Press Releases

On the anniversary of the Refugio Beach oil spill, U.S. Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) and Julia Brownley (D-CA-26) reintroduced legislation to expand safety regulations on U.S. oil and gas pipelines to prevent devastating spills like the Refugio Beach disaster, which spilled over 100,000 gallons of oil on the Central Coast of California in 2015.

The Valve Safety Fairness Act, would restore the requirement for Type A gas gathering line operators to install these safety technologies in compliance with the 2022 PHMSA rule. Operators would be required to install automatic shut-off valves and rupture detection technologies.

“Following the 2015 Refugio oil spill, my constituents have been calling for stronger safeguards to prevent future environmental disasters from happening,” said Rep. Carbajal. “The Valve Safety Fairness Act is a common-sense solution that will help protect our coastal communities from new spills by upgrading oil pipelines with more advanced safety technology.”

“Residents along California’s Central Coast know the dangerous impacts of oil spills all too well. That is why we must ensure that pipeline owners and operators are using the most advanced technology available to prevent leaks or spills. As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I have worked to improve federal pipeline safety and oversight, and I look forward to continuing this work with Congressman Carbajal to advance critical legislation to close a safety loophole,” said Rep. Brownley.

Both Carbajal and Brownley serve on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

In March 2022, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) followed through on a longtime push by California lawmakers to mandate these safety features on new and entirely replaced gas transmission lines, Type A gas gathering, and hazardous liquid (including carbon dioxide) pipelines.

In May 2023, however, a U.S. district court limited application of this rule by striking down the safety feature requirements applying to Type A gas gathering lines–the pipelines that transport gas from a production facility or refinery to a transmission line or gas main.

In 2015, the source of Plains All American Pipeline’s oil spill near Refugio Beach in Santa Barbara, which spilled over 100,000 gallons of crude oil into Central Coast beaches and ecosystems, took more than two hours to detect.

Following his election to Congress, the devastating Refugio oil spill along California’s Central Coast spurred Congressman Carbajal to champion stronger federal safety regulations for oil and gas pipelines. His leadership began with a bipartisan measure—unanimously passed by the House in September 2017—that called for automatic shut-off valves and improved leak detection standards. He later joined forces with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to press the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) directly for action.

PHMSA issued new rules in March 2022 mandating the installation of automatic and remote-control shut-off valves and leak detection technology for new pipelines.

Congressman Carbajal has previously advocated for his colleagues on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to support legislation that would expand the 2022 PHMSA rule to include all existing oil and gas pipelines.