Natural Gas Leak Prevention Act of 2016

Natural Gas Leak Prevention Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue minimum uniform safety standards for the operation, environmental protection, and integrity management of underground natural gas storage facilities.

The bill defines an "underground natural gas storage facility" as a gas pipeline facility that stores gas in an underground facility, including:

• a depleted hydrocarbon reservoir,
• an aquifer reservoir, or
• a solution mined salt cavern reservoir.

DOT, in developing such standards, shall:

• consider the economic impacts of the regulations on individual gas customers,
• ensure that the regulations do not have a significant economic impact on end users, and
• consider existing consensus standards.

A user fee shall be imposed on an entity operating an underground natural gas storage facility. Collected fees shall be deposited in an underground natural gas storage facility safety account, which shall be established in the Pipeline Safety Fund and which shall be made available only for activities related to natural gas storage safety.