Hoeven Announces More than $250K DOT Award to Support North Dakota Pipeline Safety

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) has award $254,090 to North Dakota in support of the state’s pipeline safety program. The funds are made available through PHMSA’s State Base Grants program, which reimburses a portion of states’ expenses to maintain a local presence in protecting public and environmental health through pipeline inspections.

“As we work continue to work towards producing more energy here at home, it’s important for us to invest in infrastructure that will allow for the safe, efficient transportation of energy materials,” Hoeven said. “Today’s grant will go towards inspections and enforcing pipeline safety regulations, conducting investigations and taking corrective actions to ensure the safety and integrity of pipelines.”

Hoeven has been pushing for measures to make the transport of crude oil safer since 2012, when he asked the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to issue a new standard for safer tanker car construction. The new construction standard is vital, he said, because the industry needs regulatory certainty in order to make the substantial investment required to deploy a newer and safer fleet of tankers.

Last week, Hoeven announced that PHMSA awarded North Dakota with nearly $200,000 to improve the state’s first response to incidents involving the transportation of hazardous materials.

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