Tucked into the roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief package that Congress passed late Monday is a gas pipeline safety provision that U.S. Sen. Edward Markey has been trying to get enacted for two years.
Markey s Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, which is named for the 18-year-old man who was killed as a result of the explosions and fires that rocked Lawrence, Andover and North Andover on Sept. 13, 2018, his office said. The passage of this legislation is a critical step in ensuring that we prioritize public safety over corporate profit and never allow a tragic disaster like this to happen again, Markey said about the bill that would require on-site monitoring of gas system pressure during construction, seek to improve emergency response coordination, require gas distributors to produce complete maps and records of key pressure controls, and more.