This week Rep. John Dingell (MI-D) sent a letter to the
Department of Transportation complaining about the delays in new pipeline
safety regulations. The letter was sent specifically to Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx. Dingell’s letter pointed to a natural gas line
explosion in Oklahoma and oil spill in North Dakota as evidence for why there
needs to be updates on pipeline regulations.[1]
The article goes on to say that in January 2012, Obama signed into law the Pipeline
Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act. Dingell’s letter accuses the
department of failing to meet the updates standards of the 2012 law in a timely
manner. "The lack of action on this front is not only disturbing to a
public that is concerned about the safety of our quickly growing system of
pipelines, but it is also unsettling to the industry, which has no certainty as
to what the rules will be going forward," Dingell wrote.[2]
Dingell
is acting as a whistle blower in this situation and as the former chairman of
the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee he
must feel he has the expertise and experience to do so. His website says that
one of his main areas of focus is the environment and being concerned with
pipeline regulations would fall under this category. From fallowing Dingell’s
activities week to week I have noticed a pattern starting to develop. Dingell
is a very vocal member of the House. He knows he has authority because of his
seniority and he uses it to voice his opinion. You know where he stands on an
issue whether its what the rest of the Democratic Party thinks or not; he is
certainly not bound by party rules. He has a blunt almost snarky style about it
too. He was mentioned in Roll Call’s Heard on the Hill Blog for saying this
quote in a committee hearing on the new health care law. “I
remind my colleagues, the last perfect law came off the top of Mount Sinai …
written on a stone tablet by the hand of God. Note, nothing so good has
happened since.”[3] This quote
is true Dingell fashion.
But going through my past post
I notice that this is all he really does: throw his two cents in and let his
opinion be known. The research I’ve done has given little mention of his
committee work or if he is working on new pieces of legislation. Whistle
blowing and opinion giving are part of the legislature job but there is more to
it than that. I wonder if because of this seniority status he doesn’t need to
do more than that?
[1] Brian Scheid, "Former US House Panel Chairman
Blasts Delays in New Pipeline Safety Rules," Platts.com, Oct 31, 2013. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/washington/former-us-house-panel-chairman-blasts-delays-21762792.
[2] Brian Scheid, "Former US House Panel Chairman
Blasts Delays in New Pipeline Safety Rules," Platts.com, Oct 31, 2013. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/washington/former-us-house-panel-chairman-blasts-delays-21762792.
[3] John Dingell, Heard
on the Hill Gossipe Glob, Oct. 24, 2013, http://hoh.rollcall.com/overheard-john-dingell-talks-ancient-history-literally/.
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