The two Democratic candidates for the Public Service Commission say they want the PSC to become the single point of responsibility for pipeline regulation.
Tyler Axness – who is challenging Julie Fedorchak for the two year spot – and Todd Reisenauer – who is running against Brian Kalk for the full six year term – call the plan “VIP” – for “Verification of the Integrity of Pipelines.” Axness says there are currently five state agencies – plus the federal government – that have regulatory authority over pipelines.
"This oversized bureaucratic quagmire creates duplication of services that does not respect our taxpayer dollars," said Axness at a Bismarck news conference. "Our proposal aims to consolidate, streamline, simplify and respect the taxpayer dollar."
Reisenauer says doing this would take some legislative action. However, he says the PSC already has a lot of say over pipelines, but doesn’t follow that law.
"We're going to accomplish this, not by piling on more bureaucracy, more layers of government, but simply to execute the authority we have today in the Century Code," said Reisenauer. "It's time for the PSC to start doing its job."
The two candidates point to a memo from Legislative Council – issued in 2006 – which says the PSC has the authority to establish regulations for oil pipelines.
Kalk says the PSC is already proposing that it have more enforcement over oil pipelines. And he says the Commission has already been aggressively enforcing the rules.
"We've done a lot, and we're going to continue to do more, because as North Dakota grows its energy production, it's important we continue to meet the demands," said Kalk. "I think we're doing a great job, and we are aggressively enforcing the rules. And we're going to continue to do that."
Kalk says in the real world, there needs to be multi-agency jurisdiction over pipelines – so he has no problem with that.
