis placed on this issue in the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002.

I know that OPS has increased both the number and amount of fines issued over the past four years and that the agency has been using some of the tools given to it in the legislation we passed in 2002. While this is a welcome improvement over OPS's near abandonment of the use of fines in the 1990s, there is still work to be done. The goal of an enforcement strategy must not be an arbitrary amount of fines, but rather the deterrence and prevention of accidents that can cause catastrophic damage to human life, property, and the environment. I urge OPS to take the GAO's comments with due seriousness.

Also, are these fines being collected? On February 20, 2004, I wrote to Administrator Bonasso regarding OPS's response to the tragic accidents that occurred in Bellingham, Washington, and Carlsbad, New Mexico. One of my concerns was that the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), in previous testimony to this subcommittee, had cited a rather large number of $9 million in proposed penalties, seemingly as proof of its effectiveness. I specifically asked for a detailed list of the fines that comprised that amount; the March 17, 2004, response did not include such a list. Based on RSPA testimony, the $9 million figure would have included a $2.5 million fine in the Carlsbad, New Mexico, case. But at this point that fine remains uncollected. What about the others?

Finally, while I commend the GAO for their usual hard work, I am concerned with one area they seem to have overlooked. Section 8 of the 2002 pipeline safety act specifically requires GAO to study "changes in the amounts of fines recommended, assessed by the Secretary, and actually collected." While the GAO report does include the number of times that a recommended fine was reduced, it does not tell us why.

Statistics without explanation are merely numbers. This is no small matter, given that GAO reports that fines were reduced 31 percent during the period when their study was conducted. We need to know why these fines were reduced and what impact these reductions had on the effectiveness of OPS's enforcement efforts.

Again Mr. Chairman, I thank you for holding this hearing and look forward to this Committee's continued oversight over this important issue.