PHMSA provides grant funding to our state partners to improve communication among excavators and owners of underground facilities.
Legislation
Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2006 - The PIPES Act of 2006 authorizes grants to state authorities designated by state governors, to create or augment effective state damage prevention programs.
Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (PSIA) of 2002 - The PSIA of 2002 authorizes PHMSA to make pipeline safety information grants to communities.
Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996 Grants - Since 1996, we have awarded one-call grants to our state pipeline safety partners to promote damage prevention, including changes to their state underground damage prevention laws, related compliance activities, training, and public education. The one–call grants were reauthorized in 2002 and 2006 and the grant program is on-going.
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) Grants - Under TEA-21, Congress authorized PHMSA to award pipeline safety damage prevention grants to help states implement best practices in preventing damage to underground utilities and improve the overall quality and effectiveness of one-call notification systems. We awarded $6 million in 2001 and 2003 to State agencies to fund a wide range of education efforts, communications system improvements, and enforcement of State requirements for damage prevention. The TEA-21 grant program has expired.
State Damage Prevention Grants
The PIPES Act of 2006 authorizes PHMSA to award grants to fund improvements in state damage prevention programs. PHMSA is in the process of awarding these grants during 2010. States are encouraged to implement the following nine elements of an effective damage prevention program:
- Participation by operators, excavators, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of methods for establishing and maintaining effective communications between stakeholders from receipt of an excavation notification until successful completion of the excavation, as appropriate.
- A process for fostering and ensuring the support and partnership of stakeholders, including excavators, operators, locators, designers, and local government in all phases of the program.
- A process for reviewing the adequacy of a pipeline operator’s internal performance measures regarding persons performing locating services and quality assurance programs.
- Participation by operators, excavators, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of effective employee training programs to ensure that operators, the one-call center, the enforcing agency, and the excavators have partnered to design and implement training for the employees of operators, excavators, and locators.
- A process for fostering and ensuring active participation by all stakeholders in public education for damage prevention activities.
- A process for resolving disputes that defines the State authority’s role as a partner and facilitator to resolve issues.
- Enforcement of State damage prevention laws and regulations for all aspects of the damage prevention process, including public education, and the use of civil penalties for violations assessable by the appropriate State authority.
- A process for fostering and promoting the use, by all appropriate stakeholders, of improving technologies that may enhance communications, underground pipeline locating capability, and gathering and analyzing information about the accuracy and effectiveness of locating programs.
- A process for review and analysis of the effectiveness of each program element, including a means for implementing improvements identified by such program reviews.
- Summary of 2008 State Damage Prevention Grant Awards
- Summary of 2009 State Damage Prevention Grant Awards
Technical Assistance Grants
The Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program was first authorized in Section 9 of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-355) as “Pipeline Safety Information Grants to Communities.” The purpose of the program is to make grants to communities and groups of individuals (not including for-profit entities) for development of technical assistance in the form of engineering or other scientific analysis of pipeline safety issues and help promote public participation in official proceedings. The 2002 Act authorized $1,000,000 for grant awards under the TAG program and the PIPES Act of 2006 reauthorized the TAG program. However, funds were not appropriated until FY 2009. Further, the PIPES Act required that at least the first three grants under the TAG program be “demonstration” grants of not more than $25,000 each. Four demonstration grants were awarded in May/June 2009. The maximum award for any single grant (except for the demonstration grants) is $50,000. PHMSA solicited for applications for full TAG grants in spring 2009 and will make awards in summer 2009. Contact Sam Hall for more information at sam.hall@dot.gov.
Technology Development Grants
The Technology Development Grant (TDG) Program was established in Section 2 of the PIPES Act of 2006. The purpose of the program is to make grants to any organization or entity (not including for-profit entities) for the development of technologies that will facilitate the prevention of pipeline damage caused by demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction activities, with emphasis on wireless and global position technologies having potential for use in connection with notification systems and underground facility locating and marking services. A total of $500,000 was appropriated for the program in 2009, with an award floor of $50,000 and an award ceiling of $500,000. The first grant awards are to be made in CY 2009. The solicitation for these grants closed June 30, 2009. PHMSA will announce the awards on this page once they are final. Questions regarding the TDG Program should be directed to Amy Nelson at amy.nelson@dot.gov.
One-call Grants
PHMSA’s One-call Grants are designed to provide funding to state agencies in promoting damage prevention, including changes with their state underground damage prevention laws, related compliance activities, training and public education. The grants were first authorized under the Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996, Public Law 104-304. This optional grant program has a maximum amount request of $50,000 per state, and supports initiatives to further promote efforts specifically for damage prevention, including one-call legislation, related compliance activities, training and public education. Eligible programs will cover areas such as: compliance enforcement, legal assistance with enforcement actions, new equipment to support on-going enforcement programs, compliance monitoring, one-call center statistics, compliance/noncompliance statistics, one-call membership initiatives, computer equipment, communication improvements, development and/or conduct of state-provided training programs for locators, development and/or distribution of promotional items or materials, damage prevention awareness campaigns, public service announcements, informational mailings, advertisements and one-call center promotional items. This optional grant is only open for states that have a certification or agreement with PHMSA to do pipeline safety inspections. State agencies that participate in the pipeline safety program are eligible to apply for one-call grant funding on an annual basis.