A top Senate Democrat is blasting the Trump administration’s management of pipeline safety, saying oil and gas industry insiders appointed to key government roles are gutting important regulations and failing to enforce those that are left.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sent letters to leaders at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, accusing them of “pursuing a reckless safety rollback agenda.”
“I am concerned by recent reporting indicating you personally spearheaded the rollback of several safety initiatives at PHMSA — and that you did so at the behest of your former employer,” the Washington state Democrat wrote in an open letter to PHMSA Deputy Administrator Ben Kochman.
Kochman came to the agency after working for nearly four years for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, which represents gas transmission pipeline companies. He ran PHMSA until late September, when Administrator Paul Roberti was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in.
