Sponsors (11)
The bill improves identification and prioritization of remediation for aging and legacy pipeline materials—raising public safety through targeted programs—but does so at the cost of added assessment expenses, administrative burdens, and inspection limitations that could be passed on to consumers.
Utilities must identify and report Aldyl‑A mileage, increasing transparency about where aging, higher‑risk plastic pipes are located.
State and local governments can include historic plastics in certification and risk evaluations, enabling more targeted safety programs to reduce pipeline failures and gas leaks.
Local governments and utility companies can prioritize remediation of pipelines made from older materials (cast iron, unprotected steel, wrought iron, historic plastics), which improves public safety and reduces leak risk.
Utility companies and ultimately ratepayers will incur costs to assess systems and compile reports, which may raise operating costs and increase gas bills.
Prohibiting excavation for assessments may limit the accuracy of surveys, delaying detection and remediation of hazardous underground piping and risking public safety.
State agencies and utilities will face increased compliance and administrative burdens from expanded State certification and federal DIMP requirements, requiring more staff/time and resources.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires operators to assess and report Aldyl–A polyethylene mileage within three years and adds 'historic plastics with known safety issues' to state certification and DIMP risk-evaluation rules.
Introduced March 24, 2026 by Christina Houlahan · Last progress March 24, 2026
Requires owners and operators of gas distribution pipelines to inspect their systems for Aldyl–A polyethylene (a vintage plastic pipe material) and report the estimated total mileage of that material to the Department Secretary within three years. The bill also prohibits the Secretary from requiring excavation solely to perform that assessment, and it expands state pipeline safety certification and distribution integrity management risk evaluations to explicitly include “historic plastics with known safety issues” alongside cast iron, bare/unprotected steel, and wrought iron.